Rabbi Jack in front of a Sukkah (temporary booth).  Photo Courtesy Beverly M. Post

If you’re like me, you are probably still trying to work off some of the extra calories that you consumed over a Thanksgiving meal.  Rather than exercise, however, I thought I’d address a question that came up recently regarding whether or not Thanksgiving is truly a secular holiday.  As the sole rabbi in Los Alamos (I jokingly sometimes say that I’m the Chief Rabbi of Los Alamos), I therefore recently reexamined the origins of the holiday of Thanksgiving. 

I can’t actually speak to whether Thanksgiving is a secular holiday or has a religious basis – that’s a bit murky.  An interesting question to me, however, is did the Puritans consciously have the Jewish festival of Sukkot in mind in 1621?  Sukkot is often translated as the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that no one knows if there’s an explicit connection between Thanksgiving and Sukkot.  Nonetheless, you may find it interesting to learn some information about our Jewish Biblical holiday of Sukkot.

This holiday, one of the Jewish pilgrimage festivals in ancient times (and note that the Pilgrims have already crept into our story), has agricultural dimensions of the fall harvest. Sukkot also has historic dimensions (think of living in booths/temporary structures while wandering in the wilderness for forty years).  The parallels to the experiences of the Puritans are clear.  Sukkot also has spiritual dimensions – we’re reminded of the Divine protection of the Israelites who left Egypt.

Sukkot is possibly the most joyous holiday on the Jewish calendar, a calendar which is absolutely chock full of holidays.  It lasts a week, and its traditional observance includes colorful rituals using palm branches and citrons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citron), an uncommon fruit that we in Los Alamos purchase from Israel and that I’ve only ever seen during Sukkot.  I once tried to germinate some citron seeds in the lab but was abysmally unsuccessful; physicists are definitely not botanists.  The holiday also involves eating meals outdoors in somewhat flimsy shelters.  This year was especially diabolical for us in Los Alamos – perhaps our worst weather of the fall occurred directly on top of Sukkot.

Following Sukkot and its companion holiday known as Shemini Atseret or the Eighth Day of Getting Together, rabbis worldwide breathe a sigh of relief because we have a blessed lull in festivities until the minor holiday of Hanukkah.  I’ll plan to write next about that holiday, answering definitively whether we light the candles in the Hanukkiah from left to right or right to left!  In the meantime, I need to go work off some pecan pie.

B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack

The Los Alamos Jewish Center is our community’s sole synagogue and a gathering place for Jewish worship, Jewish adult and children’s education, and Jewish life cycle events. LAJC is located at 2400 Canyon Road, just down the street from PEEC Nature Center. For more information about the Los Alamos Jewish Center, go to www.lajc.org, call 505.662.2140 or email losalamosjewishcenter@lajc.org.