This year, we should ask: How is
this Thanksgiving different from all other Thanksgivings?
The answer: We desperately need it.
As we enter the holiday season
and leave behind what seemed at times to be an endless election cycle full of
negativity, taking a moment to reflect about all that we have to be thankful for
is exactly what we all need. These are
not easy times. There is a palpable
sense of heightened unease. In the weeks
since the election, the volume of the discussion has grown shriller and
louder. We have seen protests; hatred;
blatant displays of anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim and bigoted behavior; movement
for the mass deportation of illegal immigrants and an energized white
supremacist movement. The frenzied media coverage along with the
increasing frequency of volatile statements and actions make my head spin. So many people in American society - and in
the Jewish community - have serious needs, while the country and our neighbors
and friends seem so divided about how to best address them.
What can we do in response to the
very real challenges we face today?
In the Jewish community – as with
the general population, there are so many voices. People legitimately have different views, but
it feels like we are coming
apart at the seams.
What do we do to make things
better?
Do you remember the line in the
Mel Brooks’ movie, History of the World, Part One? In our case, the nuns we need were part of
the famous “Nun Study,”
a continuing longitudinal study to examine the onset of Alzheimer’s disease which
began in 1986.
678 American nuns between the
ages of 75 and 102, all members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the
United States, agreed to allow their records to be accessed by a research team
investigating the process of ageing and Alzheimer’s disease.
What gave this study its unusual
longitudinal scope is that in 1930 the nuns, then in their twenties, had been
asked by the Mother Superior to write a brief autobiographical account of their
life and their reasons for entering the convent. These documents were now analyzed by the
researchers using a specially devised coding system to register positive and
negative emotions. By annually assessing
the nuns’ health, the researchers were able to test whether their emotional
state in 1930 had an effect on their health some sixty years later.
The results, published in 2001,
found that the more positive emotions – contentment, gratitude, happiness, love
and hope – the nuns expressed in their autobiographical notes, the more likely
they were to be alive and well sixty years later. The difference was as much as seven years in
life expectancy. This finding has led to
a new field of gratitude research, as well as a deepening understanding of the
impact of emotions on physical health.
(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks references this study in a Thanksgiving
Message.)
The bottom line? Gratitude is the key to happiness, a positive
outlook, and a more fulfilling life.
This year, we need Thanksgiving more than ever.
Think about it. Thank God, we have so much! Take a moment to compile a list of the things
we each have. I would hope things like
food, shelter, health, and family are on many of lists. Even if we face challenges to some of life’s
essentials, we are the beneficiaries of living in an incredible time in an
amazing country. There are so many
opportunities.
What about the negatives? I do not deny that there are many items we
can put on our list. At the same time,
let’s try to be honest. The pros crush
the cons!
What can we do? Be thankful. This will help us stay positive
and remain hopeful about our country and our future.
We should consider concrete steps
to counter all the negativity out there.
One person started
a campaign to provide each of the 535 members of Congress with a pin that
had George Washington’s famous words (written to the Jewish community in
Newport): "To bigotry, no sanction; to persecution, no assistance." He felt now is the right time to reinforce
these sacred sentiments.
We can start our days with a
daily affirmation of tolerance and respect for all. Of course we believe it, but we also should
say it so our ears – and those of our children, friends, and community – hear it
so that our hearts and minds feel it.
There is a reason we say the Shema prayer out loud. It is not enough to think about our
commitment to God. We must articulate it
loudly enough to hear it.
We need to call out and condemn
bigotry and intolerance. We have seen
and heard numerous disturbing examples of hatred in recent weeks. I think they were always present and may just
be getting a little more attention now.
It doesn’t matter. It is
important to strongly condemn and express outrage at displays of hate against
any individual or group.
We need to call on all of our
country’s leadership - from our elected officials on the city state level, to
members of the House and the Senate, to President-elect Trump, to vigorously
condemn all hateful remarks – including those of those who claim to be admirers
and supporters. Abe
Foxman, former National Director of the ADL, and Alan
Dershowitz both recently made this point.
This
week, President-elect Trump expressed his “disavowing” the alt-right and called
on the country to come together. These are encouraging sentiments. Hopefully, we will hear more rejection of all
forms of hatred and more calls for unity from all those in positions of responsibility
and power. We know evil when we see it, and we need to remain
vigilant so that our leaders do the same.
Each of us should find ways to
help move our country forward. We can
each have different ways to respond to the election and the state of our
community and our country. The most
important thing is to stay positive.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the
first Chief Rabbi in Israel, famously taught: “If we were destroyed, and the
world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the
world with us, with baseless love — ahavat chinam. (Orot HaKodesh vol.
III, p. 324)
Let’s religiously and vigorously
celebrate this Thanksgiving. Let’s be
supremely grateful and, in turn, become more optimistic about the world around
us. Let us transform hatred into love;
darkness into light.
We need Thanksgiving now more than ever.
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