Midtown Interfaith Association
Service of Thanksgiving
Sunday Evening, November 18, 2001 (7:00 PM)
North Riverside Baptist Church Brevity is the Heart of Holiness

Good evening. The biblical psalmist proclaimed: Hinei mah tov u'mah na-yeem, shevet acheem gam yachad! "How good it is and how pleasant, when brothers (and sisters) can gather together!"

Let me express my thanks to the Midtown Interfaith Association and to the good people from the North Riverside Baptist Church for making possible our celebration this evening. To Pastor Madden -- who so ably leads both the M.I.A. and this sacred congregation -- Thank you for your gracious hospitality.

Hinei mah tov u'mah na-yeem, shevet acheem gam yachad! "How good it is and how pleasant, when brothers (and sisters) can gather together!" Just think about how good it is and how pleasant that we live in a country and a community where the Rabbi feels welcome -- and joyful -- preaching from the pulpit of a Southern Baptist Church!!

At our Midtown Interfaith Association meeting earlier this week, I was asked what the title of my words for you this evening might be -- and frankly -- I didn't have a clue. I'm not good at coming up with sermon titles. Monsignor McCarron had a suggestion though -- and I think that his idea is a fine place to start. So, how's this for a title: "Brevity is the heart of holiness!"

I only pray that my words might be in keeping with the thought!
As we begin the week that will lead up to our national observance of Thanksgiving, perhaps it would benefit us to recall, just briefly, the circumstances of the first few Thanksgiving observances -- at least the first such observances on this continent.

The very first celebration of Thanksgiving, we all know, took place nearly four centuries ago in 1621. Some ninety North American natives and fifty-six English Pilgrim Settlers together celebrated the bountiful harvest that year in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Thus began the Thanksgiving traditions on these shores.

The next official Thanksgiving took place more than one and a half centuries later. The year was 1789. Our country was brand new. And President George Washington declared November 26th of that year to be a day of thanksgiving and prayer.

It took another three quarters of a century for Thanksgiving to become an ongoing observance. The year was 1863 and President Abraham Lincoln established the last Thursday of each November as a "day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father." From then on, Thanksgiving become an annual national observance.

A few of the specifics regarding the date of Thanksgiving have since been changed. But for the most part, the holiday has been an ongoing annual observance for the past 138 years.

Remember -- "Brevity is the heart of holiness." In that spirit -- that's the history of our national Thanksgiving observances.

Now -- being the Rabbi -- I guess it's my duty now to give you the Jewish connection.

The Jewish connection to Thanksgiving.
We are all well aware that the Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving, came ashore in North America as a consequence of their spiritual inclinations . They were very religious souls who, like our biblical patriarch, Abraham, left their homeland and crossed over into a world and a life that was filled with danger and uncertainty -- all so that they could serve God in a manner that properly suited them. Think of the enormous faith they placed in God's goodness and God's providence!

It makes great sense that when the time came for the Pilgrims to celebrate that first Thanksgiving, that they looked to scripture for guidance. In that regard, much of their inspiration was found in the Bible's descriptions of the festival of Sukkot.

Sukkot -- Sukkot is the Jewish Fall harvest festival. In ancient Jewish custom, Sukkot was one of three annual pilgrimage festivals -- a time when Jews throughout the kingdoms of Judah & Israel would bring special sacrifices to the great Temple in Jerusalem. These included sacrifices of thanksgiving.

Of course, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed nearly two thousand years ago -- and prayer has since replaced sacrifices as our vehicle for acknowledging the special role that God plays in all of our lives. Nowadays, Sukkot is a time when we acknowledge nature's splendor; and when we thank God for all that sustains us.

Think of that... A sacred festival that focuses on God's providential goodness... nature's bounty... celebrating the Fall harvest... Of course the faithful Pilgrims found in Sukkot a perfect model for their first Thanksgiving observance!

That's the obvious connection that links our national observance of Thanksgiving to Jewish tradition .

There is, though, much more to the connection. I suspect that the Pilgrims modeled that first Thanksgiving observance after Sukkot for yet an additional reason. And that reason is far more subtle... and in a way far more spiritual than the obvious connections between the Jewish observance and the Pilgrims' celebration.

Funny thing about harvests and harvest festivals. They are risky ventures. The success or failure of a harvest is almost entirely dependent upon factors that are way beyond any farmer's control. Nature happens. And sometimes nature happens in unpredictable, and unfortunate ways. Even slight variations in temperature or precipitation can have dramatic effects upon a harvest. Successful harvests happen only when environment and climate enable success. Harvests are fragile things.

Store that thought away for just a moment.

Another thought. The origins of Sukkot are found in our shared sacred scriptures -- mostly in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus -- a part of which we read a short time ago. In church circles, ya'll often refer to Sukkot as the "Feast of Tabernacles." And that's a perfectly good description -- for the Hebrew word "Sukkot" -- is the plural form for the word "booth." Our ancestors were instructed to construct and live in a booth, or a tabernacle, called a sukkah -- during the festival of Sukkot. Nowadays, many Jews will build their own sukkahs, in their backyards, during the "Feast of Tabernacles."

In part, in ancient times there was a practical purpose for building and living in that tabernacle -- It enabled our ancestors to gather the harvest from their fields without having to travel great distances every day.

But there is another reason why the sukkah is a central symbol for that Fall harvest festival. There is something about the sukkah that adds a powerful, deeply spiritual component to the observance of the Feast of tabernacles.

Consider the rules for building a sukkah.

• A sukkah must be a temporary structure. No need to get a building permit to construct a sukkah -- It is designed to last for only a week or so.
• A sukkah must be constructed in the open air, under the sky -- not in a room or under a tree. By design, a sukkah must be exposed to the elements.
• In general, a sukkah is constructed in a very simple fashion, with four walls and a removable covering.
• The covering for a sukkah's roof must be of material that grows from the soil. (Many folks use corn stalks.) It must be loose enough so that once can see the sky through it -- yet thick enough so that it casts an adequate shadow.

Temporary. Simple. Out in the open -- exposed to the elements. Built intentionally as a structure that affords little protection from harsh weather. A good gust of wind would knock most sukkahs down.

In short, the sukkah -- the central symbol for the harvest festival around which the Pilgrims modeled their Thanksgiving observance -- that symbol is an embodiment of frailty.

Think of that -- a festival that celebrates uncertainty and frailty -- and what's more -- a holy time that sanctifies God's role in that uncertainty and that frailty. What a powerful thought!!

And now, think back to those first Thanksgiving observances here in North America.

Think back to the Pilgrims. They arrived in Plymouth in December of 1620 -- having set sail on the Mayflower with 102 souls. By the time they celebrated that first Thanksgiving less than one year later, they had lost 46 of their number. Talk about a difficult year!! And yet -- theirs was a gathering of Thanksgiving!!

And think of the next Thanksgiving observance nearly 200 years later. Ours was a brand new country. So much promise. AND so much uncertainty. Could our singularly unique experiment in democracy possibly succeed? Would our union of disparate states remain united for the good of all? No one knew. Our nation's founders could only pray, and hope, and work.... And they did, in a genuine spirit of Thanksgiving!!!

And then think of the Thanksgiving observance three quarters of a century later -- at perhaps our country's most difficult and uncertain hour -- in 1863 -- during a terrible war between states... and between brothers -- That's when the President declared a "day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father."

Frailty, uncertainty, hardship...These realities of human experience made up the core of those first Thanksgiving observances. Like our biblical predecessors' observance during the "Feast of Tabernacles," our country's founders knew well that God is present at all times. And that it takes a very special kind of spiritual strength and maturity to be able to thank God for all that life embodies.

Especially this year, with so much uncertainty swirling in our national life... with the lesson of life's frail and temporary nature so freshly seared into our consciousness -- with so much potential for fear, and anger and hostility -- especially this year, we must remind ourselves that it takes a very special kind of spiritual strength to be able to thank God for the ALL of Creation.

Let us, this Thanksgiving, when we gather with our families and friends (let us) bring to mind just how much extra meaning went into the hugs we gave our children and our partners when we bid them good night on September 11th. Let us, this Thanksgiving, bring to mind the sincerity of the prayers we prayed in the days that followed. Let us, this Thanksgiving, bring to mind all of the moments since that time, when we were extra mindful of life's wonderful ordinary blessings. It takes a special kind of spiritual strength to be able to thank God for all that life embodies. Let us be thankful.

Brevity is the heart of holiness.

Good night.

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