Think Thanksgiving is a secular holiday? Think again. In fact, it's quite possibly a direct descendant of Sukkot. Wait, what? Sukkot? The Jewish harvest festival of Booths? Yup. Robert J. Hutchinson, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible, writes in an editorial today about the biblical roots of Thanksgiving:
There is at least some evidence that the deeply pious Pilgrims – who, as Puritans, believed the Old Testament law was binding on Gentiles as well as Jews – may have been partially inspired by the Jewish harvest festival of Booths (Sukkot). Sukkot is a week-long celebration, mandated in Leviticus 23, in which the Jewish people remember and give thanks for their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. It is usually observed in October — as was the original Thanksgiving in 1621. At the very least, the concept and duty of thanksgiving is deeply rooted in the Biblical tradition. Indeed, you can actually see much of the Torah’s ceremonial commandments as being nothing less than institutionalized thanksgiving: The Sabbath, Passover, the Festival of Weeks, The Festival of Booths, the entire sacrificial system, seeks to inculcate among the people the awareness of divine graciousness.
So, when you're stuffing that Turkey (or Tofurkey, if you're one of my ilk) and candying those yams (mmm, yams) take a moment to think of our biblical ancestors, whom we have to thank for this long weekend.
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