Somebody asked me if I am celebrating Thanksgiving? What a silly question! For a Jew, everyday is Thanksgiving! We thank God when we get up in the morning. We thank Him when we get dressed. We thank Him when we leave the lavatory. We thank Him when we eat. All day long a Jew is busy thanking God for all of the kindnesses which He bestows upon us every minute of our lives.
What about America’s Thanksgiving Day? Do I celebrate that? Of course I do!
I give thanks to God that I don’t live in America anymore.
I give thanks to God that I don’t live in a gentile land pretending that it’s perfectly OK to be there.
I give thanks to God that I don’t live in a gentile culture, speaking a gentile language, surrounded by gentile holidays, and gentile symbols, and gentile traditions.
I give thanks to God that I don’t live in a gentile country that constantly pressures Israel to slice up our Land like a turkey.
I give thanks to God that I don’t live in gentile country that constantly pressures Israel to cut up Jerusalem as if it were a sweet potato.
I give thanks to God that I don’t live in gentile country that pressures Israel not to eliminate a terrorist state bent on Israel’s destruction.
I give thanks to God that I don’t live in a gentile country which fosters mass assimilation.
I give thanks to God that my children grow up speaking Hebrew, and knowing who they are, without schizophrenic identities of belonging to an alien gentile nation.
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God that my children pledge allegiance to the Israel Defense Forces and not to the flag of a foreign government.
I give thanks To God that my children know that the forefather of their Nation was Avraham Avinu and not George Washington.
I give thanks to God that my children say that Jerusalem is their capital and not Washington D.C.
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God knowing that my children and grandchildren will marry Jews.
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God that I live in the Holy Land and not in the land of Disneyland.
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God that I live in Yerushalayim, ten minutes away from the Kotel.
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God that everything in the supermarket is kosher and that I don’t have to strain my eyes and put on my reading glasses to find little OUs.
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God for having answered the prayers of the Jewish People for 2000 years to return us to Zion, and for giving us a Jewish airline to get here, and for rebuilding Jerusalem and Jewish cities and settlements all over Israel, and for giving us a Jewish army that can defend us against our enemies .
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God for once again making Israel the Torah center of the world.
On Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks to God for letting me play an active part in the Redemption of our Nation just by raising my family here, sending my sons to the army, and doing whatever I can to help strengthen our Nation in our own Land.
Of course I celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Today, I am going to eat the biggest falafel I can!