Thanksgiving with boxes of Ring Dings to mark the transition. My sister had boxes of Yodels. Whether practiced over many years or a one-time occurrence, our traditions and markers of change imprint themselves on our memory. This reminder feels comforting to me this year as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving differently from before.
In this week's parasha, Vayetze, we learn that Jacob loves Rachel and that Leah, who has weak eyes, is unloved, even hated. Leah desperately wants her husband's love, so much so that she memorializes her struggle to bring him close through the names of her first three children. Finally, with the birth of her fourth son, Yehudah, she finds a sense of gratitude. She conceived again and bore a son and declared, hapa'am odeh et Adonai/this time I will praise Gd (Genesis 29:35). Changing her stance and view of her place in the world, Leah finds the strength and courage to express gratitude in the midst of her sorrow.
In his reflections on this week's parasha, Rabbi Shai Held comments about Leah, It is one thing to be grateful when everything is wonderful, when all our dreams have been fulfilled and all our hungers sated. But it is quite another to be grateful when life is complicated. He goes on to ask, Who is a Jew? One who discovers the possibility of gratitude even amid heartbreak" (The Heart of Torah, Vol. 1, p.63).
As we approach our 38th week in corona times, it may seem impossible to imagine Thanksgiving without traditions passed down l'dor vador/from generation to generation. Not gathering in close quarters around a crowded table, not getting up early to secure a good spot on the parade route and other yearly practices may feel like a tremendous loss to many. If this describes you, take time to name your pain like our ancestor Leah. And then, open your heart to something you experience differently in these times. In our home, we'll give thanks for the gift of technology which invites us to stay connected - as it did over Passover and has since then. ZOOM leadership must agree. I was delighted to read that ZOOM is adjusting its meeting limit for Thanksgiving so 'your family gatherings don't get cut short' ( read more here ). And, if you're looking for more ways to help others, you can still donate to Westside Campaign Against Hunger's Turkey Challenge .
Rewriting our menu this Thanksgiving - not just for food - will make for new memories and perhaps new traditions. Even if our practices are just for this year in these transitional times, I pray they plant seeds for future growth and well-being. In these hours before Thanksgiving, I share again these words by Kitty O'Meara. May they inspire us to live and truly be in these times.
Hodu Sameach/Happy Thanksgiving!
rg
And People Stayed Home
by Kitty O’Meara
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
