Rabbi's Reflections

America's Table: Celebrating Our Diverse Roots and Shared Values

I am sure if you are like me you look forward to Thanksgiving weekend, for any number of reasons: a four-day weekend, getting together with extended family and friends, football, dozing on the couch after a bit too much turkey.  But, how many of us look forward to the Thanksgiving Day meal as an opportunity to truly of give thanks while acknowledging the blessing of freedom we have been given as Americans.  America has been known as a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities indicating a successful blending through assimilation.  But of late, the more accurate description is that of a tossed salad.  We are thrown together but when you look at us you can still see our unique identities.

In a world too often threatened by differences, Thanksgiving is a day to appreciate how our various backgrounds make America vibrant, while our democratic values unite us and keep America strong. For that reason, the American Jewish Committee created “America's Table: A Thanksgiving Reader” which tells this story and helps us express gratitude for being part of it.  The American Jewish Committee's Belfer Center for American Pluralism first published America's Table after 9/11, and distributes it annually.

Profiles of individuals, whose lives and work exemplify these themes, complement a brief narrative. The narrative is intended to be read aloud prior to the Thanksgiving meal by simply going around the table and taking turns or having a leader designate parts.  We have done this at times at our table and it has elevated the Thanksgiving experience for all of us.

To download this year’s copy click on the link below:

http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/{42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF}/AmericasTable2008.pdf

The profiles can be read at the Thanksgiving table or at another time. You also may want to read the profiles published in the 2004 and 2005 editions of America's

Table, which are provided on this Web site.

May we give thanks for the bounty of the earth which is lent to us by our creator and the family and friends who are able to enrich our lives with their love and care.

Rabbi Harvey J. Winokur