I've always been told that Jews do not celebrate Thanksgiving which I questioned. Jews have been in North America since the 16oo's and Thanksgiving didn't start until the 1700's. Why wouldn't they participate? According to Rabbi Angel they did. Here's his article. And for all of my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day

*by Rabbi Marc D. Angel

President George Washington proclaimed Thursday November 26, 1789 as a day
of national thanksgiving to God "for His kind care and protection of the
people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal
and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence in
the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degreee of
tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the
peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish
constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly
the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty
with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing
useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors
which He has been pleased to confer upon us."

The Jewish communities in the United States of that time rejoiced in the
role they played in establishing this new country. Already in 1784, leaders
of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City (founded 1654) had sent a
letter to Governor George Clinton on behalf of "the ancient congregation of
Israelites" in which they said: "Though the society we belong to is but
small, when compared with other religious societies, yet we flatter
ourselves that none has manifested a more zealous attachment to the sacred
cause of America in the late war with Great Britain....And we now look
forward with pleasure to the happy days we expect to enjoy under a
constitution wisely framed to preserve the inestimable blessings of civil
and religious liberty."

A new country was born, and the Jews had participated in its formation. They
were equal citizens in the United States. This was not true of Jews in any
country in Europe or in the Muslim world. American Jews were the first in
the history of the diaspora to be citizens on an equal footing with their
non-Jewish neighbors, and to have actually participated in fighting for the
independence of a new nation.

When President Washington called for a day of Thanksgiving, Jews observed
this day with joy and pride. At Shearith Israel in New York, the Rev.
Gershom Mendes Seixas arranged a suitable service of prayer, and delivered
an address in which he called upon Jews "to support that government which is
founded upon the strictest principles of equal liberty and justice."

In subsequent years, days of Thanksgiving were similarly celebrated at
Shearith Israel and the other early Jewish congregations. These days were
invariably proclaimed in the name of the American people, and were meant to
be observed by each citizen according to his or her own faith. In 1817, New
York State established an annual observance of Thanksgiving Day. Shearith
Israel held services on each subsequent year--except 1849 and 1854. In
those two years, the Governor of the State had addressed his proclamation
specifically to "a Christian people" instead of to Americans of all faiths.
Other than these two years, Thanksgiving has been proclaimed for all
Americans, each according to his and her own faith.

It is sometimes heard in Orthodox Jewish circles that Thanksgiving Day is a
"non-Jewish holiday" and should not be observed by religious Jews. This view
is historically wrong and morally dubious. Thanksgiving Day is a national
American holiday for all residents of the United States, of all religions.
Jews participated in Thanksgiving from the very beginning of the United
States' history. This national holiday belongs to Jews as to all other
Americans. It is altogether fitting that Jews join fellow Americans in
observing a day of Thanksgiving to the Almighty for all the blessings He has
bestowed upon this country. Jews, in particular, have much reason to thank
God for the opportunities and freedoms granted to us in the United States.

In his famous letter to the Jewish community of Newport in 1790, President
Washington wrote: "May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in
this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other
inhabitants--while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig
tree and there shall be none to make him afraid." These are words,
expressive of the American spirit at its best, for which we can be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I don't know about you but November is probably the most dismal and depressing month of the year. Everything is gray! The sky is gray, the trees are gray, and this year my hair is turning gray! Oh what a lamentable month.
To make matters worse, doctors start telling their patients to get the flu shot. Now here's where I have a real dilemma. Where does the flu vaccine come from? Last year's flu. So, will last year's flu protect me from this year's flu bug? I'm thinking probably not. And definitely not if I had the flu of 2007. I already have antibodies. Doctors will argue that the antibodies built from the flu vaccination will help me ward off this year's flu. Okay, does that mean the antibodies my body made while fighting with last year's flu are irrelevant? Because they are real antibodies they don't work as well as the ones made by pharmacies?
Hmmmmmmmm. I can't help but wonder if the flu vaccination is not another one of those huge scams made to promote the sale of something that is unnecessary so pharmacies can make spectacular profits.
I have a friend who refused to give her children any vaccinations of any kind. She did not believe in them. Her argument was if the shot made your kid ill for a few days after the shot was administered then it threw the child's immune system into a tizzy and weakened the child. She also quoted Stats that showed how many kids had allergic reactions to vaccinations, how many died from them, etc. etc. She also thought that there could be a major link between vaccination reactions and Muscular Dystrophy, a disease her husband had developed.
She had a compelling argument, that's for sure. But, nonetheless the school system gave her a hard time and refused to let her kids in school for fear they might contaminate the other kids. She ended up hiring a lawyer. Her kids are some of the healthiest I have ever seen and turned into very healthy adults. My friend argued if kids were breast fed for over a year and ate fresh organic food all their lives minus sugar, glutens, breads, dairy products, and chemicals, then that was all that was necessary to create a happy and healthy body.
For my friend, the Hepatitis vaccine was nothing short of a nightmare. I have to admit my nursing background made me balk at the hepatitis vaccine too. When it first came out it had been made from infected humans. My question was what else was that person infected with? Most of the patients I knew who had hepatitis C also had a myriad of other illnesses that were almost as potentially fatal as the Hep. In all good consciousness, I could not take the chance and subject my kids to this. And sure enough, statistics showed several kids with allergic reactions, several developing the very disease the vaccine was supposed to prevent etc. I was glad I decided against it. Fifteen years later, I am told the vaccine is now synthetic and all of those problems no longer happen. Great. I'm still not going to line up to get it.
A far greater concern that I have is the rise in tuberculosis once more. How did that happen? Immigrants who were not checked properly before being allowed into the country. It's a simple test with almost immediate results. Tuberculosis is one of those horrible diseases that takes a while for symptoms to show up. It not only affects the lungs, it can also get into the kidneys. Many people world-wide die from TB every year.
Now, far be it for me to tell people not to get a flu shot. Every good doctor insists that people need it. And maybe they are right. But truth be told, I have yet to hear anyone give me an argument that is sensible enough to make me reconsider my stand on flu shots.
By the way, every autumn I get a cold and last year I did have a high temperature with it. Did I have 'flu like' symptoms? No. Haven't had any since before 2001. And most people I talk to, whether they have the flu shot or not, have not had flu-like symptoms for years.
Personally, I think we'd be far wiser to spend the money that goes towards manufacturing flu shots into testing people from foreign countries for tuberculosis, a far deadlier disease, and treating them so the disease does not hit epidemic proportions again, murdering thousands.
Oh, but wait. That would make sense.
And by the way, I have never had a flu shot.