The Charlotte Jewish News - November 2008 - Page 31 •
Thanksgiving, a Puritan Pesach
By Ted Roberts, the Scribbler on
the Roof
It’s strange how the human
mind, like the thermostat on my
den wall, turns itself on and off.
Like the other day my mind
transported me back fifty years; an
afternoon in 1951 when my wide-
ranging imagination contemplated
supper. Hmm, probably those egg-
battered veal chops my mother
made so well.
It was a legitimate topic for
contemplation since it was 5
o’clock in the afternoon - supper
was near. But it was sort of inap
propriate since I was in my-
American History classroom and
the professor was lecturing about
what we then called “Indians.”
These noble Native Americans
hated breaded veal chops. And
they could never have fifed one up
because they were totally free of
matzoh meal, guns, rum, iron skil
lets, and the circular concept we
call the wheel, until those pale-
faced Europeans came along. So, I
mentally dumped my platter of
veal chops in the kitchen garbage
as the professor’s voice rang out
loud and clear: “Some historians
believed that, after the Diaspora,
the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel reap
peared out of the mists of North
America as the Algonquin,
Narragansett, and Iroquois Native
Americans.”
Can you believe this? Though
he had a PhD and I only had a Bar
Mitzvah certificate on my bed
room wall, I knew he was wrong
because I never heard of a Native
American doing up a golden fifed,
matzoh meal-breaded veal chop
like my mama and her sisters used
to make.
But he was right in that some
historians held to this belief.
Doesn’t Narragansett sound a little
like Naftali.
• But those friendly New
England Aborigines brought com
and turkey to that first
Thanksgiving feast - not Tzimmus
or brisket in dark onion sauce.
So, as usual, I. consulted my
rabbi. I cornered him in his study
and asked him straight out, “Since
maybe, perhaps, it could be, that
the Massapeka tribe of North
America is the Manasseh tribe of
Squanto and friend.
Israel, why isn’t Thanksgiving a
Jewish holiday?”
His eyes appraised my sanity
like Noah’s anonymous wife
looked at him when he announced
his naval construction program in
Dry Gulch Valley. “Have a chair,
Ted. Here, have a nice chocolate
chip cookie. Lean back and
breathe deeply.”
He was no stranger to my quest
for Judaica. He began to sound
like my history professor of long
ago. And his eyes bored into mine
like he thought I was asleep and
dreaming of veal chops. The paral
lels, he claimed, were more appar
ent between those hungry Puritans
- not the noble Native Americans -
and our ancestors.
That’s what he tried to say, but
I mshed on to elaborate. I told him
that I had checked my biblical
concordance and found the
Hebrew word “Todah” twenty
times from Leviticus to Jonah -
and guess what it meant?
Thanksgiving, that’s what.
He nodded in agreement like
wise King Solomon learned to do
when each of his thousand wives
complained about the excess jew
elry, cosmetics, and gold spangled
gowns of the other 999. Such a
king. A thousand wives and he
never paid a cent of alimony. And
you can believe he sat down to a
hot supper every night. No wonder
he was smart enough to write
Ecclesiastes.
Anyhow, my rabbi and I, after a
few more chocolate chip cookies,
decided that yes it was
Halachically correct to celebrate
Thanksgiving. So many Jewish
parallels. And not coincidentally.
Those dark-robed Puritans (don’t
they look like Chasids in the paint
ings?) worshipped, with minor
exception, the Lord God of Hosts
who thunders in the Chumash
more than the socially conscious
Allfather of the prophets, or the
mushy narrator of Song of Songs
and Ruth, or the philosopher-king
of Ecclesiastes.
Many of them were fluent in
Hebrew, we are told by historians.
And they certainly saw their flight
from the English church as analo
gous to our Egyptian Exodus
many millennia earlier; the waves
of the Atlantic instead of the sand
dunes of Sinai.
That first Massachusetts Bay
Thanksgiving was all about grati
tude for a bountiful, nourishing,
harvest and a successful, watery
exodus from England and its
repressive church. To our Jewish
ears, it sounds a lot like Passover
and Shavuous; with maybe a touch
of Chanukah’s chauvinism. If it
doesn’t feel Jewish enough for
you, stuff the turkey with matzo-
hbrei and sing Dayenu. Crown the
evening with a prayer for America
and Israel.
Ted’s blogsite: www.scrib-
blerontherooftypepad.com; web
site: www.wonderwordworks.com.
Ideas for Enjoying a Jewish Thanksgiving
By Julie Hilton Danan
(JTA) — Thanksgiving. The
holiday brings to mind pleasant
images of families gatherings
around roasted turkey, cranberries
and pie.
Perfectly compatible with
Jewish observance, the holiday is
a traditional favorite of Jewish
families. It always falls on a
Thursday, never on the Sabbath.
The classic main dish is a turkey,
available in kosher form. And
gratitude for one’s blessings is
something all Americans can share
in feeling and expressing.
Here are a few ideas to make
Thanksgiving a special family
day:
* Do good deeds together. The
classic Jewish way of enjoying our
blessings is to share them with
others. You could donate money to
organizations that fight hunger, or
your time to serve meals at a com
munity Thanksgiving dinner for
the needy or to deliver meals to
shut-ins.
* Say blessings. I encourage
families to say the Hebrew bless
ings for wine and bread before the
festive Thanksgiving meal. Or you
could go further and adapt a
Hassidic Passover custom of ask
ing everyone present to add a drop
of his or her own wine to the gob
let before saying the blessing. As
you do so, tell one thing that you
are thankful for this year.
* Say grace after meals.
Through this prayer we can thank
God for our many blessings of
food and nourishment. Both the
traditional and shorter more con
temporary versions of the “Birtkat
HaMazon” are found in many
prayer books.
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-
Shalomi has written a special
Thanksgiving prayer which can
supplement the “Birkat
HaMazon.” The English version
of Rabbi Schachter-Shalomi’s
prayer reads: “In the days of the
pilgrims, the Puritans, when they
arrived at these safe shores, suf
fered hunger and cold. They sang
and prayed to the rock of their sal
vation. And you, standing by
them, roused the caring of the
natives for them, who fed them
turkey and com and other delights.
Thus you saved them from starva
tion, and they learned the ways of
peace with the inhabitants of the
land. Therefore, feeling grateful,
they dedicated a day of
Thanksgiving each year as a
remembrance for future genera
tions. ... Thus do we thank you for
all the good in our lives ...”
This prayer is available in
Hebrew and English in a loose-
leaf collection, “Hashir
Vehahevach” (“The Song and The
Praise”) through the ALEPH
Alliance for Jewish Renewal, ale-
phajr@aol.com.
* Create a Thanksgiving seder.
In addition to the blessings and
customs mentioned above, you
could create a Thanksgiving seder
plate and place objects on it which
signify the blessings of our nation
and/or things for which you are
personally thankful. Besides dis
playing and explaining these
objects at the meal, you could also
read or tell stories of the first
Thanksgiving, followed by a
retelling of your family’s own
saga of finding freedom in
America. This could be oral, or the
more ambitious might choose to
create a hand-crafted memory
book that is brought out each year.
Round the meal out by singing
Hebrew songs of thanks, as well as
American folk songs. This type of
seder is especially meaningful if
shared among families of different
religions and backgrounds.
* Invite someone far from
home to Thanksgiving dinner.
Check with your synagogue for
ideas. If possible, also invite the
person to phone home at your
expense. Invite people outside *
your usual social circle to the
Thanksgiving feast. If they are
new Americans, they may have
much to share about the blessings
of this country that we often take
for granted.
Julie Hilton Danan is the
author of “The Jewish Parents’
Almanac” (Jason Aronson). She is
spiritual leader of Congregation
Beth Am in San Antonio, and is
studying for rabbinic ordination
with ALEPH Alliance for Jewish
Renewal. She wrote this column
for the on-line magazine Jewish
Family & Life! www.jewishfami-
ly.com, which first published it. It
was distributed by Jewish
Telegraphic Agency. This version
appeared on the website of the
Phoenix Jewish News.
Thanksgiving Recipes
(Continued from previous page)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Fit
a large roasting pan with a V-rack.
Rinse the turkey in cold water and
pat it dry. In a sm. food processor,
make a rub by combining the sage,
rosemary, garlic, and kosher salt.
Chop till well-combined, but not
pureed, or chop very fine by hand.
(Use at once or herbs will turn
black.) Massage the rub over the
outside of the turkey and in the
cavity as well, really rubbing it in.
Dust the turkey all over with
paprika. Lastly spread garlic oil
over turkey, pressing it into skin.
When stuffing is completely cool,
pack the turkey cavity and neck
cavity with stuffing, patting the
openings until stuffing is firm. Put
the turkey on rack in the roasting
pan and tent it with aluminum foil.
Roast at 450 degrees for 1 hr.
Lower the temperature to 400
degrees and roast the turkey for
Apple Bundt Cake
1 hr. more. Remove the foil, baste
the turkey with pan drippings, and
carefully rotate the pan in the
oven. Roast for 30 minutes more.
Test turkey for doneness by
pricking thigh with a fork. If the
juices run clear when the thigh is
pierced, the turkey is done.
(Another sign of doneness is the
skin color; it should be a rich gold
en brown.) Remove the turkey
from the oven and transfer it to a
serving platter.Yield: 6-8 generous
servings.
Cranberry-Fig Chutney
Ingredients:
Grated zest of 2 med. oranges
2 bags (12 oz. each) fresh cran
berries, rinsed, drained, and
picked over
8 dried figs, chopped
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
(about 1 sm.)
1/4 c. raisins
3 c. sugar
3 T. finely chopped, peeled fresh
ginger
1 t. coarse kosher salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. cayetme pepper
1 t. dry mustard
Preparation:
After removing zest from
oranges, cut off the peels and dis
card. Cut oranges into sm. pieces.
Combine the orange zest and seg
ments and all the remaining ingre
dients in a large, heavy saucepan.
Over med.-high heat, stir occa
sionally, until the sugar dissolves.
8-10 min. Increase the heat to high
and boil rapidly, stirring more fre
quently, for 20-30 min., till the
cranberries pop and the mixture
cooks down to a jam-like consis
tency. Remove the pan from the
heat and let cool. (The chutney
will thicken as it cools.) Serve at
room temp. The chutney will
keep in an airtight container in
the refrigerator for a week. Yield:
5-1/2 cups.
Apple Bundt Cake (Pareve)
Ingredients:
2-1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2-1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 c. orange juice
2-1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted mar
garine
1-1/2 c. sugar, plus 2/3 c. sugar
3 extra Ig. eggs
4 med. McIntosh apples, peeled,
cored, and roughly chopped
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. grated orange zest
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 10” Kugelhopf
(bundt) pan and set aside. In a
bowl, whisk together the flour and
baking powder; reserve. In a cup,
stir together the orange juice and
vanilla; reserve.
In the bowl of an electric mixer
fitted with the paddle attachment,
cream the margarine and 1-1/2
cups sugar till light and fluffy. ^
Beat in the eggs, one at a time,
beating well after each addition. In
l/3s, add the flour mixture to the
beaten egg mixture — alternating
with the orange juice mixture.
Combine the batter well. In a 3rd
bowl, toss the chopped apples
with 2/3 c. sugar, cinnamon, and
orange zest. Pour 1/2 of the batter
into the prepared pan. Top it with ,
1/2 of the apple mixture. Cover
apples with remaining batter.
Sprinkle remaining apple mixture’*
on top. Bake cake for 1 hr., or till
a cake tester inserted in the center
comes out just clean. Transfer to a
wire rack and cool completely. To
serve, invert cake onto platter.'
Yield: 10-12 servings.