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    Thanksgiving and Sukkot Share Common Themes

    By Rabbi Shari Shamah, Jewish Life Specialist

    If you research Thanksgiving and Sukkot, you’ll find a variety of sources that seek to connect Thanksgiving with Sukkot. Instead of trying to speculate whether that first Thanksgiving (in Plymouth 1621) was a meal with Biblical origins, instead look at how Thanksgiving and Sukkot today share multiple common themes.

    Thanksgiving Word Play: In Psalms we read: Tov L’hodot La’Adonai (Psalm 92). In Hebrew hodu is the word for Turkey. Therefore, on Thanksgiving we should offer Thanks to God for Turkey.

    Sukkot in the Torah:

    חַג הַסֻּכֹּת תַּעֲשֶׂה לְךָ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בְּאסְפְּךָ מִגרְנְךָ וּמִיִּקְבֶךָ׃

    וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְּחַגֶּךָ אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ וּבִתֶּךָ וְעַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָתֶךָ וְהַלֵּוִי וְהַגֵּר וְהַיָּתוֹם וְהָאַלְמָנָה אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ׃

    After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths for seven days. You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities.

    You shall hold a festival for your God ‘ה seven days, in the place that ‘ה will choose; for your God ‘ה will bless all your crops and all your undertakings, and you shall have nothing but joy. (Deuteronomy 16:13-15)

    The Feast of Ingathering:

    וְחַג שָׁבֻעֹת תַּעֲשֶׂה לְךָ בִּכּוּרֵי קְצִיר חִטִּים וְחַג הָאָסִיף תְּקוּפַת הַשָּׁנָה׃

    You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. (Exodus 34:22)

    “Sukkot is the Festival of Ingathering; it is the time when the produce of the field, orchard and vineyard is gathered in. The granaries, threshing floors and wine and olive-presses are full to capacity. Weeks and months of toil and sweat put into the soil have finally been amply rewarded. The farmer feels happy and elated. No wonder Sukkot is ‘the Season of Rejoicing’.”

    (https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4784/jewish/What-Is-Sukkot.htm)

    Thanksgiving: A Full Belly Holiday:

    מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, הִלְכוֹת שְׁבִיתַת יוֹם טוֹב ו׳:י״ח

    …וּכְשֶׁהוּא אוֹכֵל וְשׁוֹתֶה חַיָּב לְהַאֲכִיל לַגֵּר לַיָּתוֹם וְלָאַלְמָנָה עִם שְׁאָר הָעֲנִיִּים הָאֻמְלָלִים.

    אֲבָל מִי שֶׁנּוֹעֵל דַּלְתוֹת חֲצֵרוֹ וְאוֹכֵל וְשׁוֹתֶה הוּא וּבָנָיו וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְאֵינוֹ מַאֲכִיל וּמַשְׁקֶה לַעֲנִיִּים

    וּלְמָרֵי נֶפֶשׁ אֵין זוֹ שִׂמְחַת מִצְוָה אֶלָּא שִׂמְחַת כְּרֵסוֹ

    When one eats and drinks, one must feed the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, along with the rest of the poor who are in need. But one who locks the gate of their courtyard and eats and drinks with their family and doesn’t provide food and drinks for the poor and for those who are despondent, this is not the joy of a mitzvah, but rather just the joy of a full belly… (Mishneh Torah, Rest on a Holiday 6:18)

    Thanksgiving Dinner Invitations:

    ו׳-סִדּוּר אַשְׁכְּנַז, חַגִּים, סֻכּוֹת, תְּפִלּוֹת בַּסֻּכָּה, אֻשְׁפִּיזִין א׳

    תִּיבוּ תִּיבוּ אוּשְׁפִּיזִין עִילָאִין, תִּיבוּ תִּיבוּ אוּשְׁפִּיזִין קַדִּישִׁין, תִּיבוּ תִּיבוּ אוּשְׁפִּיזִין דִמְהֵימְנוּתָא…

    יְהִי רָצון מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה’ אֱלהַי וֵאלהֵי אֲבותַי שֶׁתַּשְׁרֶה שְׁכִינָתְךָ בּינֵינוּ וְתִפְרוס עָלֵינוּ סֻכַּת שְׁלומֶךָ…

    בְּלַיְלָה רִאשׁוֹן כְּשֶׁנִּכְנַס לַסֻּכָּה קֹדֶם שֶׁיָּשַׁב לֶאֱכֹל וּבְכָל יוֹם קֹדֶם סְעֻדָּתוֹ יֹאמַר זֶה: אֲזַמִין לִסְעוּדָתִי אוּשְׁפִּיזִין עִילָאִין אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק יַעֲקב משֶׁה אַהֲרן יוסֵף וְדָּוִד

    Sit, sit, [you] lofty guests; sit, sit [you] holy guests; sit, sit [you] guests of faith…

    May it be Your will in front of You, Lord, my God and God of my fathers, that You have Your Divine Presence rest upon us, and that You spread out Your sukkah of peace upon us…

    On the first night when one enters the sukkah before sitting to eat, and on every night before the meal, one should say: I am inviting the lofty guests, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David…. (Siddur Ashkenaz, Festivals, Sukkot, Prayers in the Sukkah, Ushpizin 1-6)

    Appreciating What We Have:

    Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from every man, as it is said: “From all who taught me have I gained understanding” (Psalms 119:99). Who is mighty? He who subdues his [evil] inclination, as it is said: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Who is rich? He who rejoices in his lot, as it is said: “You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors, you shall be happy and you shall prosper” (Psalms 128:2) “You shall be happy” in this world, “and you shall prosper” in the world to come. Who is he that is honored? He who honors his fellow human beings as it is said: “For I honor those that honor Me, but those who spurn Me shall be dishonored” (I Samuel 2:30). (Pirkei Avot 4:1)

    Offering Thanks Is a Jewish Tradition:

    אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר רַב: אַרְבָּעָה צְרִיכִין לְהוֹדוֹת: יוֹרְדֵי הַיָּם, הוֹלְכֵי מִדְבָּרוֹת, וּמִי שֶׁהָיָה חוֹלֶה וְנִתְרַפֵּא, וּמִי שֶׁהָיָה חָבוּשׁ בְּבֵית הָאֲסוּרִים וְיָצָא.

    Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Four must offer thanks to God with a thanks-offering and a special blessing. They are: Seafarers, those who walk in the desert, and one who was ill and recovered, and one who was incarcerated in prison and went out. All of these appear in the verses of a psalm (Psalms 107). (Talmud Berakhot 54b)

    Common Themes of Sukkot and Thanksgiving:

    Additional Reading: