Even the every day can be holy. The Wegmans' opening elicited reminiscences of living and feeling at home elsewhere, of excitement for the progression of a successful grocery chain, of fulfillment of a process years in the making, and a few grumbles about crowds. The tone of each reaction matches all too well the way we talk about holiday celebrations: being together with family, the shopping and decorating that precede the day, the advent of the moment everyone sits to dinner, and the challenge of being with others. This month is full of moments that in their secular context get recognition, and when made holy have the kind of deeper impact we all need.
Thanksgiving is a day filled with rituals. There is the turkey and the traffic. There is football and family. There is pumpkin pie and the parade. As Americans, we do Thanksgiving fairly well. The re-enactment of a dinner of thanks for a harvest still resonates, especially as winter starts to set in. The fact that the Pilgrims drew on the biblical holiday of Sukkot (the Festival of Booths) helps. We honor their meal of thanks with the Native Americans by giving thanks of our own. Some use prayer, many offer thanks in turn. The reflective nature of the day, even with all the fanfare gives an aura of holiness. We turn a national holiday into a holy day when we go beyond the food and get to the feelings.
Remembering to make Thanksgiving about actual thanks is increasingly important today. One of the busiest travel days of the year, Thanksgiving sends many onto the roads and airline routes in a pilgrimage that too often becomes frustrating. We cannot change the fact that so many people moving at one time is going to cause bottlenecks, likely accidents, and otherwise crowding. We can help how we perceive the experience: is it only about my getting somewhere or is it about all of us journeying to the places we celebrate? Rushing takes us to road rage; but, pilgrimage takes us on sacred paths.
Now that Black Friday shopping has door busters and even begins Thursday evening, we need even more to focus on what we have. The frenzy to buy feeds into the sense of what do not have. By focusing on what we want to get or need to get or the sale price that we can actually afford, we spend tremendous energy on what we lack. Thanksgiving reminds us to see first what we have. We taste an abundant world, perhaps even help serve it to others, on Thursday. We desperately need to hold onto that abundance. In a mindset of abundance, we are much more likely to act ethically, much more likely to act generously, and much more likely see good in our world. In seeing good, we might even see an image of God in ourselves, in others, or in the season.
This month, we also made pilgrimage to the polls. The stakes will be bigger in next year’s elections, yet we went to the polls anyway. Ok, some went. Why? Civic duty, a chance to vote for a particular person or cause, or perhaps an ax to grind.
The prophet Jeremiah enjoined us to “pray for the completeness of the city.” In his day, the city was like a country; praying for it was active citizenship. The more we can go vote because we care about the country (not just ourselves or our interests), the more we can achieve his goal of imbuing our secular life with a bit of holiness. Responsibility to others, including our governments at all levels, when we take it reflects on our divine capacity. We make the everyday more holy by being a part of it.
If you do go to Wegmans or shopping anywhere you like, see if you can think abundantly, see if you can find ritual that adds feeling, and see if you can make the trip a pilgrimage. God is not just in houses of worship; God is where we find our best selves. For that, I am thankful.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of Chadds Ford Live. We welcome opposing viewpoints. Readers may comment in the comments section or they may submit a Letter to the Editor to: editor@chaddsfordlive.com
About Rabbi Jeremy Winaker
Rabbi Jeremy Winaker is the executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hillel Network, responsible for West Chester University, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and other area colleges. He is the former head of school at the Albert Einstein Academy in Wilmington and was the senior Jewish educator at the Kristol Hillel Center at the University of Delaware for four years. Rabbi Winaker lives in Delaware with his wife and three children.
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