As I awoke on Thanksgiving morning, I started a text chain reminiscing of a tradition we partook in as children; a simple trip to the bakery to pick out the cookies and pies for Thanksgiving dinner. Now, as my siblings are spread from London to Los Angeles, that simple text reclaimed tradition, and gave thanks to what was.
Thanksgiving- an entire day to express thanks, to acknowledge gratitude, both past and present, to find the good in our ever-changing world.
We often say what we are grateful for but not often to whom. This Shabbat, we read Toldot, the genealogies of not only where but who we have come from. Sometimes we know the name of a descendant, and other times we know stories but no names. Can you think of yourself as your ancestor? What did he/she envision for you? And what do we envision when we too become ancestors? Abraham had a simple yet extreme task- belief in one God. It created a people, a light unto the nations that we give thanks to be a part of today.
This Shabbat of Thanksgiving, recognize the shoulders we stand upon, and let us begin to give our shoulders to those who will stand upon them, when they look back one day and say eleh toldot, those are generations who came before me.
