Is it permissible to celebrate Thanksgiving according to Halacha?
Thanksgiving is a civil holiday celebrated in North America. The point of Thanksgiving is to express gratitude for the autumn crops and express general gratitude to HaShem.
Although the holiday has Christian roots, for many years it was also considered a secular holiday celebrated by some non-Christian North Americans. The source for the custom of having a holiday feast began as early as the first year of the new settlement in the United States. The first settlers encountered many acclimatization difficulties; they were unable to grow wheat and their financial and health conditions deteriorated greatly. It was only after receiving help from the Native Americans were they able to recover from their situation. The Christian Americans who knew about the ancient Jewish Harvest festival Sukkot, in which the Jews would rejoice and thank HaShem for the agricultural produce they collected, decided to mimic them, and have a solemn feast and thank HaShem (Professor Robert Ammons, Book of Thanks, page 114).
And now the halachic problems with celebrating this day:
In the Torah it states[1], “You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow their laws”. The Rambam states[2], “It is forbidden to follow the customs of the idolaters, or to imitate them neither in dress nor in hair-trimming and like customs, for it is said...nor shall you follow their laws...”. It is major debate amongst the poskim regarding if this law applies to the gentile’s customs which have no logical reason to them or even when there is a logical reason to them.
The Rama states[3] that a Jew may not follow the customs of the gentiles if they are for the sake of licentiousness or if they are accustomed to doing it without an underlying reason. However, things that they are accustomed to doing for a useful purpose, are done out of respect, or any another reason, it would be permissible for a Jew to do such things.
The Vilna Gaon on the other hand, states that even things which the gentiles do that have a logical basis and are not licentious would be forbidden, unless it has a source in the Torah. Therefore, the Vilna Gaon holds you need two reasons to permit a Jew to follow the customs of the gentiles; its source is in the Torah, and it has a logical reason. Nevertheless, even if we rule leniently in this matter and follow the Rama, there is still room for discussion whether Thanksgiving falls under the prohibition of “do not follow their laws”.
Rav Moshe Feinstein Zt”l writes[4] that Thanksgiving is considered a custom that has no logical reason since it doesn’t make sense to celebrate and rejoice indefinitely for something that happened to a certain group people centuries ago. There have been many joyous occasions that have occurred in the past and there are no designated holidays for them, and there have been many tragedies that have occurred and also there are no designated memorial days for them. Yet, Rav Moshe Feinstein reasons that since this holiday is not a religious holiday but rather a secular holiday, it does not fall under the prohibition of do not follow their laws. Only when it is part of a religious edict would it then be an issue.
Rav Feinstein concludes that although Thanksgiving does not fall under the prohibition of do not follow their laws, It does fall under the prohibition of laws of gentiles, and it appears that his conclusion is that we should not celebrate a gentile custom.
Rav Yitzhak Hutner in his letter brings another problem. He claims that since Thanksgiving recurs every year, it has the status of a holiday. Therefore, it is forbidden for one to celebrates this holiday, which has no source in the Torah. This would be true even if the date was established on the Hebrew calendar, all the more so on the English calendar, which gives honor to their idolatry.
This is similar to what Rav Feinstein wrote in another answer[5] that it is forbidden to establish a specific day of the year and celebrate that day every year. Only the year that Thanksgiving occurred initially would it be permissible to celebrate, similar to the year that King Yanai was victorious in a war and made a feast with the Rabbis, it was only done that year alone. Another issue that arises when someone celebrates Thanksgiving is it could fall under the prohibition of do not add to the Torah.
The difference between the reason of do not follow the “laws of the gentiles and the reason of establishing a permanent holiday, says Rav Feinstein, is that according to the first reason one would not be able to celebrate Thanksgiving at all. (However, if someone has a Bar Mitzva, wedding, or some other celebration he does not have to refrain from having a celebration if it falls out on Thanksgiving, even sitting and eating with five friends would be permissible). Whereas according to the second reason it would not be an issue if one partakes in a Thanksgiving meal so long as they do not have the intention of fulfilling an obligatory meal. Even if a Jew is invited out for Thanksgiving it still would not be an issue so long as they do not plan to do it on a permanent basis. Rav Feinstein concludes that it is fitting to follow the first opinion.
Conclusion: It is praiseworthy of God-fearing Jew to refrain from celebrating Thanksgiving. However, if friends get together and decide to have a meal since most people are off from work that day, it would not be an issue so long as there are words of Torah being spoken at the table. It is best to refrain from eating turkey and other dishes that are customarily eaten on that day when establishing a meal.
Footnotes
Leviticus 18:3
Mishnah Torah, Laws of idol worship and customs of the gentiles 11:1
Shulhan Aruh, Yoreh De'ah 178:1
Igrot Moshe, vol. 8, Y”D 12
Igrot Moshe Vol. 8, Y”D 11