The Jewish Thanksgiving…Healthy for You?

This evening we begin the Jewish holiday of Sukkot; in English it is known as the Feast of Tabernacles.

The holiday has agricultural roots; it is the time of the fall harvest and the beginning of the rainy season in the Land of Israel. It is a joyous holiday; in the liturgy, it is referred to as Z’man Simchatenu, “the time of our rejoicing.” It also has an historical connection; it recalls the forty years of wandering in the wilderness between the Exodus from Egypt and the entrance of the Israelites into the Promised Land.

The agricultural aspect of the holiday is commemorated with the Lulav and Etrog–a palm branch decorated with myrtle and willow twigs, and a citron (a relative of the lemon)–that is held during certain prayers. The historical side is commemorated with the construction of temporary shelters called Sukkot (the singular is Sukkah); many people build these “booths” or “tabernacles” at their homes and eat their meals there for the week of the holiday–some even sleep inside them!

You may be wondering why this is such a joyous holiday if the 40 years of wandering was a punishment. According to the Torah, the people panicked after the report of the 12 spies and lost faith in Moses and God. The Lord wanted to destroy the Israelites right then and there but Moses interceded. Instead of wiping out the Children of Israel, they would wander for four decades as the old generation died out and and a new one arose. Jewish tradition teaches that the reason why we are joyous is two-fold. 1. It is the time of the harvest and everyone is happy to have food (hopefully) for the coming year. 2. During those 40 years, God did not forget the Children of Israel; on the contrary, God recalled this as a beatiful time in the relationship between the Hebrews and their Lord. God made sure that the people were protected from enemies, always had water to drink, manna to eat, and were eventually led into the Promised Land. There is indeed much for which to be grateful, which is why Sukkot is often thought of as the “Jewish Thanksgiving.”

Is Sukkot healthy for you? That depends. Like all other Jewish holidays, there is an emphasis on food–and lots of it. It is easy to overdo it, but that is our own decisions and not any fault of the holiday. The focus on gratitude, however, is good for our health. Refer to a blog post from 2019 and another from this past Thanksgiving for more information on the positive benefits of practicing gratitude. It does not just make you feel good in an emotional sense; being thankful can help improve your health.

Wishing all who celebrate Sukkot a happy and healthy holiday!

Gratitude and your Health

Here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving and this promises to be different than any one in the long history of the holiday. The pandemic has changed almost everyone’s plans. For most people, the big feast will be curtailed–not only in the number of people attending, but also in the amount of food being served. It just doesn’t make sense to make a huge turkey, 5 side dishes and 8 desserts for 2 or 3 people.

Perhaps–as I blogged about in a post at the beginning of November–we can try to make this holiday a little healthier, rather than a total lost cause.

When we think about improving our health, Thanksgiving does actually provide us an opportunity to take steps in the right direction. The holiday is all about recognizing the many blessings we have and giving thanks for them–to whomever or whatever you believe/don’t believe made it possible. At the heart of this holiday is a reminder of the importance of gratitude.

We usually think of gratitude as being more of a manners thing or a religion thing. It is, for example, polite to send a thank you note for a gift or simply thank someone for opening a door, helping out with a project, etc. Many religions stress gratitude as a key component to achieving holiness. In Judaism, we traditionally recite blessings before and after eating in order to thank God for the food. Those who pray on a regular basis the Amida prayer also thank God for: health, wisdom, justice, redemption, hearing our prayers, and peace. Judaism even has a prayer to thank God after using the bathroom!

Did you know that developing an “attitude of gratitude” has physical health benefits as well? Do an internet search of “gratitude and health” and the articles and research confirming this come from such illustrious institutions as Harvard, UC-Berkeley and USC. Gratitude has been shown to have the following positive effects on our health:

–Improved quality of sleep;

–Lowering Blood Pressure in those with hypertension;

–Increased levels of energy;

–Reducing stress and symptoms of Depression;

–and actually raising our life expectancey.

Don’t take it from me! The research shows that living with a greater sense of appreciation can make you healthier! Thanksgiving is a reminder to us of our history, but it can also be a catalyst to better–more grateful–attitudes and behaviors in the future.

While being thankful can make us feel better in the long-term, I wish I could say the same about the stuffing, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole….

Wishing you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving Holiday.

Reasons to be Thankful…Really

As the Jewish year draws to a close, many of us are thinking about our successes and failures, triumphs and tragedies over the last 13 months (it was a leap year). We also begin to think about the changes we want to make in the coming year.

One area upon which we should be reflecting is “what are we grateful for?” For sure, we have no problem coming up with what didn’t work right, what is annoying, and what is just a hot mess. Most of us probably spend a lot less time thinking about what is going right: the people in our lives, the many blessings we enjoy, the love that surrounds us. It reminds me of people who complain when a flight is delayed (which is an annoyance for sure), with little thought for the wonder of flight and little regard for the fact that just 100 years ago the same trip might have taken days or weeks.

A study reveals that developing a greater sense of gratitude is good for our health–mental and physical. It is described in this article: https://dailyhealthpost.com/gratitude-rewires-brain-happier/?utm_source=link&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=sq&utm_content=dhp&fbclid=IwAR1Jaqb8PoCWfKtVmcG8YprLSbpisoYATjfM1mR1byrtV8lVtg5C-lPcXvU.

People who developed a practice of recognizing and expressing gratitude had a more positive outlook and had less health problems according to the study. The more optimistic you are the less likely you are to have sleep disorders, inflammatory diseases and heart failure.

The neuroscience also shows that it is possible to nurture our sense of gratitude and actually rewire our brain (through new neural pathways) so that we can strengthen these healthy tendencies. Of course, this means we will emit more positive “vibes” which will rub off on others. This can create what the article calls a “virtuous cycle.”

This will not happen automatically. We need to create patterns of thankfulness. In the study, participants were asked to keep a log of positive things that happened, or things for which they were thankful each day. This along heightened the sense of gratitude. It went beyond just the rote recitation of the words “thank you,” often stated quite thoughtlessly.

Psalm 92 says “It is good to give thanks to the Lord.” This is true, but now there is scientific truth that backs it up…and we can achieve that “good” by thanking those around us too.

Thanks for reading this!