Observing Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, THE true American Holiday. Regardless of the reason for the holiday, Thanksgiving has emerged as a holiday different from every other one in this country. It is not a religious holiday like Christmas, which has become more Americanized than intended. It is not a day observed in respect of various American groups like President's Day or Veterans Day. It is not a "Hallmark Holiday," which exists primarily for commercial purposes, like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. It is one of the only American holidays that commemorates a particular event in our history, the other one being Independence Day. There are those that would claim that July 4th is a more American holiday than Thanksgiving, and I'm glad that there are those who would claim such, because it provides a smooth segue into my real purpose for this post.
How does one observe Independence Day? People customary gather with friends and eat burgers and dogs from the grill, and then later watch fireworks. I admit that the fireworks are a measure of observance, but how can frankfurters and hamburgers be the staple food of an American holiday when both were popular foods in Europe half a century before we ever heard of them? In this way Thanksgiving wins out over July 4th. Thanksgiving has so many truly American aspects. It begins with a parade, which is obviously not unique to this holiday, but I believe it to be a nice way to "usher in the holiday season," whatever that means. Then we get to the meat of the day; families (and I stress the word "families") get together and have a meal consisting of, but not limited to, turkey, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Now turkeys and sweet potatoes are native ONLY to North America. Another words, these are truly American foods, foods the colonists had almost certainly never seen or eaten. Next up on the agenda is football, commonly called American Football everywhere except here and in Canada. There are often basketball games played on Thanksgiving, but there is hardly a tradition. One of the teams that plays on Thanksgiving is the Dallas Cowboys, often referred to as "America's Team." Let's just say that Thanksgiving is riddled with American symbols.
People tend to disagree with me about many things, which is fine. You might disagree with my ideas from the last paragraph, which is fine. Many of you will certainly disagree with what I am about to say, but I need to jot it down somewhere, because when the topic comes up and I make my point, I often have staunch opposers who can provide no reasonable support for their opinions. Okay, here goes.
I just spent a paragraph delineating the modes of observing Thanksgiving. I'd like to transition into the observance of Jewish holidays. Most, if not all biblical Jewish holidays have observances that are clearly defined in the Old Testament. In many situations the exact particulars of the observance are left out, but the basic levels are meforash from the mouth of G-d through Moses. G-d has told us how we are to commemorate events in Jewish history and usually the reasons for each item. Since biblical times the sages have established other holidays to commemorate other events, such as Purim and the Fast of Gedalia. They decreed that certain commandments be followed in observance of these days. From off the top of my head, I can only think of one truly modern Jewish Holiday, which is not officially associated with the State of Israel, and that is Yom HaShoah, the day of Holocaust remembrance. Now since Yom HaShoah is not a biblical holiday and not a holiday established by rabbis it does not have any official observance. Many people spend the day watching Holocaust movies and hearing stories from survivors, etc. Some even accept upon themselves a fast for the day. Each person is entitled to his or her own form of observance. There is certainly no right or wrong way to do things. This past year I was invited by my friend to see a Holocaust movie and to hear a speaker. I told her that I didn't want to go because I felt that I wouldn't enjoy myself. She said that I had to go because it was Yom HaShoah, and you're supposed to be sad. This statement is categorically false. I don't feel like I need to suffer in order to commemorate those who did. Don't get me wrong, the Holocaust was a terrible event, and there are people who are still greatly affected by it. My heart goes out to those people and to their families. However, here is no biblical, or even rabbinical requirement to participate in any Holocaust related activity or event on Yom HaShoah. So next year don't bother inviting me to hear any speakers unless it's someone you genuinely think I would be interested in hearing. And if I happen to politely decline the offer, PLEASE don't make me feel bad about it. Who are you to judge?

I'm putting a double space here just so you all know that this has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the post. After I finish a post I usually read it over once it's been published just to make sure that everything is spelled correctly and the sentences are grammatically and stylistically accurate. If there are any stnanks then I fix them. This time when I went to fix something I noticed something sinister. The evil blogspotters have a built-in editor, which modifies the text of the post to fit nicely onto the web page. This time I noticed that each time I put a period there was only once space before the next sentence. This is awful, AWFUL! Almost as bad as the Jets' run defense. Since when did blogspot take over for Microsoft Word as the Guru of Grammar? Why am I bothering to put two spaces after my periods if they're just going to edit one of the spaces out? In an effort to express solidarity for our missing spaces I am going to continue to put two spaces after each period. Don't worry about it guys, I still haven't figured out which one of you gets deleted, the first or the second, but even if I do figure it out I won't tell you. I want you to know that each of you is important, and you will not be forgotten. This cold one goes out to those spaces that got sent up the river.