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NOVEMBER 25, 2021 | The Jewish Home The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
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When Plymouth Rock Meets the Western Wall For many American immigrants in Israel, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to reconnect, reminisce, and enjoy turkey and pumpkin pie once a year BY YITZCHAK GOLDBERG
Noah
Abramowitz immigrated to Israel from Baltimore, Maryland, several years ago at the age of 18. Yehuda Berlinger moved there from West Hempstead in 1989. Gail Danieli has lived in the country for over 40 years but is originally from Maine. Harel Rosenberg was born in Israel to an Israeli father and American mother. The four are of different generations, have different life experiences, and live in different parts of the country. But what the four have in common is that, although they live in Israel and are part of Israeli society, on the fourth Thursday in November or over the following weekend, they sit down with their respective families and friends to celebrate the very American holiday of Thanksgiving. Noah, Yehuda, Gail, and Harel are not alone. Thanksgiving has continued to be popular among American immigrants in Israel who wish to hold onto something from the old country, where a majority of the local Jews celebrate the holiday. “It is the only non-religious American holiday, and the only one we ever celebrated with the ‘American people.’ Honestly, it was the only holiday where we felt a part of and joined in
on the holiday spirit with the rest of the country and our friends and neighbors,” Gail explains. Asking about their Thanksgiving traditions strikes a chord with these American Israelis. The second they begin, you can tell that they were just transported back to Thanksgivings past, sitting with friends and family at a table replete with turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, and other Thanksgiving favorites. Each one recounted the evolution of their Thanksgiving traditions in great detail, from their first Thanksgiving in Israel to their current Thanksgiving traditions. In the United States, you’ll be hard-pressed to find two families whose Thanksgiving traditions are identical; that rule applies even more so in Israel where making do with what you have and merging cultures is the name of the game.
Turkey and Torah For most of the years since he left the U.S., Noah Abramowitz’s Thanksgiving has centered around the same traditions: “Normally, I get together with friends who are also American in origin, and we sit down
for a meal of turkey, stuffing, winter soup, and such. We sometimes will put on football in the background because tradition is tradition. We then always do a trip around the table saying what we appreciate in our lives, what we normally take for granted,” Abramowitz, whose siblings also have since immigrated to the Holy Land, relates. Noah adds that he and his friends have managed to find a way to enjoy the meal to the fullest whilst adhering to strict kashrus standards. “We have the dairy parts of the meal at the beginning, and, after a short break, we eat the meat part of the meal. Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and buttered sweet potatoes first, and then spiced wine, soup, and turkey,” he explains. “There’s a lot of food factors.” Not every year goes as planned, and when
there was a worldwide pandemic that made social events difficult and unsafe, tradition took a back seat to improvisation. Noah is one of the many who had to find other Thanksgiving arrangements due to Covid-19. “Last year, for example, when there was still a lot of Corona restrictions, I made pumpkin pie and turkey soup, and ate it with my roommates, just to be yotzei (fulfill my obligation).” Abramowitz took the opportunity of not having a big meal to teach some Torah instead. “Last year, when I wasn’t having a big Thanksgiving meal anyway, I gave a shiur at Beit Prat about the machlokot between the American rabbis regarding the nature of Thanksgiving, which was given in a small forum,” he shared. For Abramowitz, celebrating a traditional kosher Thanksgiving in Israel is easy, compared to doing so in Australia, where he spent a year as a shaliach. “In Australia, you couldn’t get a kosher turkey,” he recalls, “so instead, we did the whole meal with dairy dishes, and I gave a shiur there as well on whether the holiday
