The article explores the deep spiritual connection between the Jewish Exodus story and the founding of America, highlighting how gratitude and the biblical narrative of liberation shaped the nation’s moral foundation. It notes that the Pilgrims saw themselves as a new Israel, with America symbolizing their promised land, and that the foundational values of gratitude and justice are central to both Jewish and American identities. The piece also criticizes antisemitic narratives that distort the meaning of chosenness and the American narrative.
The article delves into the profound spiritual ties connecting the Jewish Exodus narrative to the American founding, emphasizing how gratitude and the story of liberation from oppression shaped the foundational morals of the United States. It states that the Pilgr’s, who saw themselves as a new Israel, viewed America as their promised land, with the Hebrew Bible guiding their beliefs. The essay further discusses how the concept of chosenness, which signifies moral responsibility rather than superiority, is central to both Jewish and American identities. It critiques antisemitic narratives that distort the idea of chosenness into accusations of conspiracy and domination, undermining the shared values of gratitude and justice.
Both sides in the political spectrum have distorted the historical narrative of America’s founding, with Christian nationalists reinterpreting the ‘chosen nation’ concept into a myth of racial destiny and exclusion. This version of the promised land belongs only to those who fit a certain demographic. Meanwhile, on the far left, activists recast both the American story and the story of modern Israel as one of colonial theft. Thanksgiving becomes an occasion to reject the American and Jewish quests for freedom. Both distortions miss the truth. The Exodus teaches that freedom must be grounded in faith, gratitude and justice.
Jewish leaders and historical figures have long recognized this connection. The Rebbe highlighted the spiritual kinship between Thanksgiving and Judaism, even calling it a Yom Tov, a day of joy. To be a Jew, Yehudi, means to give thanks. Gratitude, in Hebrew (hodaa), also means acknowledgment — the humility to see beyond oneself. That humility once united this country. In the Torah, the Israelites did not thank God because they were comfortable; they thanked Him because they had survived. The Pilgrims did the same. Half their colony died that first winter. Their thanks were not for abundance, but for Providence.
The shared Jewish and American spirit shows that gratitude is the antidote to hatred. When we give thanks, we affirm our dependence on something greater than tribe or ideology. When we forget to thank, we begin to invent enemies. Thanksgiving is more than a cultural holiday. It is a cure for what divides us. Jews, Christians, believers and skeptics should remember that America’s beginning was not about power but about thanks. Its founders saw themselves as Israel reborn, not Rome restored. Our unity was once rooted not in uniformity but in humility before something greater.
I felt that truth recently when I visited the oldest synagogue in America, the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. On the wall hangs George Washington’s 1790 letter to the congregation: ‘May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.’ Washington was not just reassuring a small Jewish community. He was defining the American promise. Gratitude, not power, secures freedom. Thanksgiving reminds us that liberty endures only when we remember to give thanks for it.