As we gather to enjoy this feast, celebrate the company
of family and friends, and give thanks for our blessings, we
invite you to make use of this annual edition of America’s
Table to reflect on the life of our nation in recent years. The
first edition of America’s Table came together shortly after
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Its verses invited
all Americans to grieve the loss of innocent lives, express
empathy with the families and friends who ache for them,
but also celebrate our unity in diversity as a nation created
by immigrants of all faiths searching for a better life.
In the Jewish tradition, the numeral 18 symbolizes life.
Eighteen years after the first edition, Americans return to
the table, wounded and weary from political arguments,
mass murders, a rise in antisemitism, xenophobia, and
other age-old hatreds renewed. But we also return to the
table grateful—grateful for life, grateful for each other, and
grateful for the democracy and freedoms it bestows, even
when those freedoms seem to interfere with our collective
pursuit of happiness.
Thanksgiving is a holiday that unites us all, whatever our
backgrounds and wherever we are in our lives. It is a day
that we can all express our gratitude for the manifold
blessings of this land—for food, shelter, and security, but
also for the strength and vibrancy of our nation, and for our
diverse roots and shared democratic values and institutions.
It is also a reminder of how far we have come as a nation,
even as we still have a way to go.
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