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May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: 'Noodles,' Asian style is a carb sub, sure. But they are also amazingly delicious and colorful

April 19, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When violence seems the only answer

Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy

Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Harvard Health Letters: Can you die of a broken heart?

Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds

Nora Schultz: Oxytocin helps beat booze cravings

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: Middle Eastern cuisine meets Italian delicious with this lentil and eggplant pastitsio

April 17, 2013

Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom

Geoffrey Mohan: Can computers decode dreams? Researchers take a first step

Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 heart-healthy eating tips help cut saturated fat but not taste

Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Told your child has sensory processing disorder? Seek a second opinion

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Corn and Curry Add Zing to Chilled Soup

April 15, 2013

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Death of Education?

Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral

Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators

Kristin Ohlson : The loneliest fight

The Kosher Gourmet by Dana Velden: A tasty, rich dish that hints at spring's arrival while still anchored in a favorite winter staple


Jewish World Review Nov. 22, 2010 / 15 Kislev, 5771

The Day Before

By Paul Greenberg




http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It's the busiest day of the year at the nation's crowded airports. And in many a kitchen. Imagine the hubbub that preceded the first Thanksgiving in American history. As every good Southerner knows, that festive occasion took place not in New England's harsh climes but in beautiful, lush Virginia. To be specific, at the Berkeley Plantation outside Williamsburg on December 4, 1619. You can look it up, as Casey Stengel used to say.

Yet it is the Pilgrim thanksgiving that has shaped our celebration of the holiday. Why is that? Because it is the New England tradition that has dominated the American mythos -- political, literary and religious. From the first, Southerners have been cultural outliers.

The Southern cavaliers may have sought to bequeath their manners to future generations, but the continuing dynamism of American society is largely a product of those stubborn Pilgrims and, later, Puritans. Both made of adversity a blessing, and saw in every twist of fortune a test and, soon enough, a text.

William Bradford's history "Of Plymouth Plantation," a mix of the pious and practical, the inspired and tedious, the clear-eyed and obscure, the obvious and mysterious, remains a latter-day testament -- as mixed an assortment in its way as any Talmudic treatise.

If only the Pilgrims had been a little quicker, and better navigators, they might have made that first Thanksgiving at Berkeley Plantation -- instead of winding up in drafty Massachusetts. With their usual genius for infusing material challenges (and any other kind) with spiritual qualities, the Pilgrims saw in their blunder a providential hand at work.

Rather than curse their luck, the Pilgrims embraced their trials. Which may be why they endured. And prospered. A people who think like that are hard to discourage. They could scarcely glance at a tree, a leaf, a rock without seeing a Sign and Wonder.

When the good times -- namely, bare survival -- finally came to Plymouth Plantation, the Pilgrims wasted no time throwing a bash for some earlier settlers in the neighborhood, Chief Massasoit and 90 of his braves. The newcomers had come through a bleak season and a sea of troubles, and thanks were in order. And what better way to offer thanks than to invite the neighbors over?

It would take decades before the Puritans, who came in the Pilgrims' wake, made Thanksgiving a regularly scheduled holiday. Indeed, there may be nothing more un-Pilgrim than today's fixed day of thanksgiving on a given Thursday every November. Talk about taking divine providence for granted. The presumption of it!

Thanksgiving is now routinely scheduled by presidential proclamation, and put on the calendar well in advance for the convenience of busy travelers. Is that an act of hubris, or of faith? I vote for faith. It's also a tribute to experience. The American Dream isn't just a prospect. Again and again it has been realized.

Hard times, good times, they alternate. But faith persists in the American character. For that reason Thanksgiving may be the most American of holidays. A routine thankfulness is part of the national genius. What we expect, we work for, and thus bring about. It takes grace to remain unapologetic for material wellbeing. Indeed, to expect it. To plan on it.

Faith might be defined as thankfulness in advance. What a strange, unconsciously spiritual achievement Thanksgiving is. Not that Americans can take credit for it. As the poet knew, the land shaped us before we shaped the land. And this bountiful land has made us unafraid of grace, even led us to expect it. On schedule.

It is the Calvinist paradox in practice -- all is fated, yet only a people who work at it can demonstrate the intent of Providence, and prove themselves elect.

It is the day before, the years before, that make any thanksgiving possible. The Pilgrims and Puritans were no believers in cheap grace; it had to be worked for. Diligently. Which is how faith is kept from slipping over into the pride that goeth before a fall.

These 17th-century wanderers did not come to this new world to claim vast estates so they could live off the labor of others. They were Massachusetts men long before they saw Massachusetts. They were New Englanders while still in England. They did not set out to found another colony for the greater glory of an earthly monarch, but thought of themselves as sojourners here below called to found a city on a hill, whose light would shine for all the world to see. They did. It would be called America.

Long before they left old Plymouth to found the new, they had become exiles in spirit -- different in their ways and beliefs and in their concept of themselves. As different as this republic is from the old monarchies of Europe. No wonder this new land would one day be called Mother of Exiles.

That pilgrim spirit, and understanding, still lives in new Americans fleeing old tyrannies. "It's sometimes easy to forget how special America really is," says Marco Rubio, the new senator-elect from Florida. "But I was raised by exiles ... by people who clearly understand how different America is from the rest of the world." Across the span of the centuries, his is the pilgrim spirit. And so is America's.

Paul Greenberg Archives

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