Thanksgiving Sermons
by David P. Rosenberg, M.P.A., Senior Reference Librarian – Collections, Center for Jewish History
On April 30th, 1789 George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America. On October 3rd, he declared “Thursday the Twenty-sixth Day of November next” as a day of thanksgiving. On that day, the first Thanksgiving sermon was given by the Reverend Gershom Seixas in the “Synagogue in this City” Shearith Israel. In addition to having Congregation Shearith Israel (New York, N.Y.) records, undated, 1755-1996 (click here for the finding aid with select objects digitized and linked), American Jewish Historical Society has a reprint of the “Religious Discourse” given “agreeable to the proclamation of the President of the Unites States of America, to be observed as a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer”: A religious discourse : Thanksgiving day sermon, November 26, 1789.
The American Jewish Historical Society also has at least eight 19th-century Thanksgiving sermons, including:
An English and German version of a sermon given during the Civil war by abolitionist Rabbi David Einhorn: Sermon, delivered on Thanksgiving day, November 26th, 1863.
A sermon given in 1868 by significant Talmudic scholar Marcus Jastrow. (We, of course, have his A dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic literature / compiled by Marcus Jastrow, along with hundreds of other dictionaries.) Sermon delivered in the Synagogue, Rodef Shalom, Julianna Street, on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th, 1868 / Marcus Jastrow.
“Why we should be thankful.” / Address by Henry M. Leipziger, A.M., Directory of the Hebrew Technical Institute. Delivered in Temple Beth-El, Thanksgiving day, November 24, 1887.
Address delivered before the Congregations Bnai Jeshurun and Shaaray Tefila at the Madison Avenue Synagogue, New York. Thanksgiving Day, November 30th, 1899.
Address delivered before the Congregations Bnai Jeshurun and Shaaray Tefila at the Madison Avenue Synagogue, New York. Thanksgiving Day, November 30th, 1899.
Images above: c/o the American Jewish Historical Society Collections.