A Prayer for Thanksgiving

As we gather with friends and family for Thanksgiving, I invite you to add an payer to the Divine at the beginning of your meal. (Source is On the Doorposts of Your House, publsihed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis.)

Creative Source of all being, from You come our blessings from day to day and from year to year. The towering mountains and the shaded forests, the abundant streams and fruitful earth are Your gift to us. May we preserve this gift for our children, our grandchildren and all God's children, that they, too, may give thanks for the blessings that will be theirs.

For this land so richly blessed, we raise our voice in thanks. Your children have come to these shores from many lands in quest of liberty and new life. Many have been pilgrims to this western world. Here they found a safe haven, soil on which to prosper, and the opportunity to outgrow old fears and superstitions. For our country for its freedom promised, attained, and yet to be enlarged, for the richness of its natural blessings, and for a growing harmony that we pray will ever increase among its citizens, we give thanks.

God of justice and right, inspire all who dwell in our land with loyalty to the ideals of its founders. Give us wisdom and strength to labor for its well-being, on the firm foundation of justice and truth. Fill us with the spirit of kindness, generosity, and peace, that this land may be a beacon of light to many peoples. Return home our nation's sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, speedily and safely.

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, for You cause bread to come forth from the earth.
Ba-ruch ata Adonai Ehloheinu mehlech haolam, hamotzi lehchem min haaretz. Amen.