Dear clients and friends:
I hope this letter finds you, your family, and all your friends healthy and safe! In just a few hours, so many of us will gather with our loved ones to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, which is so important to the social fabric of our nation. This has not been an easy year to get through, and yet, we made it to the holiday season, so let’s enjoy it!
I’d like to take just a few moments of your time to share with you my boundless belief in the concept of optimism, and how important it can be to our wellbeing. Let’s first start with the fact that after George Washington declared our nation’s first Thanksgiving Day in 1789, a further 74 years passed without another such holiday, until President Abraham Lincoln made it an annual tradition in 1863 – in the middle of our unbearable Civil War.
And what did Lincoln say in his Thanksgiving Proclamation? He said: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.” If that’s not optimism, I don’t know what is!
Let’s also remember that by the time the original Pilgrims gathered for their first Thanksgiving in 1621, half of them had died by disease and starvation. Yet, undeterred, these deeply religious folks, with their optimistic faith, gave thanks to G-d for a bountiful harvest, after a year of scarcity and sickness! And so, our Thanksgiving holiday is an
optimistic one, and we celebrate it by gathering and showing our gratitude for the bounty that we have received, and our hope for an even better future!
Similarly, in the Jewish faith, one of the central tenets is that we must always try to stay positive and never give up our hope, no matter how trying the circumstances may be. And so today, let’s all try to be similarly resilient and to give thanks on this, our uniquely American national holiday, and encourage ourselves and others to believe and trust in a better tomorrow. Let’s all be strong, and let’s be brave!
From our family to yours, we wish you all a safe, happy, and wonderfully optimistic Thanksgiving holiday!
