Celebrating Thanksgiving Together

This year we will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of our Thanksgiving Interfaith Service. The Service was started by my predecessor, Rabbi Phil Aronson, Dr. Barry Johnson from JupiterFIRST Church, and Reverend Chuck Notabartolo from St. Peter Catholic Church. Unfortunately, in the past three years, we lost both Rabbi Phil and Dr. Johnson, who were caring pastors dedicated to creating active faith communities. The Service’s popularity kept growing, and the last time it was held in person it drew over 1,200 people.

While the concept of a Thanksgiving Interfaith Service is not unique to Jupiter, I am often asked for the reason our community embraces it more than others. Here are some thoughts to contemplate:

Being a host—Members of the three congregations are not only hospitable, but also proud of their respective sanctuaries and enjoy showing them off to their neighbors.

Being a guest—We love to go to other houses of worship. Many things are similar to ours, but enough is different and therefore interesting. We like to observe how others operate and compare what they have (like audio visual systems) to what we have. Some of the ideas for Chidush, our latest renovation project, came from visiting these churches.

Music—Putting together the talented cantors, musicians, and choirs of our three houses of worship creates a magnificent and uplifting musical experience that any single congregation cannot do on its own.

Sermons—While each congregation appreciates its own clergy, it is compelling and often entertaining to explore different styles of preaching, personalities, and senses of humor.

Cookies—One of the crucial developments of the Service happened when Dr. Johnson shamed (his words) his congregation into baking homemade cookies for the event. No more of Publix and Costco generic stuff. The following year, Gali, the pastry chef, turned it into a friendly competition by recruiting the best bakers from TBA to bake more and better.

These are all important, but the amalgamate of these components creates something larger than the sum of its individual parts—being part of a community of communities. Last year we couldn’t celebrate in person, but this year we are coming together again and since we meet at JupiterFIRST Church, it is my turn to give the sermon.

I hope to see you on Thanksgiving Eve at 7:00pm at JupiterFIRST Church to begin celebrating Thanksgiving.