Should Jews celebrate thanksgiving? (4 minutes)
Watch and find out‼the answer might surprise you Full Shiur: MUSSAR Pirkei Avot (79) Does So Called Karma Really Exist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nUi9GZT_-E If you'd like to invite R' Yaron Reuven to give a lecture at your synagogue, home or office please call 917.468.2324 or email Yaron@BeEzratHaShem.org . Yaron Reuven is based out of Boca Raton, Florida, but travels around the world to give lectures to different groups. Visit us at www.BeEzratHaShem.org Click here https://soundcloud.com/yaronreuven/sets/daily-chidush To Listen to our very popular "Daily Chidush" short audio series on soundcloud.com Join one of our interactive "Interesting Torah" Whatsapp groups to get daily messages of short Torah clips that can uplift your day by texting the number above. Please join our Facebook page Be'Ezrat HaShem page and join our group "Torah Lessons To Help Our Lives". This Group is solely about publicizing HaShem's holy Torah from my lectures as well as great Rabbi's such as Rabbi Efraim Kachlon, Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, Rabbi Zamir Cohen, Rabbi Pinto, and anyone else that is teaching interesting and relevant Torah. We will also bring you some brand new lectures directly from a Kollel in Jerusalem you won't find anywhere else. Torah posts will be in Hebrew and English. There are plenty of places to find entertaining stories that sound great, but this group is about showing you Torah that can impact your life, hence the name Torah Lessons To Help Our Lives. If it's not impactul, then it won't fit in. I watch and read all that I personally post, so I promise to do my best to bring you only the best quality of Hashem's amazing Torah. The Torah is the only thing in the world that you can learn and have an outcome that makes you SMARTER, WISER, And a BETTER Human Being. If the Torah you're learning is no longer impacting your life in a positive way, than its time for a change. If you haven't learned Torah in a long time or ever, then its time to start friend. I guarantee you will enjoy the journey and life will never be the same, if you just give it a real chance. Kiruv and Kiddush Hashem is our #1 goal. So please feel free to contact me if you are interested in getting more FREE material. We would be have to send you Torach lecture DVDs, CD's and a Book for FREE to anyone that is serious about learning them. If you are far from Hashem and His Torah, our goal is to get help you get closer. Thank you for the opportunity and May Hashem bless you with a life full of Torah 00:00:00 Intoduction 00:00:10 Thanksgiving: Rav Moshe's Opinion 00:01:34 Interfaith Meals and Marriages 00:02:03 Turkey is OK, Interfaith Peace NO 00:02:30 The Rabbi and the Smoker Parable 00:03:43 Turkey Yes, Celebrating with Non-Jews No
Transcript
0:10This will answer the question for all the people who ask if you are allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving. With Thanksgiving coming up, people are asking this question. Now, Rav Moshe Feinstein, alav ha-shalom, was asked if you can celebrate Thanksgiving. He said, "What’s Thanksgiving?" That’s an ish kadosh.
1:34Doesn't matter whether it's Thanksgiving or it's a regular meal. You're not allowed. Why? There's an issue with having these types of meals because chas v'shalom, you get so comfortable that you marry their daughters or their sons. You're not supposed to have meals together. So, can you have turkey? Enjoy two turkeys. Enjoy the turkey. Can you have the interfaith peace? Absolutely not, it's not my rules, come on. It's Torah. So that's the real question people are asking, and that question is answered already by the Gemara. The question they asked Rav Moshe Feinstein was a very different question. They asked him if you're allowed to eat turkey on this day, eat two turkeys. You need to ask Rav Moshe Feinstein for that. That's the problem; sometimes people ask questions based on the answer they want. I think I told you guys this last week, but it's worth saying it again. Someone goes to a rabbi. He says, "Rabbi, can I smoke in the synagogue?" We're talking about tefillin, not smoking in the synagogue. This is not what we're done. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He runs away. He told his friend, "Look, the rabbi yelled at me. He said I can't smoke in the synagogue. I thought maybe a little drag, something. I don't know. It's kind of hard out."
3:01Listen, you do not ask a question when you already have an answer in mind. The other guy, the tough guy, goes to the rabbi. He says, "Rabbi, let me ask you a question. When I'm smoking a cigarette, can I pray at the same time to Hashem?" The rabbi says, "Wow, what a tzaddik. Look at this guy, what a tzaddik he is. Even when he's smoking a cigarette, which is really not allowed, he's still thinking about Hashem, doing teshuva, and praying to Him. Look, everyone, what a tzaddik. Sometimes people ask a question not because they want the answer to the question. They already have a certain answer in mind they want, and they need somebody to sign off on it. They need somebody to sign off on their shtuyot and their nonsense." Your question is: Are you allowed to have turkey? Enjoy two turkeys, three turkeys, five turkeys—with the stuffing, without the stuffing—whatever you want. Are you allowed to celebrate with your non-Jewish friends? Are you allowed to go to the Christmas party? No. Even if they serve you kosher food, it is not allowed. Why? It's against the Torah, and there's a list of reasons; I could probably do a whole shiur about it.
