Americans across the country will sit down this week to celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday often treated as little more than turkey, football, and days-off from work. But at its core, Thanksgiving is something far more profound: a national moment set aside to express gratitude to God for the blessings of the United States of America.

For Jews—both in Israel and in the Diaspora—Thanksgiving should carry an even deeper resonance. Because when we take a step back and consider Jewish history honestly, without sentimentality and without political varnish, one fact stands out as undeniable: no nation in the 2,000-year history of Jewish exile has blessed the Jewish people as consistently, as generously, and as wholeheartedly as the United States of America.

From the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE until the modern era, Jewish existence was defined by wandering, vulnerability, disenfranchisement, and often violence. Even in the “best” circumstances of Europe, Jews lived at the mercy of kings, bishops, czars, and caliphs. Tolerance could last for decades or even centuries—until it didn’t. The knife always hung overhead.

Then came the American experiment: a country founded on ideas rather than ethnicity, where rights are granted by the Creator and protected from government, where religious liberty is not a favor but a foundational principle. For Jews, this was not merely another stop on the long road of exile. It was a historic rupture, a civilizational turning point.

Within decades of arriving on American shores, Jews became full and equal citizens. They built institutions, established synagogues, participated in civic life, and contributed to every area of national achievement—science, commerce, culture, law, government, the military. They flourished without fear.

And that flourishing was not accidental. It flowed from the Biblical framework embedded in America’s founding. A nation whose founders read the Hebrew Bible saw the Jewish people not as aliens to be tolerated but as bearers of a covenant central to Western civilization. The respect for the Hebrew Scriptures created space—moral, cultural, and legal—for the Jewish people to thrive.

When we say that Jewish life in America has no parallel, it is not rhetorical exaggeration. For 2,000 years, no other country granted Jews equal rights at its founding. No other nation defended Jews overseas, welcomed them in waves, and gave them protection under law from day one. The Jewish community of the United States became the most prosperous, most secure, and most influential Jewish diaspora community in the history of the world.

That alone would be reason for American Jews—and Israeli Jews as well—to pause on Thanksgiving and express gratitude for the United States. But the story is much bigger.

In 1948, after the Holocaust and after millennia of longing, the Jewish people reclaimed sovereignty in the Land of Israel. And at that critical, fragile moment, one country stood first in recognition: the United States of America.

President Harry Truman, a lifelong reader of the Bible and a man unembarrassed by faith, overruled some of his most influential advisers to do what he believed was morally and spiritually right. He recognized Israel within minutes of its declaration of independence. Later, he famously said that in supporting the rebirth of the Jewish state, he felt he was acting in accordance with the will of God.

Truman was not an outlier. He embodied a recurring theme in American political history: the belief that supporting the Jewish people and the State of Israel is not only good policy, not only morally correct, but theologically meaningful.

From Truman to Trump —administrations have differed on tactics, but the bedrock alliance has endured. And in recent years, that support has grown into unprecedented strategic cooperation, intelligence partnership, and military assistance. No country has stood by Israel more firmly, more consistently, and more consequentially than the United States.

Israelis sometimes take this for granted. We shouldn’t. In a world that increasingly demonizes Israel on the global stage, America remains the indispensable ally.

Jewish tradition teaches hakarat hatov—recognizing the good that others do for us. In the Torah, Moses instructs Israel not to despise Egypt, despite the cruelty of slavery, because Egypt provided refuge during famine. If we are commanded to acknowledge the good even of oppressive nations, how much more must we show gratitude to a nation that has been a source of blessing and protection.

And that brings us back to Thanksgiving.

For Jews, Thanksgiving is not a “foreign” holiday; it is not religiously problematic; it is not a cultural intrusion. On the contrary, Thanksgiving aligns deeply with Jewish values. A civic holiday dedicated to thanking God for national blessings is something Jews should embrace.

And what greater blessing—after 2,000 years of insecurity, persecution, and statelessness—than the existence of the United States of America?

Many Israelis have complicated feelings toward America, especially in moments of political tension or diplomatic disagreement. But zoom out. Look at the arc of history. Without the United States, the State of Israel would be isolated, economically constrained, diplomatically besieged, and militarily endangered.

Americans did not create Israel; the Jewish people rebuilt their homeland by their own strength and sacrifice. But America stood with Israel—early, bravely, and enduringly. That partnership saved lives, strengthened the Jewish state, and helped ensure that the horrors of exile would never return.

On Thanksgiving, Israelis should join American Jews in thanking God for the United States—not because it is perfect, but because it has been, uniquely, a vessel through which God has blessed the Jewish people and the modern State of Israel.

Thanksgiving invites Americans to recognize the miracle of their country. Jews, perhaps more than anyone, understand just how miraculous America truly is.

So this year, as families gather around tables across the country and as Israelis watch from afar, let us say it plainly: Thank God for America. Thank God for the country where Jews flourished, where Israel found its first great ally, and where Biblical faith helped shape a nation that became a blessing to the Jewish people.

That is what Thanksgiving is all about.