A Day of Jewish Thanksgiving

The Fellowship  |  November 28, 2017

Several men and boys on top of a car waving the Israeli flag and yelling.
A Day of Jewish Thanksgiving

Seventy years ago today, 33 nations voted on United Nations Resolution 181. Writing at The Jerusalem Post, Judea Pearl – father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl – says that it should be a day to thank those countries that chose with their conscience, voting to give the Jewish people a nation of their own:

For several years now, I have been campaigning to declare November 29 the Jewish Thanksgiving Day; a day where we give thanks to Lady History and to the many heroic players who stood behind the historic UN vote of November 29, 1947, an event which has changed so dramatically the physical, spiritual and political life of every Jew in our generation.

I have argued that Jewish communities in every major city in the world should invite the consuls general of the 33 countries who voted yes on that fateful day to thank them publicly for listening to their conscience and, defying the pressures of the time, voting to grant the Jewish nation what other nations take for granted – a state of its own.

Imagine 33 flags hanging from every Jewish Federation building, 33 bands representing their respective countries and the word “yes” repeated in 33 different languages in a staged reenactment of that miraculous and fateful vote in 1947.

The idea came to partial fruition in 2012, when a spectacular production of “The Vote” took place at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, featuring clergy, speakers, actors, musicians, singers and dancers, commemorated the day when, 65 years earlier, the United Nations voted 33 to 13 to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states…

This year, on its 70th year anniversary, I will celebrate November 29 by myself, if needed, and if you and you community care to join me, it would make the celebration so much more meaningful…

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