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This week, I saw “Wicked: For Good”, the sequel to the first movie which came out last year (or “the second half” of the Broadway Musical which came out in 2004).  The musical was inspired by the novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” written in 1995 by Gregory Maguire as a prequel to the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, written in 1900, which I recently read for the first time, the many Oz sequel series, and saw the 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz”. 

Each of these books and productions seem to have their own take on the original story, their own themes.  The original book was the story of a journey and all the adventures that one can have along the way.  Each of the characters desired something they actually already had:  the Scarecrow was always the one coming up with solutions to their problems, the Tin Man cared deeply for everyone around him, and the Cowardly Lion committed acts of bravery throughout the book.  Dorothy had the shoes which would bring her anywhere she wanted to be.  Dorothy, of course, just wanted to go home.

The 1939 film expands on all of these themes and adds to the plot that this is actually a dream she has when she is struck by debris in the Tornado.  When she awakes at the end, she is overcome by gratefulness for her family who were all represented by characters in her dream, and she now realizes they play important parts in her life.  

The novel, musical, and movies of “Wicked” add on many other elements, but mainly the importance of friendship and notion of what it means to be “good”.  All of these elements can help us to understand the Jewishness of Thanksgiving.

The phrase “To give thanks” comes from the notion that one is deserving of thanks or deserving of praise or reward.  This works well with the Hebrew form both in definition and for a good pun as the word “Todah”, the Hebrew word for “Thank you”, which is related to the word “Hodah” meaning to acknowledge or give praise!  We see this word in Hallel when we sing “Hodu L’Adonai Ki Tov!”  Praise God for God is Good!”  The word “Hodu”, also the Hebrew word for “turkey”, hence the pun.

Thanksgiving, however, isn’t about praising someone for their goodness; it is about recognizing the good in our own lives, which invokes the Jewish value of “Hakarat HaTov”, recognizing the good.  When we sit down for our Thanksgiving meals and everyone takes a turn to announce that for which we are grateful, we usually recognize the good things in our lives:  family, friends, meaningful work, health, unity, good food, and so on.  Sometimes it may feel like we feel that gratitude on Thanksgiving, but may struggle with it the rest of the year, especially when we are overcome with family drama, tenseness between friends, frustration at work, ill or failing health, and a lack of unity in our country and the world.

Dorothy’s ability to see the importance of her family in life, Elphaba’s new song of “No Place Like Home” and Glinda’s recognizing the good and how to achieve it, helps us recognize the good even though we may not always feel that way.  

This Thanksgiving, may we praise God for all we have in our lives, may we appreciate home, wherever that may be - be it with our family, our friends, our spiritual homeland, and may we all appreciate the ways in which we add goodness to the world.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Rabbi Blatt