Although the origins of Thanksgiving lie in the Pilgrims’ celebrations at Plymouth Colony, no one did more to have it transformed into an official national holiday than Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879), whose many accomplishments include the composition of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” She deliberately saw as inspiration for Thanksgiving the biblical harvest festivals, a fact that leads Meir Soloveichik to contrast the Jewish Sukkot with its American counterpart. (Video, 30 mins. The sermon begins at the 27-minute mark.)

If there is to be a resolution to the conflict between the Jewish state and a putative Palestinian one, writes Jonathan Michanie, it won’t start with drawing lines on maps or restrictions on where Jews can build houses, but with the Palestinian Authority (PA) abandoning its official anti-Semitism. The PA can, in this regard, learn much from those Arab nations that have recently made peace with Israel: