It’s a matter of semantics ...

Who were the Pilgrims ?

[since much of America celebrates ‘Thanksgiving Day”]

The Pilgrim saga began with a group of religious dissidents who believed it was necessary to separate from the Church of England. Persecuted in England, these "Separatists" moved to Holland in 1607/1608. The group, joined by other colonists recruited by the venture's financial backers, began the move to America in 1620. Early Plymouth records refer to all passengers from the first four ships as "First Comers." These ships were the Mayflower (1620), the Fortune (1621), the Anne and the Little James (1623). The term "Pilgrim" was not generally used until the early 1800s.

There is no single definition of "Pilgrim." Many families, Separatists and non-Separatists and Separatist sympathizers alike, traveled to America in several ships in the 1620s. However defined, the story of these Pilgrims has provided inspiration for centuries.

* * * * *

A Lesson in Semantics

• pil⋅grim = an original settler in a region. The life of early settlers (pilgrims/pioneers) was not easy. The men and women had to be strong. At times, they lived in fear of [the enemy of the day]. Each day they worked hard. The clothes got washed. The cows got milked. The children were taught.
• pi⋅o⋅neer = person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others; to be the first to open or prepare (a way, settlement, etc.).
• synonym = leader, trailblazer, forerunner, pathfinder.

Who were the early Jewish

Pilgrims/Settlers/Pioneers?

Avraham Avinu, when Hashem told Avram to leave his country, his family, his home, and go to the Land I shall show you to become a Nation. In the year 1741 BCE, Abraham began his long journey from Haran to Canaan - a journey which would change the history of the world and have a profound effect on the development of most major religions. Throughout the ages there has been a fascination with Jewish history. People have questioned the "miracle of the continual existence of the Jewish people" - this despite the almost consistent world delight in their persecution and ridicule. "I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."

Myriad Jewish families throughout history, after much persecution, fled from country to country, and as pilgrims started life over countless times, until 1948, when the Jewish People returned to their ancient homeland and became pilgrims and pioneers and settlers in every area within their inheritance, building and cultivating the land, producing cities, farming techniques to benefit the entire world, and raising generations of lovers of the Land of Israel.

So, now tell me, why is it that America

can celebrate Thanksgiving Day

ln honor of the pilgrims that established one of the greatest countries on the face of the earth, but a few thousand ‘settlers’ cannot stake out a home for themselves on barren soil, under sparse conditions, in a tiny tract of land that is their ancient homeland; being a tiny tract of land along the mediterranean coast, a land that the G-d of history, the world and universe, told Avraham Avinu to go to and cultivate, and that his ancestors would inherit this same land?

AND now, the elected leader of the same American country

that celebrates its pilgrims, settlers and pioneers

on a day of "Thanksgiving"

has the audacity

to do the following:

Spies have been traveling around Judea and Samaria in recent weeks, asking residents about construction in their towns and passing the information back to Washington.

* * * * *

And so a brave and honorable Israeli says the truth:

“Any piece of information, no matter how insignificant it seems, can be used against us by a hostile element. The talks that they are having with our people is the first step in a large intelligence gathering and supervisory network that Mitchell is building here. It would be very strange for us, of all people, to cooperate with something that will be used against our own government.”

“It’s great chutzpah of a foreign government to openly collect information and supervise a country on that country’s own territory. We must not cooperate with this brazenness.”

“Beyond our non-cooperation,” ... “we must also take active steps on this matter. We must announce that we are closing our gates before them, showing that they not in charge here, and not only don’t we owe them an accounting, they don’t even have a right to ask for one.”