A friend of mine told me about a Conservative rabbi from JTS who recommended that American Jews not say Tachanun on Thanksgiving. Who was this rabbi, and is there a link to the text of this opinion so we can understand his reasoning? Additionally, are there any Orthodox rabbis that hold by a similar opinion?
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3I haven't tracked this down, but have at it -- http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/272941/thanksgiving-and-halacha.html comment 10, "Shearith Israel, the original synagogue in New York, celebrated the 1789 Thanksgiving Day described in the article with a special service including some of the Hallel tehillim and no Tachanun. It still follows this nusach for Thanksgiving to this day." – rosends Nov 10 '15 at 00:49
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1Related "Here is the 1945 Minhat Todah- Service for Thanksgiving Day, Congregation Shearith Israel, NY by Rabbi David de Sola Pool." https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/service-for-thanksgiving-day-1945-rabbi-david-de-sola-pool/ – JJLL Nov 10 '15 at 02:15
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@Danno, I've been there, and I can confirm that they do. – Seth J Nov 10 '15 at 16:14
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1@Danno, to be perfectly honest, I'd forgotten whether they skipped Tahanun. Even though they recite some Perakim of Hallel, that is done toward the end. I was unsure how far they take the concept. I emailed them this week, and this is the reply I received: "We say no tahanun on Thanksgiving. Tahanun would be inconsistent with the spirit of Hallel and hodaah and with our actually adopting the day as a kind of holiday." – Seth J Nov 12 '15 at 16:16
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2I believe most of us skipped it this year! – יהושע ק Nov 28 '19 at 20:18
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1@JoshK And we even said Hallel! #PTIJ - reminds me of that question about St. Patrick’s Day falling out on Moshe Rabbeinu’s yahrtzeit. – DonielF Nov 28 '19 at 22:20
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The Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue (Cong. Shearith Israel) omits "tahanunim" and recites special psalms. The current rabbi is Meir Soloveichik. Source.
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