Amb. Yoram Ettinger -- Thanksgiving was initially celebrated in November 1621 by William Bradford, the leader of the “Mayflower” and the 1621-1657 Governor of the Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts), who played a key role in establishing the civic foundation of the first permanent colony in New England.
Bradford compiled a first hand 580-page-manuscript of the Mayflower’s 66-day-voyage, which arrived in Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. The manuscript is exhibited at the Massachusetts State Library.
Governor Bradford acquired his appreciation of the Bible – and especially the Five Books of Moses – in Leiden, Holland (known then for its religious tolerance), where he heavily interacted with the Jewish community, and found refuge from religious persecution from the British King James I.
Bradford and the other 102 “Mayflower” passengers perceived the voyage in the Atlantic Ocean as a reenactment of the Biblical Exodus, the departure from “the Modern Day Egypt,” the perilous “Modern Day Parting of the Sea” and the arrival in “the Modern Day Promised Land” and “the New Israel.”