Dear friends:

Most of the below is courtesy of friend Tony Ellsworth.  It describes the interesting correlation between Thanksgiving, which is November 22 this year, and the Jewish Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement.
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Did you know that during Yom Kippur two goats are taken and one is killed and one pardoned?  Thus the term “scapegoat”?

Did you know that during Thanksgiving  the President takes two turkeys and pardons one and the other is killed?

This past year Yom Kippur was on September 22nd, and Thanksgiving will be two months later November 22nd.

In 2006 the names of the Turkeys were Flyer and Frier – how appropriate for the Rapture (flyer) and Tribulation (fryer) – did we forget Isaac’s name means laughter?  And who said God doesn’t have a sense of humor?  Those left behind will not be laughing…

The information below is based on both Yom Kippur (part of a Jack Kelly article) and a snipet from Wikipedia:

Since 1947, or possibly earlier, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys. The live turkey is pardoned and lives out the rest of its days on a peaceful farm. While it is commonly held that this tradition began with Harry Truman in 1947, the Truman Library has been unable to find any evidence for this. Still others claim that the tradition dates back to Abraham Lincoln pardoning his son's pet turkey. Both stories have been quoted in more recent presidential speeches.

In more recent years, two turkeys have been pardoned, in case the original turkey becomes unavailable for presidential pardoning. Since 2003 the public has been invited to vote for the two turkeys' names. They were named Stars and Stripes in 2003 and 2004's turkeys were called Biscuit and Gravy. In 2005 the public decided on Marshmallow and Yam and in 2006 they were named Flyer and Fryer.

Since 2005, the two turkeys have been flown first class on United Airlines from Washington, D.C. to the Los Angeles area where they become the Grand Marshals of Disneyland's annual Thanksgiving Day parade down Main Street. The two turkeys then live out the rest of their relatively short lives in Disneyland's Frontierland ranch.

Yom Kippur info:

During a great and awe inspiring ceremony at the Temple, two goats were brought before the High Priest. One was a goat "for the Lord" to be presented as a peace offering as commanded in Lev. 16:7-10. The other was called "the scapegoat" because all the sins of the nation were symbolically placed upon its head, and then it was led outside the city to be killed. The goat had done nothing to deserve this but was chosen to demonstrate the fact that only the shedding of innocent blood could atone for the sins of the people. The death of the two goats symbolically set aside the sins of the nation, made their peace offering acceptable and gave them peace with their Creator. The people spoke the Name of God in heartfelt thanks.

Here are a couple of interesting tidbits from Jewish tradition. When the goats were brought before the High Priest, their respective roles in the ceremony were determined by lot. Two golden lots were placed in a golden bowl and as he placed his hand upon the head of each goat, the High Priest reached into the bowl and pulled out one of the lots. Before the cross, the goat that was to be presented to the Lord as a peace offering was always on the right hand of the High Priest. After the cross it never was.

While the scapegoat was symbolically receiving the sins of the people, upon its head a scarlet ribbon was tied from one of its horns to the door of the temple. As the goat was taken into the wilderness the ribbon was cut, leaving some on the horn and some on the door. At a predetermined location outside the city, the goat was pushed off a cliff and fell to its death.

Now hear this.... this is big!!!  In all the years before the cross, at the moment of the scapegoat's death, the remnant of ribbon on the temple door turned from red to white symbolizing the passage from Isaiah 1:18, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow." After the cross this never happened again! The One Who sits at the right hand of the Father and Who had fulfilled the role that both goats had only symbolized had come and forever taken away the sins of all who would choose to accept Him.
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Have a happy thanksgiving, being thankful that Jesus has become our scapegoat and has taken all our sins upon Himself!  That's worth shouting about!!!  Halleluyah. 

Jim