For thousands of years people have documented their communication with the divine. Archaeology has uncovered countless prayer texts written on papyrus or inscribed on stelae (upright stone slabs). A few weeks ago we looked at the Thanksgiving Hymns, a set of prayers similar to biblical Psalms, which were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. These...

This week many in the United States pause, gather together, and give thanks. Giving thanks is a practice preserved in cultural memory and recorded in written texts. In Jewish literature, the Psalms are a testament to this tradition of giving thanks. For over two thousand years, psalms of thanksgiving have been read in services and in homes.

But...