A Midrash on Giving Thanks

An Opening Explanation:

A midrash is often defined as a legend, or a story. But it is more than that. It is an attempt to make sense of an often difficult Biblical story, or even a terse sentence in a narrative. A truly unique creation, midrash were penned over hundreds of years, by many different rabbis. A midrash can seem like a story, but really contain a law; or seem like a legal exposition, but really be a simple narrative explanation. As contemporary Jews, we are blessed with the ability to tap into this genre, learning from our ancient teachers, creating new and creative ways to look at text, ideas, or concepts in Judaism. While the age of writing classical midrash is long past, today we enjoy the fruits of these ancient works, helping us to continually unpack the words of the Bible, brining ever deeper meaning to our tradition.

As I pondered the topic for tonight's sermon, so close to thanksgiving, I noted that our tradition has a rich tradition of giving thanks. With our liturgy, our actions, and our texts, we are dedicated to noting and highlighting the many blessings in our lives. This evening, taking cues from our earliest teachers, I share midrashim with you, based on the topic of “giving thanks”. Instead of a typical sermon, these texts will appear throughout the service, including the Torah service, helping us to appreciate and highlight our liturgy as a vehicle for giving thanks. Some pieces will be original, written by me; others will be beautiful works that I bring as a gift to you.

Let me start with a brief comment on the word, in Hebrew, Hodu, which translates as "Let us give thanks." It has an additional meaning, which makes tonight's discussion even more appropriate: Turkey.

Let us give thanks for Turkey, in Hebrew, then, could be, with bad grammar: Hodu Hodu!

An Understanding of the Prayer “Modim: Thanksgiving”

On the bottom of page 95, you'll see a prayer entitled, in English, “Thanksgiving”. The Hebrew translation is Modim. With this prayer, we acknowledge, with gratitude, that God is our God, the Rock of our lives and our Shield of Protection. One line translates, “Let us thank and Praise You, for our lives, which are in your hand, for our souls which are in your care, and for your miracles which we experience every day, and for your wondrous deeds and favors at every time of day: evening, morning, and noon.”

This prayer is said at every morning and evening service. It is an integral part of our tradition to recognize our blessings and gifts, and continually offer thanks. In this way, we pray that we will not take the goodness in our life for granted.

Eugene Pickett wrote this creative rendering of the Modim, Thanksgiving prayer. At the end of each stanza, please say with me, “Modim Anachnu Lach.”

For the expanding grandeur of creation
Worlds known and unknown, galaxies beyond galaxies,
Filling us with awe and challenging our imaginations,
Modim Anachnu Lach
For this fragile planet earth, its wonders and surprises,
Its hopes and achievements,
Modim Anachnu Lach
For human continuity, our common past and future hope,
Our oneness transcending all separation, our capacity to work
For peace and justice in the midst of hostility and oppression,
Modim Anachnu Lach
For high hopes and noble causes, for faith without fanaticism,
For understanding of views not shared,
Modim Anachnu Lach
For all who have labored and suffered for a fairer world
Who have lived so that others might live in dignity and freedom,
Modim Anachnu Lach
For human liberties and sacred rites:
For opportunities to change and grow, to affirm and choose,
Modim Anachnu Lach
We pray that we may live not by our fears but by our hopes,
Not by our words but by our deeds.

A Meditation for Silent Prayer

Rabbi Chaim Stern wrote a book a number of years ago, entitled Day by Day: Reflections on the Themes of the Torah from Literature, Philosophy, and Religious Thought. In it, he captures quotes, parables, midrashim, from thousands of authors, as well as his own pen. In one, he writes, “Some time today, I'll probably hear these words: have a good day! But what you say, God, is: Have a day! Whether this day will be good or bad You do not say and I cannot know. In fact, I may not know this until it is long past. Either way, I am blessed to have it. Thank you for today, and all my days.

Silent prayer is an opportunity for us to review our week, our day, to connect with God anew. In these next moments, let us take a few moments to recount our blessings: What are you most grateful for in your life?

An Introduction to the Torah Service:

When I sat down at the table for breakfast, the doll was at my place. Mama had made hair out of dark brown yarn and she'd embroidered eyes, a nose, and mouth on the face. She had covered the yarn hair with a yellow kerchief embroidered with red flowers. “She's gorgeous, Mama,” I managed to murmur. “but she doesn't look like the pilgrim woman in the picture.”

'No?” Mama said.

“She looks like you in the photograph you have that was taken of you when you were a girl.”

“Of course,” Mama said. “ I did that on purpose. What's a pilgrim, shaynkeit? A pilgrim is someone who came here from the other side to find freedom. That's me, Molly. I'm a pilgrim!”

This reading, written by Barbara Cohen, speaks to our history as pilgrims to find freedom, here in the United States. It is, as well, a universal story of our desire, as Jews, to find freedom-freedom to be Jews, freedom to study Torah. Therefore, as we celebrate Torah with our weekly Shabbat Torah reading, we are also reminded of the great freedoms that we enjoy in the United States, as American Jews.

A D'var Torah: A Word on the Torah Portion

“And Avraham was old and advanced in days, and God blessed Abraham in everything (bakol)” (Genesis 24:1) The Torah informs us that as Abraham reached the final years of his life, God blessed him with everything.

In a curious commentary, Rabbis Me'ir and Yehuda, along with an anonymous group known as “other”, debated the word “bakol”, or everything. What did it mean, exactly, that Abraham was blessed with everything? In a suprising answer, Rabbi Me'ir defined bakol, or everything, to mean that Abraham didn't have a daughter! Rabbi Yehuda said, however, the opposite, that being blessed bakol, in everything meant that he did have a daughter. And, in agreement, the anonymous group of rabbis, taught: Abraham had a daughter and bakol was her name.” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 16b)

What an odd idea! Abraham with a daughter?! Why would the rabbis discuss this? Where did this idea even come from? Let's look at this way: The Torah states that Abraham was blessed with everything. But, he didn't have a daughter. So, what does that say about the blessing of a daughter? Could it be that having a daughter is not a blessing?

As a daughter myself, I don't enjoy this implication!

The rabbis, with this commentary, agree with me, that the implications regarding daughters were unsettling. Ultimately, what the rabbis agreed on the following: it's not that having a daughter is a bad thing, per se, but rather that if Abraham had a daughter, it would have been difficult, for when she was ready to marry, his only choice would have been to wed her to an idolator. So, a daughter is objectively good, and the blessing of “everything” did include a daughter. However, in Abraham's case this would not have turned out positively, so it remained as a potential. What the rabbis teach, then, is that Abraham, by being ( bakol), blessed in all things, was a blessing that included potential, as well as actual, blessings. For Abraham, due to the realities of his world, which he was unable to change, specific parts of his blessing were never actualized. Had he been able to actualize every part of his potential blessing, one can be sure that he would have done so.

Learning about Abraham's potential blessing leads us to look at our lives: The lesson of this commentary is for each of us to ask ourselves: what is “bakol” for each of us-what are our real blessings? What are our potential blessings? What blessings do we overlook in our lives, and what blessings could we bring into reality?

Kaddish: The Blessing of our Loved Ones

The word “kaddish” comes from the word, kadosh, which means holy. With the words of Kaddish, we acknowledge God's sanctity. The first line translates: let the glory of God be extolled and God's great name be hallowed in the world whose creation God willed.” Even in our darkest pain, we are commanded to give thanks to God?

Why? The answer, I believe, is in that first line: “ in the world whose creation God willed.” God created the world for us to be a part of it-and to be a part of it, life must go on. We live our lives more richly because of those who walked beside us. We are stronger because of their presence. While their physical presence is not more, we give thanks for the lives, for through them our lives are enriched.

Our Final Benediction:

Our final benediction is a prayer penned by Rabbi Sidney Greenberg:

O God, to whom we come so often with needs to be satisfied, we come to You now in gratitude for what we already have and are.
For gifts beyond deserving or counting, we give thanks.
You have given us the ability to become more than we have been, the urge to be more than we are, and a gnawing hunger to attain heights only dimly imagined.
For the power to grow, we give thanks.
You have endowed us with the capacity to discern the difference between right and wrong; and You have enabled us to follow the right, to avoid the wrong.
For the power to choose, we give thanks.
You have blessed us with the ability to fashion things of beauty, to sing new songs, to spin new tales, and to add to the treasure-house of human civilization.
For the power to create, we give thanks.
You have equipped us with the yearning to commune with You, to bring You our fears and our dreams, our hurts and our joys, our guilt and gratitude, to share hopes and concerns with You and others.
For the power to create, we give thanks.
You have fortified us with the ability to rise above disappointment and failure, to go on after we have been bruised and bereaved, to refuse to submit to defeat and despair.
For the power to hope, we give thanks.
You have enlarged us with the ability to cherish others, to make their lives dear to us as our very own, to share their hopes, to feel their hurts, to know their hearts.
For the power to love, we give thanks.

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