Thanking Hashem is one of the most basic characteristics of a Jew. We are called Yehudim, which shares a root with the word hodayah – thanks. Giving thanks to the One Who created us is the essence of a Yid.
Rabbenu Bachyai presents a type of “aseres hadibros” in chapter 7 of Shaar Avodas Elokim. The eighth point addresses giving thanks to Hashem. He explains there that the good that Hashem gives us should not cause us to do less or distract us from increasing our kavanah in our avodas Hashem.
A man begins life as a baby who cannot do anything. He grows and develops, learns and knows and becomes a boy, and afterward a bachur, and throughout these years he is continuously gaining more knowledge, and he reaches one milestone after another. As a bachur, he is truly a ben aliyah, each individual according to what he is capable of doing and in accordance with his personality. If he is zocheh to get married, he receives much good from Above.
All this good, however, comes with new tasks. He is running a household, and then he may also be a father of children, and Hashem sends him parnassah, and he needs to deal with all sorts of things. At every stage, the goodness increases more and more, and everything comes from the mercy of Hashem Above. Rabbenu Bachyai warns us not to decrease our avodas Hashem because of all the good that we’ve received! In the beginning, the young avreich used to daven calmly from beginning to end and even stay to learn a little after davening. From the standpoint of hakaras hatov, he should have increased this time even more, and praise and thank Hashem constantly, but realistically, this doesn’t often happen. The distractions of the day take significant chunks of our time, and we need to be in touch with ourselves and make sure that if we are not increasing, then at least we should not decrease the thanks we give to Hashem!
The Marpeh Lanefesh gives a simple example that anyone can carry out, regarding brachos. A Yid received a wonderful gift — a fruit, a vegetable, or a drink. He is in a hurry to tend to his family and his business, but he invests in the brachah he is reciting right now. It takes another few seconds, and this is the true test of whether he recognizes the good that the Creator has given him, whether he is truly thankful for all the good and the chessed that Hashem does for him.
The holy Reb Tzvi Hirsch of Riminov zy”a relates that he went through many nisyonos in his life, and what held him up was something amazing that he had been zocheh to see a number of times with his Rebbe. The Rebbe would recite the brachah of Elokai neshamah with intense concentration and sweetness, and when he came to the words “Modeh ani lefanecha,” he would break out in dance for several minutes!
While it does not suit every person to break out in dance, we can certainly think about it. When we say these sweet words, we should realize that there are people who were not zocheh to get up this morning, or people who are alive but do not have the ability to speak, lo aleinu (like the avreich Reb Yitzchak ben Basha, who, for close to a year, hasn’t even been able to say “Modeh Ani”). This alone can bring us to a deep feeling of hakaras hatov to our Creator, Who returned our neshamos to us.
The ability to say thank you while in the midst of a nisayon is a special gift that Hashem gave us. We say in Baruch she’amar, “Baruch gozer um’kayeim” – because when a decree comes from Hashem, and a Yid goes through a challenge, Hashem gives him the strength to handle it.
The Pnei Yehoshua relates in his introduction to his sefer that a great tragedy happened in his time. While he was giving a shiur to his talmidim, there was a huge landslide. Thirty-six people were killed, including the Pnei Yehoshua’s wife, children, and in-laws. He survived, but he was trapped under the rubble and could not find a way to extricate himself. While he lay in the rubble, he thanked Hashem for saving him and promised that when he’d be rescued, he would invest himself in learning Torah with great depth. Then, suddenly, a path opened before him and he was able to get out.
Instead of being angry during a difficult time, and crying and mourning and asking “Why did Hashem do this to me, and especially while I was teaching Torah publicly?” he thanked Hashem and praised Him and added as a sign of his thanks to the Ribbono shel Olam that he would commit to intense Torah learning. And to this very day, from the strength of his hakaras hatov, we have the sefarim that glorify the world of Torah – Pnei Yehoshua on Shas.
From then until today, how many millions of times were the wondrous chiddushei Torah of the Pnei Yehoshua repeated in this world?! How was he zocheh to this? He simply overcame his difficult emotions and carried out the halachah stated in the Rambam (Hilchos Brachos ch. 1), that “even at a time when a person is in pain, he should give thanks and praise with joy.” And the words of Tehillim (4:2), “In a tight spot, You opened it wide for me,” came true for him.
May we merit to thank Hashem for all the good that He gives us, with joy and satisfaction, and to see tangibly His yeshuah speedily; amen.
