Part II. Daily Gratitude
Join The Club
Now, I have to warn you – it’ll be fun practicing up seeing the kindliness of Hashem in our lives but it’s going to take work; good things don’t come that easy. But we’ll do it together. We’ll have a club; a walking club and we’ll walk through life together.
Imagine we have an appointment, all of us here, to meet tomorrow morning on the corner of Avenue R and Ocean Parkway. Six o’clock in the morning – that’s the best time of the day – we’ll begin our walk. And we’ll walk together on the avenue and we’ll study the happiness of life.
Now, before we meet up you’re going to have to wake up and get out of bed because it won’t be much of a walk if you don’t wake up. You know that some people didn’t wake up this morning; not everybody is so lucky. And so, as soon as you open your eyes, you should remember that and give thanks to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that He allowed you to get up in the morning. “Modeh ani lifanecha, I thank You Hashem for waking me up this morning.” It’s actually fun to get up in the morning – only that nobody thinks about it! It’s something you should practice enjoying.
Appreciate Life
Do you ever go to a shiva house and you have nothing to talk about? You come in – ם∆כ¿ ̇∆‡ ם≈חַנ¿י םֹו ָּ̃מַה and you walk out. It’s something, it’s still a mitzvah, but there’s something more you can accomplish even on the way out. What’s the first thing to think about when you walk out? “Boruch Hashem, I’m alive!” You hear the chiddush? When you’re menachem avel, the first thing to think about when you walk out, as you’re going down the steps to the street – “Baruch Hashem I’m alive.” Even better, say it.
Now, if you’re working on this meiah brachos program for greatness so you don’t wait for the shiva house rachmana litzlan. That’s how you wake up every morning! “Baruch Hashem, I’m alive!” You just discovered the happy news that you woke up again! You have to be grateful for that.
Appreciate Functions
So you’re alive now and you go to the bathroom. Ah, the pleasure of a functioning bladder. Don’t say “it’s just nature”. A lot of people don’t have such natures; they have very much difficulty. But for you, it goes smoothly, and you should enjoy the moment. You can take my word for it, if you put your mind to it it’s a tremendous happiness. The Gemara (Berachos 57b) says that going to the bathroom is a taste of Olam Haba; it’s such a pleasure! Don’t be afraid to enjoy; don’t be ashamed to enjoy what Hashem is giving you—that’s the purpose of all of these functions.
I know a very wealthy man who cannot urinate. He has no kidneys anymore. If he could walk into a bathroom and perform like any ordinary person he’d be delirious with happiness. He told me he remembers the good old days when he could empty his bladder normally. Oh, what a happiness it was when he walked into the bathroom! If he would come up here and teach us how to say Asher Yatzar that would be a lesson. You come out and “muh, muh, muh, muh.” That’s how you say thank you?! If you’re happy, you don’t just say Asher Yatzar – you sing it!
Of course, if you didn’t study it, if you don’t think about it there’s nothing to sing about and mumbling a bracha is better than nothing. You’re at least a frum Jew if you mumble the bracha, but it’s a pity. You’re losing the great opportunity of achieving all the perfection that meiah brachos can bring to a person.
Appreciate Mobility
Now, I skipped a lot of steps here. Because you went to the bathroom, most of you didn’t wet the bed in the morning. You walked to the toilet. Ahh! Walking is a ta’anug. If you’ll think for a moment that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is giving you the blessing that you’re able to move your feet, you can move your thighs – they swing effortlessly in the socket. You can move your knees. They move so perfectly in their sockets. You can move your ankles in their socket. And your toes too you can move – each one in its own socket. And all these sockets are functioning at one time perfectly! Not to mention the coordination of the muscles. Every muscle that’s extended has another muscle that’s pulling in the opposite direction. You should know, you’re a trapeze artist when you walk. You balance yourself and move with perfect ease and facility.
So as you walk, you should be enjoying those gifts. יןƒכּ≈מַה םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה הָּ ַ̇‡¿ךָּרוָּב ר∆בָּ‚ י≈„ֲﬠ¿ˆƒמ – Thank You Hashem for this pleasure of being able to walk normally. There are a lot of people who can’t. There are some people who cannot function because of their toes. Everything else is perfect – but if their toes are fused and they won’t move in the socket properly, then they have misery and very great suffering. If the ankle is fused, it won’t move. Even if the knee is a tiny little bit inactivated, it can be excruciating pain to move it.
Appreciate Vistas
So suppose you were successfully and gracefully able to walk out of your home and now we meet up on Ocean Parkway for our walking club. We are already delirious with happiness but now we are going to discover some new pleasures. The sun is coming up now and we see a beautiful blue sky. Don’t miss that opportunity!
“Why is the sky blue?” Isn’t that a klutz kasha? Why is the sky such a beautiful sapphire blue? So you have chachomim who come along and they say – they read this in a science book once – that as the sunlight reaches the earth’s atmosphere it’s scattered in different directions because of the gasses and particles in the air; and for a certain reason the blue light scatters more than the other colors.
Very good, but that’s not the reason why it’s blue. It’s describing how Hashem makes it blue but it’s not the reason. I’ll tell you a secret – it’s good you came here tonight. Hashem made the sky blue so that you’d enjoy it. The color blue is soft and sweet on the eyes (Chovos Halevavos, Bechina 5), and you’re expected to enjoy that. Isn’t that a good thing to practice?
See if you can do it tomorrow morning. Go out onto the street tomorrow, look up at the blue sky and say, “The sky is a beautiful blue and Hakadosh Baruch Hu made it that way because He wants me to enjoy it. Me! That’s the purpose and I’m not going to let it go to waste.”
Appreciate It
Now don’t be a spoilsport and say, “Well, there are a lot of other people in this world besides me. Am I going to say He made the sky blue because of me?!” The answer is, yes. That’s what the Gemara says (Berachos 58a): חַרֹו‡ ר≈מֹו‡ ‡ּהו הָמ בֹטו – What does a good guest say? A good guest, when he walks into a house and sees a table that’s spread with all good things, what does a good guest say? He says like this: יƒילƒבׁ¿ ּ̆ƒב ‡ָּל∆‡ חַרָט ‡ֹל ̇ƒיַּבַה לַﬠַּב חַרָּטׁ∆ ̆ הַמ לָּכ – Whatever the host labored to do, he did only for me.
So as the good guest walks in and he sees cucumbers, he sees egg salad, he sees chopped liver, he sees whiskey, he sees cake; about every item he sees, he says, “The host put it there for me.”
