But it’s as true as could be. Whose fault is it that we think that we have to have ice cream or dill pickles or a trip to Coney Island, whatever it is, to make life worthwhile? Life itself, that’s the greatest happiness. Now, we don't appreciate that. We're accustomed to it, but to be alive is a tremendous simchah; there's nothing that can compare to the joy of being alive. Because everything we spoke about – your heart beating and your bladder and your lungs and your joints and your eyes, everything – all these details of life are actually a tremendous empire, whose purpose is life.
A human body is so complicated with millions of details interlocking, working together, and the effect of everything together is the joy of being alive. Your entire system is functioning together like a well-run empire for the purpose of giving you that happiness.
Don’t Wait to Realize
Now when do most people realize how great that joy is? When they're in danger of losing it. When a man is lying on a hospital bed in his last hours and he knows his hours are numbered so he looks out of the window and then he realizes for the first time how sweet it is just to be alive. Even though he has aches and pains; even though he’s in a dingy room on a dingy Brooklyn street where the hospital is situated. And even though the nurses are rude; they don’t come when he rings the bell. And it happens to be a gray day too, a cloudy day. But now that he has to say farewell forever he begins to appreciate that life itself is the greatest of all happinesses in this world.
Go to a cemetery and offer one of the inmates there the opportunity to come out of his grave. Imagine a rich millionaire, he's buried on Ocean Parkway in a stone vault. It cost a pile of money a stone vault. And he left over a big estate to his heirs. And now you tell him, “I’ll get you out of the grave and you can have all your money back. You’ll have your mansion back and your fancy car and the best meals too.”
He wouldn’t give a hoot for all that. If he could climb out of his cold grave and be alive once again he wouldn't be interested in reclaiming his money. He’d be so intoxicated with the happiness of life that he’d be dancing in the cemetery. He would do a jig and sing songs. He wouldn’t be interested in anything else. He'd be so intoxicated with life that having nothing else doesn’t mean a thing.
The Best Morning News
And therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu insists that we should invest efforts to appreciate the gift of life. Every morning you say to Hashem, Modeh Ani Lefanecha – I give thanks to You, Hashem, that You gave back to me my life, my awareness. To be aware, to be awake and alive, that's happiness.
Isn’t it a pity that we don’t think about that every morning? When you open your eyes in the morning, the first thought should be, “Woohoo! Good news! I’m alive!”
You know, a lot of people, lo aleichem v’lo aleinu, don't get that good news in the morning. Every morning, in bedrooms all over the world, it happens the other way. A wife takes a look at her husband in the next bed, and she’s thinking, “His color is different today.” And she's alarmed. She says, “Jake get up!” No answer. And she seizes him and shakes him. “Jake! Jake!” Nothing. It’s an emergency and an ambulance comes. It's too late.
It happens again and again. And therefore the first good news in the morning is you open your eyes. You're alive. You're alive! Practice that tomorrow morning. Ah, We get up in the morning, that's happiness. It's a tremendous happiness. There's no physical happiness that can equal the joy of being alive.
Resurrecting the Dead
You know it's a pity, a tragedy, that we say it every day in the davening – baruch atah Hashem mechayeh hameisim – and we don’t even realize it.
Now of course that includes the resurrection of the dead in the distant future, but it means also right now. You say every day Hashem mechayeh hameisim – You Hashem bring back the dead to life, You are great to save and You feed the living with kindliness, You bring the dead back to life. So it’s two times; ‘You revive the dead,’ and then again ‘You revive the dead’. What's the first one? What's the second one? We’re just repeating?
No, you're not repeating. The first one is that You revived us from our sleep. We weren't conscious. That’s not living. Of course, you have to sleep, but you're not living when you're asleep. And some people never wake up from that sleep! And I got up this morning! I’m alive! So the first mechayeh meisim atah is that you were revived from the death of sleep. The second time is techiyas hameisim le’asid lavo, in the future; while we’re on the subject we thank for that too. But number one is I’m alive! I’m alive right now!
Humbled For the Resurrection
So isn't that a wasted opportunity when you say baruch atah Hashem mechayeh hameisim – ‘I bend my knees in gratitude to You that You brought me back to life this morning again’ and you’re not thinking about it at all? Are you thinking how good it is to be alive? You’re rattling off words, that’s all. So doesn't it pay to stop and try to gain this attitude of really enjoying life?
And three times a day by davening, that’s not enough. These are just the reminders. It’s what you take away from the davening, that’s what matters. All day, all the time, to walk around with that undercurrent of happiness. The plain fact of being alive is such fun that there's nothing in the world that could equal it.
Keeping Secrets
Now, what I’m telling you now is a secret. Don’t tell anybody. Mishlei warns you, don’t talk to foolish people about these things (Mishlei 29:3). And the whole world is foolish when it comes to these things. They only know the chitzoniyus, not the pnimiyus. Even in the yeshiva; if you go into the yeshiva and tell them that you’re so happy that you’re alive that you’re going to sit down and learn a blatt Gemara just because of that, because you’re overflowing with gratitude to Hashem, they’ll laugh at you.
And therefore you can’t tell this secret to everyone. I’m fortunate that I’m talking to an intelligent audience. You people are high quality, intelligent people so I know I can tell you things, but you have to be careful when you repeat these things to other people. They should be for you alone, and a stranger cannot share it with you (ibid. 5:17).
But at least for you they should be! You have to make it your business to tell yourself. So when you’re home, when you’re in the street, when you’re shopping – wherever you are, if you stop for a moment and think, “I’m still alive! Ah, chasdei Hashem!”
And all the details of life too. Never forget the details! Think and thank, think and thank, always. Whenever you can, steal a minute to appreciate the gifts you’re getting from Hakadosh Baruch Hu all the time.
A Rock Solid Foundation
Oh, you’re doing a great thing now. In that minute that you’re thinking of thanking Hashem, that you’re grateful to Hashem, that itself is a tremendous accomplishment. Because you’re setting a foundation for all of your avodah now. All of your avodas Hashem – your mitzvos, your learning, your davening, your chessed, your middos tovos, raising your frum family – it’s all one big kiyum of serving Hashem b’simchah u’v’tuv leivav meirov kol.
Because that’s what avodah, service, means. You can’t serve Hashem anything. He doesn’t need you. And so the attitude of the Jew is always Mah ashiv laHashem kol tagmulohi alai – What can I pay You back, all that You did for me? (Tehillim 116:12). I can’t pay back anything so I become nichna; I’m humbled before You in gratitude. So much You’re giving me and I can’t give You anything. So what’s left for me to do except fulfilling Your will. I’ll serve You by fulfilling everything I can, everything that You asked of me; at least that I can do. Everything I do, I’ll do it because I’m humbled before You in gratitude. I’ll serve You always b’simchah u’v’tuv leivav meirov kol!
Have a Wonderful Shabbos
Let’s Get Practical
Gaining Gratitude in Life
We learned about how important gratitude toward Hashem is; it is fundamental to our service of Hashem. And Rav Miller says: “Never forget the details! Think and thank, think and thank, always. Whenever you can, steal a minute to appreciate the gifts you’re getting from Hakadosh Baruch Hu all the time.” This week I will bli neder be extra careful to recite the prayer of “Modeh Ani” as soon as I wake up in the morning with full concentration, I will also try to maintain that attitude throughout the day.
This week’s booklet is based on tapes:
35 - Supreme Service | 237 - Serve Hashem With Joy
826 - House of Thanksgiving | 841 - Choose Life
E-213 - The First Step On The Way To Greatness
Listen: 718.289.0899 Press 1 for English and 2 for Thursday Night Lectures
