Q&A

QUESTION

What should we think when we shake lulav by Hodu in Hallel?

ANSWER

So when you do the na'anuim tomorrow by Hallel and you say, “הוֹדוּ לַה' כִּי טוֹב – We thank You Hashem for all of the good You've done to us” you have to be prepared to thank for something. You'll go into Hodu with a blank head, with nothing?

So you'll think, let's say, like this: “Didn't I marry off my daughters well?” Did you ever think about that when you say Hodu? It wouldn't be a bad idea to make one na'anuim for each son-in-law. "Ay-yah-yay! I'm thanking You, Hashem, for this son-in-law." And by the next na'anuim הוֹדוּ לַה' כִּי טוֹב“I'm thanking You, Hashem, for the next son-in-law." That's how to work it. It's such a very big thing to have married off your children well that you can never thank enough for a good son-in-law or for a good daughter-in-law. And that's how you should think when you make the na'anuim. It shouldn't just be a mechanical thing.

You think it's silly! It's not silly at all. I do it. Many times I think like this: One naʼanuim is for my oldest son-in-law. “Baruch Hashem, I have a good eidim! Baruch Hashem!” And then, “Baruch Hashem, I have a good second son-in-law. And baruch Hashem for the next eidim. Baruch Hashem, there's no trouble there. I never hear any machlokes. My daughters live in shalom with my eidim. Baruch Hashem, I'm happy. Such good eidims."

That's why we make na'anuim. That's what it means Hodu: “I'm thanking You for what You've given to me."

September 1989