We have witnessed this gratitude and lack of entitlement in the precious Holocaust survivors who lived with us until recently. Their entire lives were filled with praise for Hashem. Every tiny detail in their lives was cause for more thanks.
I once spoke about the need to give thanks for the past, and was accosted afterward by a seventy-year-old Yid who complained, “How can you speak this way? Do you know what Yidden endured during the Holocaust?!” A wise Yid pointed out to me that this Yid couldn’t have been a survivor, and indeed he wasn’t—because the survivors were filled with gratitude! They saw the Ribbono shel Olam throughout their ordeal. They lived with Hashem, and they always emphasized the greatness and kindness of the Ribbono shel Olam.
