A Taste of Torah in honor of Shabbat
from Rabbi Avi Weiss

Parshat Zav
March 26-7, 1999 /10 Nissan 5759

THE IMPORTANCE OF SAYING THANK YOU

IN MEMORY OF RUTH BALTER

This week's Torah portion tells us that one type of peace offering (Shlamim) is known as the thanksgiving sacrifice (Todah).  (Leviticus 7:12)

Rashi notes that this sacrifice was given after experiencing a special miracle.  He specifies one who has endured a sea voyage, a trip through the wilderness, a prison stay or a recovery from an illness.

To this day, those who survive difficult situations are obliged to recite the thanksgiving benediction at the Torah (birkat ha-gomel). Jewish law extends the obligation to include those who are saved from any type of peril.

The Ramban's comments in the Book of Exodus (13:16) can shed light on the importance of the thanksgiving sacrifice.  For him God 's intervention in the supernatural should give one a sense of God's involvement in the everyday. For example, from the splitting of the sea, an event in which God was so obviously manifest, one should come to recognize the input of God every day in containing the waters within the boundaries of the sea shore.   In the words of Nehama Leibowitz, "the unusual deliverances and outstanding miracles are there merely to draw our attention to the miracle of existence."

The timing of the reading of the thanksgiving offering, the Shabbat before Passover, also teaches a significant lesson.  After all, on Passover, we thank God for miraculously taking us out of Egypt.  The Haggadah comes to its crescendo as we sing Dayenu-which means enough.  Some think Dayenu deals with our telling God that we have had enough suffering. In reality the song says the reverse.   We say to God, had you only performed but a fraction of the larger miracle, it would have been enough.  Dayenu is the quintessential statement of thanks to God.

The fact that the thanksgiving sacrifice is a type of peace offering is also clear. When giving to God, the human being achieves a level of inner peace. This is because love is not only a function of receiving, but also of giving. How I remember writing to the Rav, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, of blessed memory, upon his return to class after he lost his wife.  After listening to his lecture (shiur), I was so taken that I wrote to him expressing my love and admiration.  A few days later, the Rav thanked me, but told me the note was unnecessary.  I responded, "Rebbe I wrote the letter for you, but even more important, for myself.  I had a need to tell you, 'I love you.'" The Rav nodded and told me that he understood.

If only we would learn the message of the thanksgiving offering.  To say the simple words to those who mean the most to us, but whom we often take for granted -- words like todah, thank you, to our closest of kin and, of course, to God Himself.

SHABBAT SHALOM

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Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
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