By By Rabbi-Cantor Cheri Weiss
My favorite holiday of the year is Thanksgiving. Some of you may find it strange that a Jewish rabbi-cantor feels this way, but I do. While I love Passover and Chanukkah and other Jewish holidays, Thanksgiving holds a special place in my heart. For many years, when we all lived in San Diego, my husband Dan, daughter, Emma and now son-in-law Tyler, and I had a tradition of participating in the annual “Run for the Hungry” which raised much-needed funds for local food banks. We followed the annual run (well, Emma and Tyler ran; Dan and I walked) with cooking our own family Thanksgiving dinner at home. In early years, I would watch old beloved TV shows during my hours in the kitchen. After Emma & Tyler adopted a vegan diet in more recent years, she took the lead in food prep while I served as her sous-chef.
What really made the difference was not our actual meals (though they were all quite delicious), as much as the immense gratitude I felt for the blessings God had bestowed upon our family. Also, I was profoundly aware that while we were fortunate enough to be able to go to our own home to prepare whatever quantity of food we wanted, we had spent the morning raising money to help feed those in need.
Expressing gratitude is very much central to Judaism, so it is not a great leap for us to appreciate Thanksgiving. For example, upon awakening and before we even get out of bed, we say this prayer:
“I am thankful before You, living and enduring Sovereign, for you have mercifully restored my soul within me. Great is Your faithfulness.”
Based on a verse found in Deuteronomy (10:12), the rabbis decreed in the Talmud (Menachot 43b) that Jews should say 100 blessings a day. Traditional Jews who pray 3 times every day (Shacharit, Mincha, and Ma’ariv, with Musaf on Shabbat and holidays) meet most of this requirement by saying all the prayers in these services, since nearly all of the prayers conclude with a blessing to God (“Baruch Atah Adonai…”).
For those of us who may not recite these prayers as often, saying 100 blessings per day takes more considerable effort. However, we still have a myriad of opportunities over the course of any day to express our gratitude to the Divine. There are blessings to be said before and after eating various types of food. There are also blessings we say when lighting candles on Shabbat, holidays, donning a tallit, washing our hands, affixing a mezuzah to a doorpost, smelling something pleasant (trees, flowers, oils, fruit), seeing or hearing wonders of nature (thunder, lightning, first blossom of trees in the Spring, rainbows — something I see all the time living in Hawai’i!), after recovering from an illness or returning from a long journey. There is also the Shehecheyanu blessing, which is recited when we do something for the very first time or after having not experienced this wonder for at least a year.
We do not need to get caught up in the number 100 to live a life of gratitude for the blessings God has bestowed upon us. What we can do is cultivate a sense of wonder and appreciation each and every time we have an opportunity to do so. With all the challenges in our lives every single day, finding those moments to say “Thank You” to God may bring us a sense of peace even if it is only for that moment in time.
Happy Thanksgiving and may your life be filled with blessings and gratitude.
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