פרשת צו וענייני הודאה
One of the sacrifices delineated in this week’s Parsha is the offering of thanksgiving. The Torah teaches us that if one has a miracle performed for him, for example if he was very ill and then became better, or if he was in a dangerous situation and was able to come out of it unscathed, he brings an offering of thanksgiving to God, along with 40 loaves of bread which all needed to be eaten in a short amount of time. The Midrash on this week’s Parsha explains that the “Toda” offering is so important that after Moshiach comes, when all the other sacrificial offerings in the temple will be nullified, only the Toda offering will remain. Similarly, the Midrash asserts that in the future, all prayer services will cease completely, accept for the prayers of thanksgiving which will remain until the end of time. The Ramban in Parshas Bo says that the purpose of all creation is so that a Jew will thank God for his existence. The first word that every Jew utters in the morning is “Thank you”. I would like to explain why it is that the attribute of gratitude is so integral to a Jew’s existence.
The word “הודאה” – gratitude, has within it two connotations. The first is to admit. When one is “Modeh” that he owes money, he admits to the truth of the claim against him. The second is a terminology of praise and gratitude. For example, we praise God for all the goodness that he does for us and that is how we show our gratitude. The Midrash in Bereisheis, (71) shows how these two different facets of “Hodah” are in fact linked. We find that Leah thanked God for her fourth son, and to express that gratitude to Hashem she called him Yehuda. The Midrash goes on to say that because of her gratitude, she deserved to have a son who also excelled in Hodah. This happened when Yehuda’s wife Tamar was accused of adultery and was going to be executed, and he confessed that he was in fact responsible for her pregnancy, even though he risked great embarrassment and public ridicule for this deed. This Midrash seems to be comparing apples and oranges. Leah’s “Hodah” to God consisted of thanksgiving and praise, whereas Yehuda’s was more of an admitting type of Hodah. This Midrash is teaching us that in fact, these two aspects of thanksgiving are one and the same. When a person contemplates the incredible kindnesses that have been performed for him from the minute he was conceived, until this very moment, and those that are continually performed for him on a daily basis, he will be forced to admit that he owes God everything in the world and will naturally want to praise His holy Name with every fiber of his being. When was the last time we personally know of someone who missed a meal? How many times has your heart skipped a beat? Have we suffered any severe or even mild physical or emotional pain today? When a person can answer “no” to all of these questions, and thousands more, if he is honest, he will be forced to admit that the only possible cause for all this blessing in his life is because God willed it, and not because of anything that he personally did. These thoughts will also cause a person to feel an innate gratitude toward Hashem and a complete subjugation to God’s will and he will instinctively want to perform God’s commandments in every detail.
From the thanksgiving offering, we learn another valuable lesson in gratitude. The verse in psalms says, “זובח תודה יכבדנני” – Those who sacrifice a Toda, honor me. The Midrash points out an interesting anomaly in this verse, that the words “Honor me”, are spelled with two nunim instead of one, implying that there are always two things to thank God for and not one. The Kesav Sofer explains this enigmatic Midrash by saying that often we feel tremendous gratitude when Hashem saves us from a dangerous situation, but neglect to feel the same level of gratitude to Hashem for putting us in a dangerous situation. One might ask, “Why in the world should I feel gratitude for being put in a life-threatening situation?” The Kesav Sofer explains that the Gemora says that all that God does is for the best. Perhaps by being in a dangerous situation, we will feel stimulated to repent from our stubborn ways, or the discomfort of the fright may atone for many sins that we have transgressed. Or perhaps an unforeseen benefit may come out of the person’s being in that unpleasant situation that will help him in the future. If the given premise is that “All that God does benefits us”, than the Kesav Sofer asserts that there is no reason we should not be obligated to thank Him for being put in an uncomfortable situation and this explains the verse’s use of the two Nunim.
R’ Chaim Zaichik goes on to ask a fascinating Kushya on the Chazal that we stated earlier, that in future times the only offering that will remain is the one of thanksgiving. He asks, what on earth will there be to thank God for? In the utopia which we are expecting post-Mashiach, there will be no calamities or ill feelings. This being the case what kind of salvations will we need to give thanks for? He answers with a bombastic Chidush. He explains that currently, we find Hashem’s conduct to be very difficult to understand. For example the Holocaust and the pogroms and the endless suffering, murder, and cruelty that exist to date. And although these events are all ultimately good, as Chazal have stated, we don’t presently perceive that goodness. So R’ Chaim explains that the Todah offerings of the future will be an endless stream of our thanking God for all the unperceived good that he has done throughout the generations in order to compensate for our shortsightedness!
Truthfully, this message of thanksgiving to God for all that He does is latent in the Purim story. The Gemorah says that in the future, all the Jewish holidays will be nullified accept for Purim. What was so special about the Miracle of Purim that earned it to be the only remaining holiday in future times? The answer is nothing! The Purim story contains nothing extraordinary in it and this is precisely what makes its message so pertinent, that it will be the only message needed for future generations. There were no open miracles in the Purim story. No sensational seas were splitting for us and our enemies did not get miraculously smitten down by any natural disasters. Rather our salvation came through seemingly “natural” causes, over the course of eleven years, and through the “right” people being in the “right” place at the “right” time. Yet Chazal, by instituting the holiday of Purim in order to commemorate these seemingly non-extraordinary events which brought about our salvation, were attempting to inculcate in us the importance of this message – to thank Hashem for every event that befalls us, and to recognize His gracious Hand in every aspect of our lives.
Additionally, there is another crucial message from the Purim story which illustrates beautifully all that we have written about Hodah. During the Purim story, many events happened which seemed disastrous for the Jews. Modechai seems to be aggravating the situation by not bowing down to Haman and angering him. Esther seems to be making new friends with Haman by personally inviting him to two different parties. An onlooker may have not given such a good prognosis to the Jewish people. Yet in the end of the day, it was precisely these events which brought about our eventual salvation. The message is clear. Although world and personal calamites don’t always seem to be so positive, we must have complete faith that they are for the best and that Hashem knows what he is doing.
May we merit to foster a true sense of gratitude for all the good (and even the not so good) that we are constantly receiving!