Thanksgiving Sermon

Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech haolam, shehechiyanu, vkiyimanu, vhigiyanu, lazman hazeh. Praised be You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us and permitted us to reach this season.. One down, 99 to go …

In Judaism, our sages teach us that we are supposed to say 100 blessings a day – 100 blessings that thank God for various things in our lives – eating a piece of bread, being in the presence of a great scholar, seeing a rainbow, waking up in the morning, drinking a glass of wine, or two, or three, or four if it’s Passover. Even the very act of being alive merits a prayer that begins “Baruch atah adonai” – praised are you God, for giving “X.”

And so, our American Holiday expresses a very deep religious mandate – that of appreciation, of happiness, of joy. Our morning liturgy expresses this quite beautifully when we exclaim, “Mah Rabu Maasecha Adonai,” “How great are your works, O God!” WE are God’s works.

On Thanksgiving, we thank God for what is right next to us. Each other. We thank God for friendship, for love, for colleagues, for the power of community. It’s no wonder our pilgrims celebrated with a large feast, followed by a game of football, of course … Eating is communal, the act of eating in and of itself represents joy, a certain thanksgiving all its own!

This week’s Torah portion starts off very onimously; Jacob has just left his home, afraid for his life as he not only stole the birthright from Esau, but deceived his very own father into thinking he was, in fact, his older brother. Rebecca sends him away, by himself, with only his fears and insecurities. Exhausted, he falls asleep on a rock, has a dream of angels going up and down a ladder, and then wakes up, exclaiming something that may be the hallmark not only of Judaism, but of religion:

God was in this place and I did not know!

There’s a story of a famous rabbi – Rabbi Mendl Of Kotsk; he used to ask everyone he came across one simple question. “Where do you find God?” Answers were as diverse as the people he approached, of course. Once, after asking someone his famous question, someone threw it back onto him, saying, “Rabbi, where do YOU find God?” The Kotsker Rebbe answered, “I find God … wherever and whenever I let God in.”

God was in this place and I do not know. For me, at times in my life, I could say, “God IS in this place, and I do not know.” Put another way, a miracle is only a miracle, if we choose to view it AS a miracle. Our lives are a miracle, if we observe them as such. God is in our lives, but only if we choose and allow it.

I think our rabbis understood this when they commanded us to say 100 blessings a day. Because saying a blessnig does two things; it recognizes the power of a moment, bringing thanksgiving to an occurrence in your life; but also, the very SAYING of the blessing can create the power of a moment! It forces us to see that God not only WAS there, but IS here, and WILL be here.