On Gratitude- 2024 Framingham Interfaith Thanksgiving Service Remarks

It’s a true pleasure to be here with you today as we take a moment to pause and acknowledge the role that gratitude plays in our lives during this season of Thanksgiving. 

I want to say firstly that, since I’ve started my tenure as rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom, it’s been a true pleasure to get to know my fellow clergy here in Framingham. Being a part of the Framingham Interfaith Clergy Association and being welcomed with open arms by my colleagues has been, as we say in Yiddish, a mechaya– an affirmation, a gift, and a wonderful opportunity for fellowship. 

As I take stock during this season of Thanksgiving, I’m personally grateful for many things that I don’t often take the time to acknowledge- my health, my loving family, the fact that one of my best friends received a successful double lung transplant a few weeks ago, and the fact that the Mets surpassed my expectations and almost made it to the World Series. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that this season also holds trepidation for many. There are those among us whose rights and liberties may be under threat, and for whom this season is one of worry. For them, too, I am both holding space and also grateful for their presence in the community that I’m privileged to serve. 

There is a teaching in the Jewish tradition that a person should strive to say one hundred blessings every day. Some of them are part of our set liturgy which we recite three times daily, while others are blessings we say upon certain occasions. At the heart of the vast majority of them is gratitude- giving thanks for the range of human experiences that we’re privileged to enjoy, and for being created b’tzelem Elohim- in the Divine image. 

Judaism prescribes particular blessings for a myriad of incidental occasions throughout the day, from the moment we wake up until we go to bed at night. We begin our day with a blessing upon arising in the morning, thanking G-d for returning a refreshed soul to our body. Other prescribed blessings are recited when we see the wonders of nature, when we engage in Torah study, when we hear good news, and even when we use the bathroom (I happen to like that one a lot). Karen Reiss Medwed has written: 

“Jewish prayer incorporates b’rakhot, benedictions, designed to sanctify, thus to grant a deep spiritual dimension, to experiences as diverse as eating a peach, smelling a rose, hearing a clap of thunder, and seeing a head of state” (The Observant Life pg. 5).

Furthermore, “[Rabbi] Abraham Joshua Heschel taught that prayer helps us to engage in what he calls ‘radical amazement’, that is, to reach out to the mysteries of life and, in so doing, to rediscover G-d in those mysteries” (pg. 11). 

The basis for saying so many blessings is based, in part, on the Jewish principle of hakarat hatov– literally “acknowledging the good”. If we pass through our lives ignorant of all those moments, big and small, when we experience the pleasures that the Divine affords us, then we experience only half of what it means to be human. Furthermore, we are taught that we are to acknowledge G-d even in moments of sorrow and of hearing bad news, in an acknowledgement that G-d is present with us through both the proverbial thick and thin of life.

During this season of Thanksgiving, our gratitude shows forth in the actions we do with and for others. In the action of welcoming people into our homes, feeding them, and showing them hospitality, we perform mitzvot– good deeds- and in turn have the opportunity to engage in hakarat hatov, that acknowledgement of the good in our lives.

In our various faith traditions, welcoming people to our tables, or being invited to another’s table, is a sign of the divine connection which we all share, and an experience for which it is only fitting we should show gratitude. One of my favorite ways of showing gratitude in the Jewish tradition is by reciting what’s known as Birkat Hamazon– the grace after meals. This is not actually one blessing of Thanksgiving, but several that are recited together after we finish our meal. The basis for its recitation is found in the book of Deuteronomy, which teaches in Hebrew “v’achalta, v’savata, u’veirachta”- “you will eat, you will be satisfied, and you will bless.” 

I believe that the three blessings of our Grace After Meals each reflect the values that we hope to embody as we celebrate Thanksgiving. The first blessing ends with the benediction thanking G-d for the food we’ve just eaten. It’s not just a prayer of gratitude for enjoying a hearty meal, but also an acknowledgement that the process of preparing food is at times an uncertain and arduous one which is dependent upon the seasons, the weather, and a long agricultural process. This blessing of gratitude, it must be said, we hold in tension with the sad fact that there are those in our midst who go without. This first blessing of gratitude, then, allows us to realize that while we are thankful for abundance and sustenance, we must also invite others to partake with us so that they too will have the opportunity to show gratitude for both divine sustenance and human connection.

The second blessing of Birkat Hamazon is a blessing for the land. As part of it, we recite the remainder of the verse I cited earlier from Deuteronomy: “you will eat, you will be satisfied, and you will bless for the good land that has been given to you.” It’s a divine land acknowledgement in its own way. On Thanksgiving, we hope to be mindful of those who have lived in harmony with this land longer than we have, who have a long history of nourishing it and being nourished by it. Thanksgiving offers a moment to acknowledge gratitude for both the land that indigenous people learned to love before our own arrival to it, as well as the knowledge that those people have imparted to us regarding the land and its proper use. 

But wait, there’s more! The third and final stipulated blessing, in our tradition, is a blessing for Jerusalem, which despite the earthly flaws it exhibits along with every other city in the world also represents an idealized version of what we can be. In our tradition we learn of Yerushalayim shel mata– literally, the “Jerusalem of below”, our holy city as it exists in our world- and Yerushalayim shel mala, the heavenly “Jerusalem of above”, which represents an idealized state for us and the world that we should aspire to. On Thanksgiving, we have the opportunity to gratefully count our blessings while acknowledging that the world is imperfect. As such, Thanksgiving spurs us to increase our efforts to bring a touch of the divine, and our divine humanity, into the world in order to make it a better place for all. 

Our American Thanksgiving, I believe, is encapsulated in the values expressed in these three blessings- gratitude for the food on our table, for the land from which it came, and hope for a more perfect union and the acknowledgment that while we should take time to be satisfied, we should never stop striving to be our best selves.

In closing, I’d like to bring a teaching from Pirkei Avot, commonly known as the Chapters of the Sages, which makes up part of the Mishna- the earliest codified code of rabbinic law. Pirkei Avot teaches in chapter 4: “Who is a rich person? The one who is happy with their lot.” This Thanksgiving, let us lean into that sentiment of satisfaction and gratitude. As we gather with friends and family and express our gratitude for abundance and other blessings, let us each feel, for at least a little while, that the happiness we feel is truly a sign of wealth and satisfaction. May we each continue to enjoy the blessings that we have been privileged to have in our lives, today and every day, and show gratitude to forces both divine and human that have allowed them to be bestowed on us.