20 Oct PARSHAS LECH LECHA: GRATITUDE

We say in Nishmas
that it is impossible
for a person to praise
Hashem sufficiently.
“We won’t be able to
satisfactorily praise
you Hashem… not
even for one millionth
of the miracles and
wonders that you
performed for us.”
Regarding the
mitzvah of bikurim,
which focuses on expressing gratitude, Rashi
writes that we demonstrate She’eincha Kafui
Tovah, that we aren’t ungrateful for Hashem’s
kindness. The question arises: why doesn’t
Rashi write that the purpose of Bikurim is to
thank and praise Hashem for His abundant
blessings? We does Rashi limit the purpose
to demonstrate that we aren’t kafui tovah, and
merely recognize Hashem’s kindness?
Reb Moshe Feinstein zt’l replies that it is
impossible to praise Hashem. As much as we
will say, it will be insufficient. This is why
Rashi writes that we express that we aren’t
kafui tovah. We express awareness that the
kindness came from Hashem. We want to
praise Hashem, and we praise Hashem to the

best of our abilities, but we know that as much
praise we say, we didn’t even begin.
Someone was walking towards Rav Shach
zt’l, and even from a distance, Rav Shach
noticed that this person was extremely happy
about something. When he got closer, he told
Rav Shach that he had given birth to a baby
girl.
Rav Shach asked him, “This is good news
that occurs daily… Yet, you seem to be
extraordinarily happy.”
The man replied, “I have been married for
twenty years, and this is my first child. That’s
why I am so happy.”
Soon after, another person came to the rosh
yeshiva, Rav Shach, and appeared a bit sad.
He told Rav Shach that he had given birth to
a baby girl. “So why are you sad?” Rav Shach
asked. The man replied, “I already have seven
daughters; this is number eight. I was hoping
for a boy.”
Rav Shach told him about the person he
had met earlier, the man who had a child, a
girl, after twenty years of waiting. “He was
extremely happy. He is about your age. If you
had not had children in all these years, you
would be as happy as him. So why should you
be sad that you have seven other daughters?”
The kohen at a pidyon haben says to the father,
“What do you want more?”
I heard from a grandfather who spoke at a
pidyon haben that we can explain that the

kohen is telling the father, “What more can
you possibly want in life? Hashem did so
much kindness for you!”
An orphan came to Reb Yehudah Zev Segal,
rosh yeshiva of Manchester zt’l, for advice.
His father had died, and his mother asked him
to take over his father’s food business. Reb
Segal agreed that under the circumstances,
he should listen to his mother’s requests and
support the family. But the rosh yeshiva had
one request: “Every night, when you daven
maariv, and you say ‘For the miracles that
occur, to us every day,’ stop at these words
and think, ‘What miracle did Hashem perform
for me today?’”
This person says that he has been doing this
nightly for forty years, and there was never
a night when he couldn’t find a miracle that
Hashem performed for him that day.
There is a humorous story about a poor person
who lived in an old crumbling house at the
edge of the city. He had a friend who owned
a store. Once, his friend advised him to buy a
lottery ticket. The poor man replied, “If I had
a penny in my pocket, I would use it to buy
food for my children. I wouldn’t use it to buy
a lottery ticket.”
The store owner felt bad for his poor friend,
so he said, “I will lend you the money. If you
win, the prize is yours. And if you lose, you
don’t have to pay me anything.”
The poor man’s ticket won the lottery. The
store owner discovered this in the middle
of the night, and he figured that his friend
would be happy to hear the good news, even
if that meant waking him up from his sleep.
So he went to the poor man’s home in the
middle of the night, woke him up, and told
him the good news.
As soon as he heard that he had won the
lottery, he began shouting at the store owner,
“Where is your respect? How dare you wake
up the wealthiest man in town in the middle
of the night!?” And he went on and on. He
was still in his rickety and small, poor man’s
home, but he had forgotten the poverty of
his past and was living in his newly found
wealth. But this isn’t proper. When things
turn around and become good for you, you
mustn’t forget the difficulties that preceded
it. That will help you appreciate the good
you have, and it will help you praise Hashem
for His kindness.
The yomim tovim are in memory of leaving
Mitzrayim. We don’t limit our joy to the
present; we simultaneously remember our
formative challenges and from where we
were rescued and elevated.
The Mishnah (Avos 5:8) states, “Ten
miracles occurred to our fathers in the Beis
HaMikdash…” Reb Yechezkel Abramsky
zt’l noted that the common theme of the
miracles listed in the Mishnah is that we
were spared from trouble and misfortune.
The miracles aren’t about wonderful
things happening to people, like becoming
wondrously wealthy or that the ill were
miraculously healed. Instead, the miracles
listed are that everything went smoothly.
For example, among the ten miracles of the

Beis HaMikdash mentioned are: “No woman
miscarried… the korbanos never spoiled….
A fly didn’t come near the meat in the Beis
HaMikdash… The rain didn’t extinguish the
fire on the mizbeiach…” Let us learn from this
that when everything goes well, that is also a
miracle, for which we must praise Hashem.
The Kav HaYashar (18) writes, “Everyone
experiences miracles. Especially in recent
times, when there is so much strife and
hardship in the world, and things perpetually
get worse – evil decrees, war, hunger, people
in captivity, distress, and various diseases.
When Hashem saves a person from these
tragedies, he should continuously consider
Hashem’s kindness. Anyone living in peace
and security and with parnassah must praise
Hashem.”
A yungerman came home and for some
reason, his wife didn’t serve him supper, as
she generally would, and the sink was filled
with dirty pots and dishes. He scolded her,
“You didn’t cook supper, and you didn’t clean
the dishes. What did you do today?” implying
that she did nothing. She didn’t reply.
The next day, it was the same story. There was
no meal; the sink was full of dishes. Again, he
rebuked her, “What did you do all day?” Once
again, she remained silent.
The next day, the children weren’t dressed
properly. They were running around wild,
fighting with one another, writing on the
walls, and making a royal mess. The wife
was lying in bed. This time, the husband was
quite angry. It was far worse than ever before.
“What did you do all day long?” he asked
bitterly.
She replied, “Today, I didn’t do anything.”
She wanted her husband to see how things
look when she does nothing, and he should
learn to appreciate all the things she does that
he never noticed.
This story has an important lesson for the
home: learn to appreciate the work that
others do for you, which you may have never
appreciated. But there is another lesson here,
too. It reminds us of how much can go wrong.
With this awareness, we should appreciate and
recognize the kindness that Hashem bestows
upon us constantly and every day.look when
she does nothing, and he should learn to
appreciate all the things she does that he never
noticed.
This story has an important lesson for the
home: learn to appreciate the work that
others do for you, which you may have never
appreciated. But there is another lesson here,
too. It reminds us of how much can go wrong.
With this awareness, we should appreciate and
recognize the kindness that Hashem bestows
upon us constantly and every day.