18 Mar PARSHAS VAYAKHEL: HAKARAS HATOV

It is known that we must
have hakaras hatov.
When someone does
you a favor, you must
feel indebted to him,
seek to help him, and
certainly never harm
him.

We are even obligated to have hakaras
hatov towards animals when they help
us.
Many readers saw the photograph of
Reb Elyah Lopian zt’l giving a dish of
milk to a cat. This is the real story behind
the picture:
The bachurim who learned in yeshivas
Kfar Chassidim were bothered by the
many rats that nibbled at their food and
got into their belongings. They brought
a cat to the yeshiva campus, and the cat
got rid of all the rats.
After the mission was accomplished,
the bachurim wanted to send the cat

away. Reb Elyah Lopian zt’l was the
mashgiach of Kfar Chassidim, and he
told the bachurim that they must first
show hakaras hatov to the cat. The
picture of Reb Elyah giving milk to the
cat is how he showed the cat hakaras
hatov for helping the bachurim, and then
they sent the cat away.
The Yerushalmi (Terumos 8:3) tells:
Someone invited a talmid chacham for a
meal. At the meal, the host brought his
dog and had the dog sit down next to
the host. The talmid chacham asked, “Is
there a reason you are disgracing me?”
The baal habayis replied, “Chas
v’shalom! It is simply that I owe a favor
to this dog. Once, kidnappers came to
the city. They intended to catch people
and sell them as slaves. One of the
kidnappers wanted to take my wife. This
dog bit him…and the kidnapper left us in
peace. Therefore, I must honor this dog.”
We’ve seen that we must show hakaras
hatov to people who do us favors, and
even to animals. What about domeim,

inanimate objects? Must we have hakaras
hatov towards them too? The answer
is yes. Our obligation to have hakaras
hatov is even for domeim, objects that
don’t have feelings.
We can prove this from the makos in
Mitzrayim. Moshe Rabbeinu performed
most makos, but the first three makos –
dam, tzefarde, kinim – were performed
by Aharon HaKohen. Why didn’t Moshe
do those?
Rashi (Shemos 7:19) explains that as
an infant, Moshe was cast in the Nile to
be saved from the Egyptians who were
killing all the newborns. The Nile saved
him, and therefore, Moshe couldn’t bring
plagues on the Nile (dam, tzefardeah) It
had to be done by his brother Aharon.
Similarly, about makas kinim Rashi
(Shemos 8:12) writes, “It wasn’t
appropriate that Moshe should hit the
earth since the earth protected Moshe…”
because when Moshe killed the Mitzri,
he buried him in the sand. Therefore,
Aharon hit the earth and brought forth
the kinim. It wasn’t proper for Moshe
to bring a plague onto the earth that
protected him.
The Nile and the earth don’t have
feelings, yet Moshe couldn’t bring
a makah on them. He had to have
hakaras hatov even for a domeim
(inanimate).
The Shita Mikubetzes (Bava Kama
92:) writes, “A student of the Ri
Migash z’l wrote the following:
“The Gemara (Bava Kama 92:) says,
if you drank water from a well, don’t
throw in a stone or any other matter.
Don’t disregard it, and don’t do
anything bad to it because you once
benefited from it. The Gemara is using
a well as a mashal for all matters: If
you gained benefit and pleasure from
something, it isn’t proper to damage
it…”
[This lesson shows us that we should
have hakaras hatov for inanimate
items. The well doesn’t have feelings
or care if someone throws in a stone.
But if we benefited from the well, we
mustn’t disgrace it.]
“Rabbeinu (the R’i MiGash) told a
story that happened with his Rebbe,
the Ri’f. Someone asked the Ri’f to be
his judge, and the Ri’f emphatically
refused. This was the reason:
“There was a time when the Ri’f z’l
was ill, and he went to the home of

someone who had a bathhouse. The Ri’f
bathed there and it was very good for
his health. The owner of the bathhouse
asked the Ri’f to stay in his home until he
was fully cured, and the host honored the
Ri’f immensely until the Ri’f recovered.
“As time passed, this person [who
hosted the Ri’f] lost his money and
suffered from hunger, etc. He was deeply
in debt. His financial situation became so
bad, he had to sell the bathhouse to pay
back his debts. The Ri’f said, ‘I won’t
judge anything that has to do with the
bathhouse, such as regarding its sale or
evaluating its value because I enjoyed
this bathhouse. He said this about a
bathhouse, which has no feelings.”
The Ri Migash adds that if the Ri’f
was cautious not to judge a bathhouse,
indeed, how cautious one must be not
to be the judge for a human being who
helped you. He writes “It would be
wrong to judge [the person who did a
favor for you]. Whoever does has left the
path of mussar and derech eretz. Chazel
say, ‘A person shouldn’t judge someone
he loves or someone he hates.’ There are
two reasons why you shouldn’t judge
someone you love: One is because you
might bend the judgment in favor of
your friend you love. And if you can
be cautious with your soul and you can
judge correctly, nevertheless, it is wrong
to judge your friend, because you will be
paying bad to someone who did kindness
with you.”
The Ri MiGash concludes that our
primary hakaras hatov should go to
Hashem. He writes, “Hashem bestows
perfect goodness on us. Kal v’chomer
it is proper that we praise Hashem with
perfect praises, and that we shouldn’t do
anything that will get Hashem angry, and
we shouldn’t do anything that Hashem
hates.”
Because when one trains himself in the
attribute of hakaras hatov for domeim,
for animals, and certainly for human
beings, he will also have hakaras hatov
for Hashem, for all the kindness He
bestows on us.