A thousand years ago, the great Rabbi Saadia Gaon thought that our Torah is reasonable and that the human intellect, by itself, can ultimately discover the great truths taught in Scripture. As an example of how reason can provide us with these principles, he offers: gratitude. The very first thing our reason tells us is that one ought to be grateful. Hence, from this principle of gratitude, we learn that a man ought to pray. It is reasonable that we pray to G-d out of gratitude to Him.Intelligent people should not be ingrates. That is why Jews recite the Modeh Ani immedi-ately upon arising, why they say the Modim as part of their prayer, why they recite the Birkhat ha-Mazon after eating. It is the first dictate of human reason.It is all the more amazing, therefore, to learn of a remarkable comment of our Rabbis on the Bible’s narrative concerning the birth of Leah’s fourth son. She called him Yehudah (Judah) because “this time I shall thank the Lord” (Gen. 29:35). Our Sages say, “from the day G-d created the world no one had thanked Him until Leah came and thanked Him upon giving birth to Judah, as it is said, ‘this time I shall thank the Lord’” (Berakhot 7). Noah, Shem, Eber, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—the founders of the true religion—were they so callous and indifferent that they never acknowledged G-d’s gifts to them ? Were they, then, unfeeling, unthinking ingrates ?Indeed not. For a deeper understanding of gratitude reveals that there are two levels of gratitude. Gratefulness can be understood as courtesy—or as conscience; as a social gesture —or as sacred grace; as a way of talking—or as a state of the soul; as an aspect of personality —or as a part of character.

The most illustrious example of this nobler kind of gratitude, “thankfulness", is our Mother Leah. Her life’s greatest ambition was to marry Jacob and to be sincerely loved by him. When our Torah tells us that “the eyes of Leah were rakkot," dull or weak (Gen. 29:17), the Rabbis ask: what does rakkot mean? Rav says, literally dull; and this is not meant to discredit Leah but is said in praise of her. For she had heard people saying that Rebecca has two sons and Laban has two daughters, the older will marry the older (that is, Esau will marry Leah) and the younger will marry the younger (Jacob will marry Rachel). She went about inquiring: what are the characters of these men ? She was told that Esau is a wild and evil man. Jacob is a decent, respectable, scholarly young man. And she, therefore, was slated to marry the despicable but successful thief! As a result, she wept so much and so bitterly and so loudly that her eyes dulled, until her eyelashes fell off because of her many tears ! Her red, dull, uncomely eyes were beautiful indeed, for they had become so out of protest against being mated to Esau IHow pathetic is Leah’s story! Her love of Jacob is so great that she even submits to her father’s nefarious plan to substitute her for her sister Rachel, whom Jacob dearly loves, deceiving Jacob thereby. She is even willing to go to the huppah, and throughout life, playing second fiddle to a more vivacious, dazzling, beautiful sister, married to the same husband. And when she finally is married to him—how tragic her frustration, the blow to her selfesteem !Pathetic indeed—yet Leah does not give up hope. Her desire for Jacob’s love and respect is too precious to yield so quickly. She has a son and feels that now he will love her, so she calls the child Reuven, adding: “now my husband will surely love me." But he does not. A second child comes, and she calls him Simeon, “for G-d has seen how despised I am" and will make Jacob love me. And then a third child, Levi—“Now …

It is here that the greatness of Leah shines forth in all its glory: her fourth child is born – and she calls him Yehudah. Why? – “For this time I shall thank the Lord.” This time, when I realize and accept the fact that the greatest, most overwhelming desire of my life will not be granted to me by God – this time I will thank Him! Despite all my failures and disappointments – I thank God! Ha-paam – “this time” – for the first time in history, a great soul reached into the heights of the spirit and recognized that thankfulness is more than thanksgiving, that it is a way of reacting to God’s very Presence and not merely paying a debt for His favors. Ha-paam – “this time,” though my hopes are doomed, my love unrequited, my ambitions dashed – I am yet grateful. I do have a great husband nonetheless. I do have wonderful children. I do have the Lord’s promise to be the matriarch of a great people.Let me know if you’d like a more formal version or if this is meant for publication. This was not the thanksgiving of Compensation but the thankfulness of Consecration. This was not Leah’s social gesture, but her spiritual ascent. Would that all of us in our affuent society learn that even if we do not get all we want—and who does ?—yet there is so very much to be thankful for. We ought to be grateful al nishmotenu ha-pekudot lakh, for the religious freedom we Jews enjoy in our beloved America. Compare our situation with those of our brothers in Russia, where the Jewish neshamah is stifled cruelly. We ought be grateful al nisekha she’be’khol yom imanu, for life, health, family, friends. In our Nishmat prayer we speak of thanks al ahat me’elef alfei ribei revavot pe’amim—thousands and millions of thanks. For in this prayer, mentioned in the Talmud, wethank G-d for rain—indeed for every single raindrop! And it is not only things that we thank G d for. Gratitude is a state of mind, a psychological attunement to G-d, a climate of conscience, a cast of character, a matter not so muc…

Ultimately, the ability to achieve this higher form of gratitude is an integral aspect of character – it requires a humility based upon deep insight. That insight is – our own weakness and inadequacy in the presence of Almighty God. When we are grateful to Him, we are cognizant of the infinite distance between our moral failings and His exalted spirituality. Basically, gratitude to God means acknowledging our dependence upon Him. We confess our need of Him – our inability to get along without Him. No wonder that in Hebrew, the words for “I thank” – Modeh ani – also mean: “I confess.” I confess my need of You; I thank You for coming to my assistance! The Modeh prayer we recite upon arising each morning means not only “Thank You, God, for returning my soul to me” – it means also, “I confess, O God, that without You, I would never wake up alive!”This gratitude, the kind we have called thankfulness rather than mere thanksgiving, is what we Jews have not only been taught by our Tradition, but what we bear as a message to the world by our very names. The concept and the practice are deeply ingrained in the very texture of the Jewish soul, and this is reflected in the name “Jew.” For the word “Jew” comes from “Judah,” which is the English for Yehudah—meaning “thank G-d.” This is the name of Leah’s fourth son, at whose birth Mother Leah reached the heights of sublimity in fashioning, for the first time, an expression of thankfulness issuing from a profoundly religious personality. “Jew” is a name that we ought, therefore, bear with great pride and a sense of responsibility.We conclude with the words of David : Hodu la-Shem ki tov, ki le’olam hasdo. Usually this is translated, “Give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His love lasts forever.” I would paraphrase that, in a manner that is consistent with the syntax of the Hebrew verse : “Give thanks to the Lord, for it is good,” i.e. it is good for the heart and soul of the thankful person to be grateful, “for His love i…

After fourteen years of working for his father-in-law Laban, Jacob decides that the time has come to leave and return to his homeland. He now has eleven sons and a daughter from his two wives and the two handmaidens. And so he confronts Laban who seeks to restrain him; Laban knows when he has a good thing going for him. The question we must ask is: why just then? Of course, the obvious answer is that the terms of his contract with Laban have come to an end. He has served seven years for Leah and another seven for Rachel (whom he thought he was marrying in the first place). Yet the Torah implies that some other consideration is involved here: And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "send me away, that I may go to my own place and my own country" (Gen. 30:25). The Torah connects Jacob's decision to leave with the birth of Joseph. But what does Joseph's birth have to do with this decision? True, this is Rachel's first child, but if Jacob had some prophetic premonition about the size of his family, why did he not wait for the birth of Benjamin, and thus the full family of the patriarch?I suggest that Jacob's decision, so important in his own life and for the furtherance of his divine mission, was occasioned not by his formal contract with Laban and not by the filling out of the contours of his family, but by something far more significant religiously and psychologically. What prompted Jacob's move was his concern for the spiritual education and welfare of his two wives, the daughters of Laban.Jacob knew that he was at a turning point in his life. Whatever the economic problems and opportunities that presented themselves to him as Laban's employee, there were far greater pressures that were building up. On the one hand, he knew that eventually he must confront his brother Esau who had sworn to kill him. That was good reason for postponing any decision to leave Laban's household. Even though he knew that as time went on and his own po…

יעקב אבינו, לאחר ארבע־עשרה שנות עבודה בבית לבן, עת נולדו לו אחד־עשר בנים ובת, מחליט לעזוב ולשוב למולדתו. לבן מנסה לעכבו, אך יעקב נחוש – והוא קושר את ההחלטה ללידת יוסף: “ויהי כאשר ילדה רחל את יוסף, ויאמר יעקב אל לבן שלחני ואלכה אל מקומי ולארצי” (בראשית ל:כה). מדוע דווקא לידת יוסף מהווה את נקודת המפנה? הרי אם יעקב ידע שעתיד להעמיד י"ב שבטים, מדוע לא חיכה לבנימין? התשובה המוצעת כאן היא שיותר מהחוזה עם לבן או מיעד י"ב השבטים, יעקב ביקש להשלימם ולחנך את נשיו – בנות לבן – לאמונה טהורה. לאה ורחל גדלו באווירה אלילית, ויעקב הבין שתפקידו אינו רק לפרנס ולהגן, אלא להיות להן גם מורה ומדריך. ככל ששהו עוד בבית לבן, גבר הסיכון שיספגו מחדש את התרבות האלילית שספגו בילדותן. לפיכך, עליו לעקור ולהבריחן משם. הקושי היה עצום: שתי נשים שונות, שתי נפשות שיש לחנך, ושני קצבים רוחניים. יעקב חווה בכך את הקושי הידוע לכל מחנך – שכל תלמיד שונה מחברו. הדבר החריף כיוון שחינוכן לא הוגבל ל"שיעור" אלא היה אורח חיים מתמיד. כיצד נוכל להבחין בהתפתחותן הרוחנית של נשי יעקב? באמצעות השמות שנתנו לבניהן – ובעיקר, איזו התייחסות יש בהן לשם ה'. שם "אלקים" יכול להיות קודש או חול, תלוי בהקשר; לעומתו, שם הוי׳ הוא תמיד קודש, ומסמל קשר אישי, עמוק וחסדי עם הבורא. לאה, עם לידת ראובן ושמעון, מזכירה את שם הוי׳ – סימן להכרה דתית עמוקה. אך בלידת לוי אין שם שמים – אולי רפוייה באמונה, אולי הנושא – אהבת אישה לבעלה – אינו תלוי בה'. אולם בלידת יהודה חוזר שם הוי׳ – "הפעם אודה את ה'" – ביטוי לשיא רוחני. בהמשך, עם לידת בני השפחות (גד, אשר), שם שמים אינו נזכר כלל. בלידת יששכר וזבולון – חוזר השם "אלקים", אך לא שם הוי׳ – אולי בשל נסיגה באמונה. רחל, לעומת זאת, מתפתחת באיטיות. בבני בלהה היא מזכירה רק את שם "אלקים". רק בלידת יוסף נאמר “ויזכור אלקים את רחל” – וגם רחל עצמה משתמשת בשם "אלקים", ולא בשם הוי׳. אך יעקב, החכם הרוחני, מבחין שבבחירת שמה של רחל לבנה – יוסף – טמונה קפיצה משמעותית: היא מבטאת אמונה חדשה, התחזקות פנימית – והיא נעשתה ב"אתערותא דלתתא", מתוך התעוררות פנימית של רחל עצמה. מכאן, שהגיעה לרמה הרוחנית המצופה. באותה שעה, לאה – שהגיעה לשיא בלידת יהודה – מתחילה להיחלש, וניכרת ירידה בשם אלקים במקום שם הוי׳. יעקב הבין שאם תישאר עוד …