By now, you are stuffed to the gills with various Thanksgiving delicacies. Many will be on the 2nd Thanksgiving Shabbat dinner tonight. I thought I would point us in the direction of thankfulness in the word modim, we are thankful.
The 17th blessing of the Daily Amidah and the 6th blessing of the Shabbat Amidah, start with thankfulness. This paragraph then ends with hope, me’olam, kivinu lach, we always put our hope in you. Rabbi Shefa Gold proposes that gratitude is the doorway to hope. Gratitude shifts the internal mind state to be able to envision a positive future because it reframes the past and reprograms us.
Even after a terrible day, month, year, if we can mine our existence for gratitude, and locate some gems, perhaps these become totems, anchors to hold on to, to travail a future that is unknown.
Modim anachnu lach. Like yoga and meditation, practicing gratitude is a spiritual tool to transform us. And it does not have to take place once a year. In fact, our tradition has us practicing gratitude at least three times a day.
For those who are inclined, try the following spiritual exercise:
Write down 3 good things that happened within the last 24 hours, describe each good thing in detail, and how you felt before, during and after. Let’s see if gratitude truly is a doorway to hope.
Mazel Tov to the Kapitansky family on the occasion of Mitchell becoming Bar Mitzvah
Services Friday, November 24 - Thursday, November 30
Kabbalat Shabbat Service Friday 8:00 PM Nosh & Drash Saturday 9:00 AM
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