Dear Friends;

I hope you’ll enjoy the following Parashat summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell ”

Moshe continues to encourage the Children of Israel to trust in Hashem and in the wonderful rewards which He will provide them if they keep the Torah. Moshe assures them that they will successfully defeat the nations of Canaan, at which point they must remove every trace of idol worship remaining in the Holy Land.

Moshe reminds them about the miraculous manna and the other wonders which Hashem provided for them throughout the past forty years, and he warns them to beware of their own future prosperity and military success which might cause them to forget Hashem. He further reminds them of their transgressions in the desert, retelling the story of the golden calf at length, and describing Hashem’s abundant mercy with them.

Moshe teaches the people the second paragraph of the Shema which stresses the fundamental doctrine of reward and punishment based upon our performance of the mitzvot. The Parsha concludes with Hashem’s promise that He will provide the Jewish people with protection if they observe the laws of the Torah.

” Dvar Torah ”

Gratitude is a feeling of being grateful or thankful.  When you feel gratitude, you’re pleased by what someone else did for you and also pleased by the results. Unlike indebtedness, you’re not anxious about having to pay it back.

In the early 1990s one of the great medical research studies took place. It became known as the “Nun Study”. Some 700 American nuns, all members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the United States, agreed to allow their records to be accessed by a research team investigating the process of ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease. At the start of the study the participants were aged between 75 and 102.

What made this study so interesting was that in 1930 the nuns, then in their twenties, had been asked by the Mother Superior to write a brief autobiographical account of their life and their reasons for entering the monastery. The results were astonishing. The more positive emotions – contentment, gratitude, happiness, love and hope – the nuns expressed in their autobiographical notes, the more likely they were to be alive and well sixty years later. The difference was as much as seven years in life expectancy.

Since the publication of the Nun Study, a new field of gratitude research study has been developed and they have come across some interesting discoveries. They have come to know of the multiple effects of developing an attitude of gratitude. It improves physical health and immunity against disease. Grateful people are more likely to take regular exercise and go for regular medical check-ups. Thankfulness reduces frustration and regret and makes depression less likely. It helps people avoid over-reacting to negative experiences by seeking revenge. It even tends to make people sleep better. Grateful people tend to have better relationships. Saying “thank you” enhances friendships and brings out better performance from employees.

But what medicine knows today about gratitude, Moshe knew thousands of years ago. In this week’s Parsha, Moshe talks to the Benei Yisrael about the importance of gratitude. He tells them the following: “When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them,  and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery … Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.”  Basically Moshe is telling them to be grateful to Hashem. What is interesting is that Moshe is not so worried about the lack of thankfulness during the difficult times, but rather, he is more concern about the lack of gratitude during the good times.

Moshe warns them that the worst thing that could happen to them would be that they forget how they got to the Promised Land, how God had promised it to their ancestors, and had taken them from slavery to freedom, sustaining them during the forty years in the wilderness. Israel as a nation, should never attribute its achievements to itself – “my power and the might of my own hand” – but should always ascribe its victories, indeed its very existence, to something higher than itself: to G-d Almighty. This is a dominant theme of book of Devarim, and it echoes throughout the book time and time again.

Rabbi Sacks says that part of the essence of gratitude is that it recognizes that we are not the sole authors of what is good in our lives. Although you don’t have to be religious to be grateful, but there is something about belief in G-d as creator of the universe that directs and facilitates our gratitude. It is hard to feel grateful to a universe that came into existence for no reason. It is precisely our faith in a personal G-d that gives force and focus to our thanks.

So now, It is not surprising to know that one of the most celebrated Holidays in the United States is “Thanksgiving”. It was Abraham Lincoln who issued a Thanksgiving proclamation in 1863, thanking G-d that though the nation was at war with itself, there were still blessings for which both sides could express gratitude: a fruitful harvest, no foreign invasion, and so on. It seems that even the American people know the importance of gratitude to G-d!

Yes my friends, the Torah is teaching us the importance of being grateful to G-d. It’s not because Hashem needs to hear our appreciation, but it’s for our own benefit. Gratitude makes us feel humble and appreciate life more. It protects us from resentments and the arrogance of power.

The first words we say each morning – “Modeh ani”, “I thank you” – mean that we begin each day by giving thanks to Hashem. We continue with Brikot HaShachar ‘the Dawn Blessings’ which we thank Hashem for life itself: for the human body, the physical world, the land we stand on and eyes we can see with. And all of these prayers are meant to give us the strength to go through our day with joy!

It is not so difficult to be grateful to someone who has given you your life. No wonder the most common response to “How are you?” is Baruch Hashem — Thank G-d!

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;
Martin