Thanksgiving, This time I Will Give Thanks
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5775
Our Matriarch Leah had 4 children, decided to take a break and then had two more children for a total of 6. I was intrigued and I could relate.
Then I remembered the Midrash that each of the boys had a twin sister and I decided to look elsewhere for a derasha idea.
In all seriousness, that episode did intrigue me but for another Thanksgiving related idea.
Upon having her fourth boy, Leah exclaims,
בראשית פרק כט
לה) וַתַּ֨הַר ע֜וֹד וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֗ן וַתֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הַפַּ֙עַם֙ אוֹדֶ֣ה אֶת־יְקֹוָ֔ק עַל־כֵּ֛ן קָרְאָ֥ה שְׁמ֖וֹ יְהוּדָ֑ה וַֽתַּעֲמֹ֖ד מִלֶּֽדֶת
35. And she conceived again, and bore a son; and she said, Now will I praise (or thank) the Lord; therefore she called his name Judah; and ceased bearing.
This time, now I will praise God. What about before? The first 3 kids born healthy are not reason enough to give praise or thanks??
Furthermore, Leah certainly demonstrates awareness of or gratitude to God after each of her first 3 kids are born.
32. And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, Surely the Lord has looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
- And she conceived again, and bore a son; and said, Because the Lord has heard that I was hated, he has therefore given me this son also; and she called his name Simeon.
What then does it mean “now I will give thanks”?
To further complicate matters the Gemara in berachot writes that
מיום שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא את עולמו לא בא אדם שנתן הודאה לפני הבורא עד שבאת לאה. שנאמר הפעם אודה את ה
From the day that God created the world there was not a person who gave thanks to God until Leah did so as it is written – now I will thank God.
Really? You don’t think Noah thanked God after the flood? Our matriarchs and patriarch never thanked God? What does that really mean?
There are two approaches to answer these questions, the first is well know, the second less so but is the one that I prefer most.
The first approach begins with a fascinating and complicated Midrash. The Midrash argues that Yaakov and his wives knew through some divine messaging that Jacob would have 12 children and that they would become
12 tribes. Leah mistakenly thought that each wife and maidservant would have 3 children each. Thus when she had 4, more than an equal share she gives thanks to God. That it is why the thanks are after the fourth kid. When the Midrash writes that she was the first to thank, it meant that she was the first to thank God for getting more than her share. And she stopped have children because she had more than her share.
There are a number of difficulties with this Midrash.
The second approach I believe is the approach of the Eben Ezra. Jacob and his wives did not know how many kids there were going to be. Leah does not stop of give thanks because she has more than her share.
She stops because she has a lot of kids. And she gives thanks because she stops. Let me explain. According to the Midrash she stops because she is thankful for more than her share. According to Eben Ezra she is thankful because she stops. She is at the end of a process and can step back and take a moment to reflect and appreciate what Hashem has given her and therefore she is thankful.
Why is this thanking unique?
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher in the footnotes to his Torah Shleimah, (1181-1182) suggests that Leah is the first to publically thank God in such a way, i.e. naming, that was meant to be eternal.
There are other midrashim that suggest that this trait, appreciation and thanksgiving becomes part of the DNA of the Jewish people.
This latter approach speaks to me, not only because of the difficulties of the first approach but because it’s inherent messages.
Very often while you are in the middle of a process, it might be a life or an exile, it is hard to stop, reflect and appreciate. And it might be true that there is a certain type of appreciation that can only come at the end of the process, but that should not prevent us from giving thanks along the way.
To help us in that task Leah names her child Yehuda, to be a constant and eternal reminder to us to be thankful.
From there we see that we must be thankful and sometimes it is worth forcing ourselves to stop and be thankful. That is the beauty of Thanksgiving. It is a day set aside to push us to reflect and be thankful for the liberties, freedoms and opportunities America has offered us as a Jewish community.
That is something that we must be thankful for and appreciative of.
