Wednesday was a special day this week. Aside from it being the 73rd anniversary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s leadership, it was a defining moment for our community.
As our community grows, and our communal home expands, we took the opportunity to thank our donors for making this happen. To be sure, it’s a work in progress. But, the progress is indeed outstanding.
We are grateful and indebted to the devoted donors, volunteers and community members that continue to make our Jewish community flourish!
Having great partners has shown us true humility in appreciation.
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And, it’s an important time to reflect on gratitude. This week’s parsha, Beshalach contains a landmark declaration of gratitude – after a landmark miracle.
I am fascinated at the Song of Praise that the Jewish people offered G-d upon the splitting of the sea. It is a remarkable expression of thanksgiving.
The question that lingers within me is, “Why only then?” Why did the Jews not offer thanksgiving to the Almighty as soon as they left the borders of Egypt?
In hindsight, we can argue that Pharaoh would chase after them. Thus their freedom was not truly secured until after the Egyptian army drowned at sea.
Yet, certainly they had no way of knowing all that. So why didn’t they acknowledge G-d’s kindness immediately?
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The Torah depicts the Jewish people standing at the sea – prior to its miraculous piercing – as being between a rock and a hard place. They were then in a situation more desperate than their slavery in Egypt. To their rear was a charging army, and the raging sea awaited them. They were apparently stuck with no options.
The great Chassidic Rebbes point out that it was precisely at that moment – when they were urged by G-d to forge ahead – that they developed true faith and submission to G-d. There was no rational way for them to prevail. They could not think of a way to help themselves. The Jewish people at that moment were utterly dependent on G-d. In Chassidic parlance, they developed genuine bittul.
It was only then that they were able to express the deepest degree of gratitude to G-d. Their thanks was no longer a self-centered expression of appreciation. They had matured into selfless beings. The thank-you was no longer a sense of self-promotion, but an absolute tribute to G-d’s greatness.
This is the ‘thank you’ the Torah wants to imprint upon our hearts and minds.