Thank You

Norman Podhoretz of Commentary Magazine fame once interviewed Professor Sidney Hooks, a few weeks before he died.  Hooks was a well-known atheist.

Podhoretz asked Hooks about his philosophy on life.  After a moment’s hesitation, Hooks replied that when something meaningful happens to him – whether it be the birth of a grandchild or by not being hot by a falling brick – he felt thankful.  (Note to self: Thankful to whom?)

Sometimes my mind meanders to all the things that could possibly happen to me.  Everything seems delicately balanced to fall apart at any given moment, especially in this technological age when all appears to be automated, the dishwasher, television, telephone, music systems, event he walls of our homes!  There are so many potential pitfalls of things that can go awry during the day from the greatest of them (death) to the least of them (the earphone jack does not work) that just getting through the day without a terrible mishap is a major accomplishment.  And it is only an accident of birth that we did not enter the world in say, Libya.

At the end of the day (assuming there will be a usual end to this day) it may be worth our while to be thankful having survived it reasonably intact, along with our family.  What an novel concept—to be grateful for all that did not go wrong.  And, of course, the potential for things to go “off course” is endless.

Helen Keller: “I, who am blind, can give but one hint to those who can see.  One admonition to those who would make full use of the gift of sight: Use your eyes as if you would be stricken blind!

“And the same method could be applied to the other senses.  Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow.  Touch each object as though tomorrow your tactile senses would fail.  Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you would never smell or taste again.

“Make the most of every sense, glory in all the facets of beauty which the world reveals…”

A short poem with more than a measure of wisdom:

My Little Plant

My little plant died

I worried why.

“Too much water

And it will die.”

My little plant died

I questioned why.

“Too much handling

And it will die.”

My little plant lived

I asked not why

Just threw my arms exultantly high.  –Sada Applebaum

Bless me. Bless Us. Bless God.

Taking full notice of what we see and how we react to it undergirds the whole Torah.  God wants us to look, really look, at His work.  From the “Beginning” where God commands all of life to emerge from the dormant earth to the mitzvot of protecting one another, God’s ultimate concern is our interrelationship with the world.

Torah begs us to be engaged in all facets of life.  The pathway to engagement is to see grass, observe birds, listen to the cicadas, and participate in other people’s joys and oys. 

That is why the Talmud tells us we must say one hundred blessings each day.  We bless new clothes, our ability to see, walk, relieve ourselves, eat, experience holy time, and see the mysteries of nature.  One cannot do these things with eyes closed.  When we bless our world we become part of it.  We witness creation.

We are supposed to notice beauty.  Who knows?  Perhaps God will one day ask if we took the time to notice the variegated stripes on a mosquito’s leg.  “It is quite ornate.  I spent a lot of time designing it,” He might say to us.  Such a small miracle is remarkable.

Shug Avery, one of the characters in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple said, “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

The universe is a harmonious, seamless place, where the only potential renegade variable is us.  Yet, with Torah as a guide we can at once work with God’s world and feel content instead of wondering what to do next.  The way we see matters.  Here is an illustration:

A man walked over to gaze at a construction site where workers were busily cementing bricks.  He asked a bricklayer, “What are you doing?”

The bricklayer answered that he was making twelve dollars an hour to do his work.

The observer asked a second man the same question.  He responded, “I have to support my family, and must earn enough for their needs.”

The third man said, “I am building school for children.”

Being a part of the universe that is fully alive, pulsating with energy is to uncover a great source of personal strength.  To see the world as dynamic, alive, flowing with possibility is to access and harness our potential.

Each prayer we utter changes the object of the prayer as well as us.  Everything we say is of consequence.  The opposite is also true: There are no secrets in the universe.  Nothing is done that does not have a ripple effect.  Everything matters.  That is why it is so important to pay attention.

Judaism’s insistence that we daven, say one hundred blessings each day, observe the 613 mitzvot, conspires to create a meaningful life and better world.

A visitor to Princeton University once remarked to Albert Einstein, “I am surprised that you work so hard.”  Einstein replied, “I am surprised to hear you say that.  I never work.  Everything that I do is pleasure and enjoyment.”

With such a regard for where our feet travel, what our mouth says, what our eyes see, and what our hands do, we become fully alive acting in consonance with the Lord, God.

As the year draws to a close consider bringing God and self into closer alignment.

° Try saying a few more blessings each day (plenty are in the back of the siddur (prayer book) or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_prayers_and_blessings.

° Put a tzedaka box on the counter and make putting something in a daily practice.

° Come to shul.

° Make it a point to do someone a favor once each day.

° Bless your food before eating

° Keep far from people and places that are bad for you.

Embrace life.