The first prayer we customarily offer each morning are words of gratitude: Modeh/Modah ani – we thank God for restoring us to life and awareness when we wake. This ritual pattern is worthy of a religious tradition which takes “thanksgiving” as its very name.
“Judaism” derives from Judah, son of Jacob and Leah. Upon Judah’s birth, his mother said, “Now I will gratefully acknowledge (or ‘thank’ – odeh) the Lord. Therefore she named him Judah” (Genesis 29:35). Judaism: “The Tradition of Grateful Souls.”
Cicero, the Roman orator, wrote, “A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the virtues.” Nineteen centuries later, G. K. Chesterton, the British theologian, agreed: “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
The Rabbis said sh’ma garim – one’s name has a formative impact on one’s character (Berachot 7B). Cicero was no doubt familiar with the poetic Latin version of the same adage: “nomen est omen.” We who bear the name of “Judaism” can be grateful for a spiritual discipline that conditions us to be thankful… and teaches us to give vivid expression to that gratitude. If we have not yet fully embraced that grateful spirit… it is time to wake up to the challenge.
(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)
“Judaism” derives from Judah, son of Jacob and Leah. Upon Judah’s birth, his mother said, “Now I will gratefully acknowledge (or ‘thank’ – odeh) the Lord. Therefore she named him Judah” (Genesis 29:35). Judaism: “The Tradition of Grateful Souls.”