{"id":45497,"date":"2018-10-26T15:19:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T21:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=45497"},"modified":"2018-10-26T15:19:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T21:19:50","slug":"thankfully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/thankfully\/","title":{"rendered":"Thankfully"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n

The first prayer we customarily offer each morning are words of gratitude: Modeh\/Modah ani <\/em>\u2013 we thank God for restoring us to life and awareness when we wake. This ritual pattern is worthy of a religious tradition which takes \u201cthanksgiving\u201d as its very name.<\/p>\n

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Cicero, the Roman orator, wrote, \u201cA thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the virtues.\u201d Nineteen centuries later, G. K. Chesterton, the British theologian, agreed: \u201cI would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rabbis said sh\u2019ma garim<\/em> \u2013 one\u2019s name has a formative impact on one\u2019s character (Berachot<\/em> 7B). Cicero was no doubt familiar with the poetic Latin version of the same adage: \u201cnomen est omen<\/em>.\u201d We who bear the name of \u201cJudaism\u201d can be grateful for a spiritual discipline that conditions us to be thankful\u2026 and teaches us to give vivid expression to that gratitude. If we have not yet fully embraced that grateful spirit\u2026 it is time to wake up to the challenge.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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