Throughout this Thanksgiving week, I’ve been focusing on my gratitude list.
I’ll be honest with you — it’s been hard during this time of war in Israel and rising antisemitism here and around the world. I feel a deep sense of loss and sadness for those murdered on October 7th. I am deeply worried about the well-being of the 240 hostages. I mourn the more than 380 soldiers who’ve sacrificed their lives for Medinat Yisrael and, more broadly, for the Jewish People since the start of this war.
And because grief and empathy are not finite or “zero sum,” I also feel sadness for the innocent civilians in Gaza who have been killed and wounded in their tragic role as human shields for the Hamas terrorist regime. I feel pain about the terrible uptick in antisemitism, especially on college campuses.
So much pain. So much loss. So much sadness.
At moments like this especially, we have to remind ourselves and each other that there is still much for which to be grateful.
So here’s a gratitude list for this Shabbat of Thanksgiving.
I’m thankful for my people, Am Yisrael. We are resilient. We are creative. We are resourceful. And we are a family with all of its beauty and all of its dysfunctions. We fight. We disagree. We make up and we come back together.
I’m thankful for our tradition, more than 3,000 years old. We gave the world the Hebrew Bible whose wisdom continues to inspire hundreds of millions of people around the world today. From the Mishna to the Talmud, from Midrash to modern Jewish thought, we have created one of the most impressive collections of wisdom literature ever assembled.
I’m thankful for Medinat Yisrael, for the State of Israel which, according to our tradition, represents the first flowering of our redemption. Our return to sovereignty and power after 2,000 years of wandering is not a simple thing. It’s not easy and it’s not always pretty. But it’s significantly better than the alternative — powerlessness — and I give thanks every day for this modern miracle.
I’m thankful that, God willing, 50 hostages will be returned to their homes and families in the coming days, and I pray that every last one of the remaining hostages come home as quickly as possible.
I’m thankful for the human capacity to be courageous, resourceful, and resilient. As a people, we have experienced more than our fair share of trauma (and then some). But rather than default to anger or despair, we have found the way to hold on to hope, to cling to life, and to continue to contribute productively to every society to which we have been a part.
And of course, especially at this time of the year, I am thankful for the personal relationships that give meaning to my life: my family, my friends, my colleagues, and my community.
Tonight at services (please join us in person in our Sanctuary at 6:15 p.m. or online), Cantor Emma will chant the opening verse of Psalm 92, the special poem, thousands of years old that we traditionally read on Shabbat: Tov l’hodot l’Adonai, u’l’zameir l’Shimcha elyon (“It is good to give thanks to the Eternal, to sing out songs of praise to Your exalted name!”)
It is good to give thanks to God and to one another.
Am Yisrael Chai and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yoshi
P.S. I’d love to hear from you. What are some things that you are thankful for right now? Email me at [email protected]