In Parshat Tzav, which means “Command,” God tells Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons, who are about to be anointed as priests, on how to perform different kinds of offerings: “…the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the offering of ordination, and the sacrifice of well-being.” ¹

Earlier we learn specifically about the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering. Leviticus 7 reads: 

This is the ritual of the sacrifice of well-being that one may offer to the Lord: If he offers it for thanksgiving, he shall offer together with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes with oil mixed in, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of choice flour with oil mixed in, well soaked. This offering, with cakes of leavened bread added, he shall offer along with his thanksgiving sacrifice of well-being. ²

The Talmud uses Psalm 107 to identify four categories of people who would bring the korban todah. It says in Tractate Berachot: 

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Four [people] must offer thanks to God with a thanks-offering and a special blessing. They are: seafarers, those who walk in the desert, one who was ill and has recovered, and one who was incarcerated in prison and was freed. All of these appear in the verses of a psalm. ³

The medieval rabbis Shmuel ben Meir, better known as the Rashbam, and Abraham Ibn Ezra, point out that the korban todah isn’t typically given by people who had an easy journey, say, but rather by those who escaped danger. ⁴ There is a type of general gratitude in life, but here we are looking at a type of gratitude that is specifically tied to a life-saving event. 

While we don’t currently give thanks to God by means of cakes and wafers, the Jewish practice of thanking God by reciting berachot in the above situations lives on, in addition to the general recitation of blessings of thanks such as before partaking of food. A specific berachah referred to as birkat hagomeil was created as a replacement for the thanksgiving offering. Birkat hagomeil is typically recited by one who underwent surgery, by a woman after childbirth (or by her spouse on her behalf if she is not in a position to do so), or one who was in a car accident. Some contemporary rabbis feel that one who flies overseas should recite birkat hagomeil, as flying in an airplane is a modern method of crossing a sea, while other rabbis feel that one needn’t recite the berachah, since traveling by plane is no longer considered any more dangerous than traveling by car.

In fact, the very names of Judah and Judaism derive from the word “odeh,” or “I will thank.” The story goes, in the Book of Genesis, that after our foremother Leah gave birth to Judah, she said, “This time I will thank the Lord. Therefore,” the Torah says, “she named him Yehudah (Judah).” ⁵ The Talmud identifies this as the first time a person gave thanks to God. ⁶

The same root word also shows up in Modeh Ani, ⁷ the prayer Jews traditionally say upon waking up. In English it goes: “I offer thanks before You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.”

Jewish practice therefore tells us that, whether we’ve endured something as dangerous as a journey at sea, or as simple as the “temporary death” of sleep, we owe our gratitude to God. Here we see that our “thanksgiving offering” can be daily and perhaps is truly required every moment of our existence. 

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel expressed a similar sentiment in his book Man’s Quest for God. He writes:

To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates

all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the

inconceivable surprise of living… It is gratefulness that makes the soul great.” ⁸

In a society that tries to tell us that we can’t possibly be happy unless we have more—a bigger house, a faster car, nicer clothes—the Jewish tradition counterculturally pushes us toward gratitude for what we already have. 

Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of our Ancestors, teaches: 

Who is rich? One who rejoices in their lot, as it is said: ⁹ ‘You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors; you shall be happy and you shall prosper.’ ¹⁰

It is not what we have that matters, but how we appreciate it.

The idea in all of these practices is that, through mindfulness of all the reasons we have to give thanks, we can cultivate a life of gratitude rather than one of resentment and entitlement. Resentment and entitlement will push someone toward self-absorption, which is a detriment both to one’s own life and to the impact one has on their community. 

Gratitude, on the other hand, will push us toward paying our gifts forward and giving back to the world. Gratitude does not mean asserting that we’ve been given certain blessings on account of our own virtue. Instead, it is recognition of our unmerited good fortune. Thus, gratitude fills us not only with joy and appreciation, but with a sense of profound responsibility.

In biblical times, the thanksgiving offering acted similarly to a repayment of a debt to God. Today, true gratitude drives us to additionally repay that debt indirectly, by returning our blessings to the society we’ve benefited from. 

On a broader level, we’re called to shift from a politics of rage toward a politics of gratitude—in which we don’t simply focus on what we want, but determine our priorities from a place of gratitude for what we have. As we strive for a more equitable world for all of us to inhabit, we must focus also on how to get the most out of the gains we’ve already made. 

So too, we should appreciate the legacies of the advocates and changemakers who came before us, lest we forget the accomplishments of people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the Women’s Rights movement, Harvey Milk in the realm of LGBT+ issues, and of course Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and all who endangered their lives in the Civil Rights movement. 

While we’re tasked with doing everything we can to see their work through to completion, we must also remember that we stand on the shoulders of giants. And, as people who relentlessly push for change, we will find our work to be so vastly more joyful and sustainable if it is infused with an ethic of appreciation. We need not fear that we will dilute our moral demands by appreciating what we already have.

The korban todah, the thanksgiving offering, teaches us that, while we should always continue to strive to achieve more, our accomplishments lose their meaning if we don’t remember to show our gratitude for them and for all that has already been achieved toward freedom, peace, and justice. 

Sources:

1.  Leviticus 7:37
2.  Leviticus 7:12-14
3.  Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 54b
4.  Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 7:12:1; Rashbam on Leviticus 7:12:1
5.  Genesis 29:35
6.  Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 7b
7.  The words modeh ani mean “I thank,” and share the same root as the word odeh said by Leah (odeh is in the future tense, while modeh is in the present tense). Additionally, modeh is the masculine form; the feminine form is modah.
8.  Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man’s Quest for God
9.  Psalms 128:2
10. Pirkei Avot 4:1