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Hakarat Hatov

By: SFW Students & Alumna
Sarit Cohen (SFW '09)

In Parashat Behaalotcha, Rashi asks the question of why the commandment of the menorah is right next to the korbanot of the Nesi’im. Rashi explains that Aharon was saddened when he saw all the Nesi’im dedicating items to the Mishkan and his tribe, Levi, did not dedicate anything. Hashem then comforted Aharon by telling him that he and his shevet would contribute more than all of the Nesi’im because Aharon would light the menorah. What is the meaning of this? Why is lighting a menorah such a great honor?

Rav Shmulevitz, in Sichot Musar, explains that we are lighting a menorah to Hashem who lit up the way for us in the midbar. We, Bnei Yisrael, “light” for those who “light” for us. Hashem commands Moshe to command Aharon to “kindle the lamps” because Hashem led and lit up the way for us in the midbar. This is hakarat hatov! Bnei Yisrael is recognizing the good that Hashem did for them in the midbar by lighting the menorah! This is the only service in the Mishkan that has the middah of hakarat hatov - we are “paying” Hashem back for the good He showed us in the midbar.

Rav Shmulevitz continues and explains that from a pasuk in Bereishit we can see how tremendous our chiyuv of hakarat hatov really is: “Vayishma Reuven Vayatzilayu M’yadam”. “Vayishma” here really means a deep understanding of something - what? Reuven understood that he must show hakarat hatov towards Yosef and so Reuven had to save Yosef’s life. In his dream, Yosef counted Reuven as one of the 11 brothers bowing down to him. Inadvertently, Yosef showed Reuven that even though he sinned against Hashem by moving Bilha’s bed, he was still counted as one of the shvatim. Reuven understood that he must show hakarat hatov to Yosef and that this hakarat hatov would even push off the gezar din of death! Because of this middah, Reuven merited to be written in the Torah as saving Yosef!

An example from Yaakov shows us how far we must go with hakarat hatov: “Re’eh Et Shalom Achichah Ve’et Shalom HaTzon”. We see from this pasuk in Bereishit that Yaakov was teaching Yosef a vital lesson- that we must have hakarat hatov even to things that have no da’at- such as an animal. We must be grateful to anything (and especially anyone) that does any good for us!

Even if a person did not mean to do any good for you but in the end you received something good, you must still thank him. We learn this idea from the daughters of Yitro and Moshe. The pasuk in Shemot tells us that the daughters of Yitro say to their father: “Ish Mitzri Ha’tzileinu”. Why are the words “Ish Mitzri” specifically used? Because had it not been for the Egyptian rasha that Moshe killed, Moshe never would have run away and then he never would have been able to help the daughters of Yitro. Therefore, the daughters of Yitro say that a “Mitzri Man” saved them from the shepherds- because it really was the Mitzri who helped save them! We see from here how tremendous our chiyuv in hakarat hatov really is- we must even acknowledge and than those who do not mean to do well for us. How much more so do we have to thank those who mean well for us!

In Michtav M’Eliyahu, Rav Dessler speaks about the first level of hakarat hatov: we must at least tell people how much we appreciate the good they have done for us. We learned previously that we must show gratitude to animals. In addition, we must also be appreciative of inanimate objects - just as Moshe showed appreciation to the Nile River in Egypt by not initiating the plague of dam because the water had saved him! Our middah of hakarat hatov must be whole and complete, and that means even appreciating animals and inanimate objects! The more we work on this middah, by even appreciating inanimate objects, the better our middah will be and the more grateful we will be towards people and most importantly to G-D. The highest level of this middah is appreciating Hashem for everything He has done for us - but we must work up toward this level, and that is done by appreciating everything!

So appreciate your cell phone for allowing you to keep in touch with your friends and appreciate your pen for allowing you to take notes. And even more than this, the next time you’re on a bus, say thank you to the driver, and when your parents drive you to school make sure you say thank you! This middah of hakarat hatov is something we can all work on and strive for. Good luck and Shabbat Shalom

 

Categorized under: 1: Parshat Shavua > Behaalotcha