This sheet on Leviticus 7 was written by Shoshana Michael Zucker for 929 and can also be found here
On one hand, it seems natural that the Torah prescribes a special thanksgiving offering (Leviticus 7:12-15), as a channel for expressing gratitude. On the other hand, it seems forced. If someone is truly grateful, no ritual ought be necessary. Gratitude should be expressed freely, by each person in their own way.
Nonetheless, observation of human nature shows that people who enjoy bounty in their lives aren’t consistently the most grateful. Author Maya Angelou trenchantly observed: “People whose history and future were threatened each day by extinction considered it was only by divine intervention that they were able to live at all. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence is attributed to God’s will but that as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility with commensurate speed” (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, p. 118).
The dual meaning of the Hebrew word תודה-todah, which means both “acknowledge” and “thank” embodies some of this difficulty. In order to be grateful, we must first acknowledge that we can’t do it all ourselves. Perhaps that is the reason that people in more difficult situations are quicker to express gratitude. They have fewer illusions about their ability to succeed unaided. Therefore, gratitude must be ritualized and taught particularly in situations of plenty.
Indeed, a midrash reports: “Rabbi Pinhas, Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Yohanan taught in the name of Rabbi Menachem from Gallia: ‘In the future, all sacrifices will be annulled, but the sacrifice of thanksgiving will not be annulled. All prayers will be annulled, but the prayer of gratitude will not be annulled’” (Leviticus Rabba 9:7). In that more perfect world, there be neither sin for which to atone through sacrifice and prayer, nor any unfilled needs for which to pray, but even then – the rabbis insist – prescribed rituals of thanksgiving, whether verbal or sacrificial, will be needed to help people overcome their deeply ingrained human reluctance to admit dependence.
Fortunately, the rituals and prayers do exist, in Leviticus and throughout the Jewish tradition. We would do well to learn their lesson, and heed the warning of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “The secret of existence is appreciation…. [Humanity] will not die for lack of information; it may perish for lack of appreciation” (Insecurity of Freedom, p. 26).
Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor and lives in Kfar Saba
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