A BISSEL TORAH, VAYETZEI: GRATITUDE
By: Suri Davis
- Birth & Passing of R. Dovber of Lubavitch (1773; 1827)
Kislev 9 is both the birthday and day of passing of Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch, son of and successor to the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman·of Liadi. Rabbi DovBer was known for his unique style of “broadening rivers” — his teachings were the intellectual rivers to his father’s wellspring, lending breadth and depth to the principles set down by Rabbi Schneur Zalman.
Born in Liozna, White Russia in 1773, Rabbi DovBer was named after Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s mentor and teacher, Rabbi DovBer of Mezeritch, who had passed away on Kislev 19 of the previous year. Rabbi DovBer assumed the leadership of Chabad upon his father’s passing in 1812. In 1813 he settled in the town of Lubavitch, which was to serve as the movement’s headquarters for the next 102 years. In 1826, he was arrested on charges that his teachings threatened the imperial authority of the Czar, but was subsequently exonerated.
Rabbi DovBer passed away on his 54th birthday in 1827, a day before the first anniversary of his liberation (see calendar entries for tomorrow, Kislev 10).
- Yaakov runs away from home for fear of his brother Esau. G-d tells Yaakov that he will be with him and take care of him. Yaakov then says, if G-d gives me clothes to wear and food to eat…then I will make him my G-d.
- Leah names her fourth child Judah, stating “this time I will thank G-d.”
There are times, as I sit quietly in my home or bed that I wonder, and am grateful, that I was not born in a war torn or third world country, where there is a struggle for peace, food, water, sanitation. I feel how fortunate I am, some would say fortuitous, but nothing is fortuitous when in G-d’s hands, that I was born in America, in a peaceful democracy.
I have read many books this year about the early rabbis of Lubavitch who inevitably were jailed for spreading Judaism, and the hardships they endured in exile. Yes adversity, provided them with the solitude they all took to write extensively about the torah, Jewish law and philosophy. But very few among us ever want to be tested in this way. Among those tested was Rabbi Dovber of Lubavitch, whose yahrtzeit is this Shabbos. As I read the trials and tribulations of Jews around the world, and yes, even in America in the early 1900s, where observant Jews were fired for taking time off from work to observe Shabbos.
Yes, we are on the heels of the death of our Jewish brethren in Pittsburgh, and an uptick of anti-semitism in America, but I am grateful we have laws that give us religious freedom, and on the eve of Thanksgiving, am grateful to have been born here in America.
As to Yaakov’s statement, actually negotiation, which states that if G-d gives him food to eat and clothes to wear, begs the question, of course we know that food is for eating and clothes are for wearing, why this detail? Chanie Vinrot, author of Shabbat Shalom Chanie expounds. It isn’t enough that there is a pantry full of food, if a person is ill and cannot eat it. It matters none, that a person has a closet full of clothes, but is in the hospital wearing a hospital gown. Yaakov was asking that G-d provide him with the necessities and the good health to be able to utilize the provisions. Gratitude for something we take for granted on a daily basis, until, G-d forbid, we become ill and cant eat or wear our clothes.
Which brings us to gratitude for every day miracles. Leah thanked G-d for her fourth child. The commentary, Eben Ezra, states that Leah was the first one to thank G-d. How can that be, we have Noah who thanked G-d and all the patriarchs? True, but they thanked G-d for miracles, and Leah thanked G-d for the miracle of nature, a birth.
There are times throughout the year that I reflect. Birthdays, anniversaries, Rosh Hashanah. In fact, last week marked the anniversary of 30 years of practicing law. I wanted to go to the Ohel and say the chapters of Psalms that correspond with the Hallel prayer of gratitude. I asked friends of they wanted to join me Thursday night, and no one could go. I went on Friday morning, and I had difficulty parking, which was curious to me, because I never have a hard time parking. I walk in and see thousands of Chabad emissaries. It was their international convention week. I sneaked through a back entrance and walked close to the Ohel, just as the emissaries were starting Hallel, and so I said it with them. No coincidences. Gratitude is core. It starts in the heart, and brings inner peace. An added benefit is when you verbalize it to the person or entity to whom you are grateful, which gladdens the heart of the one who is appreciated and encourages that person to continue to give and moves full circle.
Just celebrating a holiday with the name Thanksgiving reminds those who are not contemplative to stop and determine that for which they are grateful. One verse in Hallel sticks with me in happy and difficult times: “Zeh hayom asah Hashem, nagilah v’nismichah vo/This is the day that G-d created, let us rejoice over it.” For those moments that we feel happy and for those days where the good is not readily revealed to us, it is the day that G-d created, let us rejoice over the new day…not always easy…being thankful for the every day of every day.
Shabbat Shalom.
-Suri