The Rabbinic Mind: Expressing Gratitude

Welcome to this new series about gratitude to G-d and how we can (or must?) express it.

We will begin our journey with Torah, then Talmudic sources, and later commentaries. In this session we will begin as an introduction with a familiar text from the siddur and a story to elucidate it. Then we will examine what seem to be the first human expressions of gratitude, which are documented in the Torah and in sources from the Talmudic period.

In each case we will ask: Was this truly an expression of gratitude? Was it obligatory? Did G-d indicate that it would be a good idea, or did the idea come from the side of the humans involved?

For those interested I am posting here a couple of Talmudic-period sources, which we will examine together in the class.

***NOTE: Due to my error, no recording was made of this session. My apologies to all. — YZ

In this session we will study in depth one single verse from this week’s parsha (VaYeira), a verse that tells us that Avraham made a seudah (משתה גדול), at the time that little Yitzhak was weaned. We will first see the commentaries who deal with aspects of the plain meaning of the verse, and then study a midrash from the gemara in Sanhedrin that raises questions about Avraham’s actions.

For those interested I am posting here in advance the sources that will form the basis for our explorations together in the class.

In this session, we will again examine a passage from the Torah, this time the search by Avraham’s servant (identified in the midrash and commentaries as Eliezer) for a wife for Yitzhak, as recounted in this week’s parsha, Hayyei Sarah.

We will identify and analyze, with the help of commentaries, what were the things that caused the servant’s feelings of gratitude. We will also study how he expressed these feelings, both bodily and verbally, ways we have not yet encountered in our previous sessions.

For those interested in preparing or looking over the sources for this session in advance, I have posted them here.

In this session, we will transition from studying Torah/Tanach stories and finding in them actions that express thanks, to looking at normative and obligatory –i.e. halachic–sections of the Torah that require explicit expressions of gratitude.

We will begin by reading through Hana’s song of thanks, and summarize our findings thus far. Then we will encounter two sources in the Mishnah that present formal and fixed verbal expressions (prayers, actually) of thanks. Finally, we will study the source in Sefer Devarim of the mitzvah of Bikurim (First Fruits), with a few clarifying statements by the commentaries and from the Talmud.

I have posted sources for this session for your convenience.

In this session, we will examine a second mitzvah from the Torah that we can understand as related to appreciation and gratitude: the mitzvah of כיבוד אב ואם, honoring one’s parents. We will study the words of Sefer HaHinuch on this mitzvah.

We will then begin to examine the nature of the halachic obligation to give thanks. Is there such an obligation?  What is the source of this obligation? And what does it require?

I have posted here sources that we will study together.

In this session, we continue our exploration of the obligation to give thanks, from the Talmudic sources and commentaries. Assuming that there is such an obligation, does it extend to the Kurban Todah, the thanksgiving offering? And what is the scope of the obligation according to Rav Yehudah quoting Rav? Is it limited precisely to the stated cases, or are they actually paradigms for other unstated cases?

I have posted here sources to be used in our exploration.

In this session, we will learn more about the Kurban Todah, the thanksgiving offering, from the text of the Rambam in Hilchot Maaseh HaKurbanot. We will try to understand, if we can, how the details of this offering serve the purpose of expressing thanks.

Following this, we will examine more closely the four categories of people who are required, according to Rav Yehuda/Rav in the gemara in Berachot 54b, to give thanks for their salvation. We will study some of the commentaries to the gemara to see how they explain in depth the differences between these categories.

Finally, time allowing, we will begin to study the literature of the poskim on the halachot learned from the above gemara.

I have posted here sources that we will be studying in this session.

In this session, we are going back to the halacha of Rav Yehuda/Rav in the gemara in Berachot (54b) and we will study in depth the differences between the four categories of people who are required to give thanks. We will see different opinions among rishonim and acharonim as to what those differences are, why Rav changed the order of them from what is written in the Tehilim 107, and what might be the ramifications for halacha of these understandings.

For your convenience–and so that you can look over the material in advance if you want–I have posted the sources here.

***NOTE: As I mentioned at the end of the previous session, this series will continue for three more sessions following the Hanuka break.

After our break for Hanukah, we are resuming with this session, the ninth in the series. We will begin studying in-depth the halachot of Birkat HaGomel, beginning with an explanation by the Ben Ish Hai of the reason why the Sages legislated this blessing. Then we will learn the pertinent portion of the sugya in the gemara Berachot 54b, and continue with the Meiri and then the Tur and Beit Yosef, to explore some of the issues regarding the saying of this beracha.

I have posted sources here for your convenience.

In this session we will continue our study of Birkat HaGomel in detail, starting with the Meiri on the gemara in Berachot that we have learned. This will acquaint us with a number of issues that the rishonim and later poskim discussed and developed variant approaches. Following that we will learn sections of the Tur and Beit Yosef on these issues.

The sources for this session were already posted, together with the material we used for last week’s session.

In this last session of our series, we will continue to study some of the words of the Tur and Beit Yosef related to subtopics of the rabbinic mitzvah to say Birkat HaGomel and thereby encounter a couple of the major disputes that exist among the poskim.

Then we will jump ahead to the 20th and 21st centuries to see the opinions of a few of the poskim of our time regarding some of these questions. Among other issues we will see the opinions regarding the saying of this beracha by women.

At the end of the session, we will make some concluding remarks inviting further study and focus on the centrality of gratitude towards G-d in our life, according to the Sages.

I have posted here a number of sources, all of which I will at least mention in this last meeting of our series, and some of which we will study together in this session . But I am not going to have time to study all of them together with you in the class.  You are invited to peruse them or study them with others.