Giving thanks isn’t always an easy thing to do, but our tradition pushes us to view gratitude as a component of who we are as a people. In the Torah, we are often referred to as Hebrews or Israelites. Yet our sages taught that we should actually be referred to as Yehudim, the plural of the name Yehudah, or Judah. This name first emerges in last week’s Torah portion Vayetzei.
וַתַּהַר עוֹד וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן, וַתֹּאמֶר הַפַּעַם אוֹדֶה אֶת-יְהוָה--עַל-כֵּן קָרְאָה שְׁמוֹ, יְהוּדָה; וַתַּעֲמֹד, מִלֶּדֶת. [Leah] conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will thank God,” therefore she called his name Judah, and she stopped giving birth. -Genesis 29:35
In Hebrew, the word Yehudah (Judah) comes from the word odeh meaning “I will thank.” When Leah already had three sons and gave birth to yet another, she was overcome with gratitude. When our sages declared that we would be called Yehudim, they embedded within our name a sense of gratitude.
Rashi, the 11th century commentator, interprets Leah’s statement after Yehuda’s birth to mean “I have received more than my share, so I now need to give thanks.” Leah’s perspective, in Rashi’s view, is the opposite of entitlement. The good things in her life are more than she expected to receive, so she is inspired to express her thanks.
This week, I’m learning from our matriarch Leah and thinking about all of the extra things in life - all of the blessings that I never would have expected to receive. I am pushed to wonder when I may have looked at my life through a lens of entitlement, and how I can try to see more from the perspective of gratitude. I have so much to be grateful for - a healthy family, a beautiful community, and jobs that my husband and I both find tremendously gratifying. Thank you for being a part of these blessings.
