Congregation Beth Shalom

Torah Portion: Ekev
Book of Deuteronomy
Chaps. 7:12-11:25
August 19, 2011

      Several years before Abraham Joshua Heschel’s death in 1972, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack.  At that time, his former student and friend, Rabbi Samuel Dresner, visited Professor Heschel’s home during his recuperation.  In describing the near-death experience, Heschel said, “Sam, when I regained consciousness, my first feelings were not of despair or anger.  I felt only gratitude to God for my life, for every moment I had lived.  I was ready to depart.  ‘Take me, O Lord.’  I thought, ‘I have seen so many miracles in my lifetime.’  This is what I meant when I wrote: ‘I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder.  And You gave it to me.’”

      Rabbi Brad Artson makes a similar point with regard to prayer:  “The act of praying has a larger purpose; it sensitizes us to the greatest marvel of all: that we exist, and that we are conscious of our existence.  Jewish prayer should shock us into an awareness that life itself is miraculous.”

      A simple verse from Deuteronomy (8:10) reads: “When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.” This verse becomes the foundation for the Bir’kat Ha’mazon/Blessing After Meals.  One concludes the act of sustaining oneself by thanking God.  Why?  Does God require words of thanks?  Probably not.  Humans, though, need the constant reminder that we did not ask to be born, nor did we create the world and the sustenance it provides.  In the words of the ancient Talmud (compendium of Jewish law), “Benefiting from this world without saying a blessing is like stealing from God.”

      We are born into God’s world; a world of ‘spacious skies, amber waves of grain, and purple mountain majesties.’  A world with enormous potential.  How does one express thanks for the many unsolicited gifts of goodness that are ours?  We say a prayer.  By taking a few moments to offer thanks for a meal just eaten, we are reminded of our Divine inheritance; God’s gift of creation.  Or, as Professor Heschel so profoundly noted, “I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder.  And You gave it to me.”

Rabbi Howard Siegel