Pardon me if I return to a Thanksgiving theme. But the name for almost all Jews today derives from a connection to the tribe of Yehuda. For us, every day is Thanksgiving as it goes to the essence of who and what we are supposed to be. This week, that first Yehuda is born and named; there is something to highlight about what goes into that name.
We know that Leah names Yehuda because she wants to thank Hashem -- Ha’pa’am Odeh et Hashem, “this time I thank Hashem.” But we’re probably not ready for what the Gemora says about this thank you. The Gemora in Berachot says, “From the day the Holy One, Blessed be He, created the world, no one thanked the Holy One, Blessed be He, until Leah came and thanked Him.” That seems extreme. No one ever said thank you? Avraham never thanked? Yitzchok? The Gemora is making a literary point, that no one in the Chumash has ever said thank you.
This means that there is something about this thank you which captures something essential about gratitude. R’ Shimon Schwab says that what’s special can be seen if you look closely at the naming of the previous boys. Each time, Leah gives an explanation for the name, like the speech people give when they celebrate a birth. But these statements are not like any speech anyone has ever heard at a baby naming. This is not just because she isn’t saying anything about her grandfather, or her uncle, because she’s not naming after anyone. It gets weirder because each time she explains why she hopes the child will make a decisive difference in her relationship with her husband. This would be very awkward at a Bris; ultimately, it would be fundamentally sad.
Leah names Reuven for the fact that Hashem has seen her situation and now she hopes perhaps her husband will love her. Shimon is named for the fact that Hashem has heard that she is "hated," at least compared to Rachel. When it comes to the third child, she says that now my husband will accompany me. The Chizkuni says that we only have two hands, so when the third child came, there would have to be another hand involved.
But when we get to Yehuda, there’s no such explanation, no such justification. There is no mention of her situation, of the sadness in her life. It is just thank you. She has reconciled herself to the situation and she can thank Hashem for the gifts she has despite the fact that it’s not all of what she would have preferred.
There are two things to highlight here. The first is the focus solely on what obligates a show of gratitude. I remember mentioning this years ago in regards to AIPAC. It applies to many organizations but that was my example then. AIPAC has a specific strategy that it follows and it’s pretty effective. But people often complain because it doesn’t have a vice grip on every government official so that it can twist them in a way that gets the wished-for outcome in every situation. We always object when others say Jews run the world but then we get upset when the Jews who are supposed to run the world don’t get the job done. More to the point, we lack gratitude for what they do accomplish.
That’s one thing to highlight. The other goes further. At the birth of Yehuda, she is thanking Hashem not just for what she has received but also for what she has NOT received. This is a thank you for both what I have and for what I do not have. It’s a full thank you of acceptance. In this, she has endowed us with the ability to bless Hashem for both what He gives and for what He takes away. Hakarat Hatov, or gratitude, is a very difficult thing to develop. Teaching it to a child is laborious and the results do not show immediately. As much as it is a core value, it’s often not emphasized to newcomers because of what I’m talking about now. It has to extend not just to the gravy moments in life but also to the bitter ones. Yet that is what it means to be a Jew in the full sense of the name.
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