Giving Thanks Can Be Heavy Lifting
When we think of prayer, we most often think about making a request of God. We ask God to grant us health. The words of the Mi Shebeirach for healing are familiar and are often our most heartfelt prayer.
Likewise, Isaac prays for his wife Rebekah. After twenty years of marriage, they remain infertile. Our forefather turns to prayer. The Torah reports: “Isaac pleaded with Adonai on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and Adonai responded to his plea, and his wife Rebekah conceived.” (Genesis 25) If only all our similar prayers were answered with such an emphatic yes.
The Hebrew word for pleaded is “vayetar” is unusual. It suggests a prayer that is a heartfelt request. Our ancient rabbis debate its meaning. Rabbi Yohanan said, “Isaac poured out prayers abundantly.” Reish Lakish recognized the word’s similarity to that of a pitchfork and comments, “He overturned the decree just as a pitchfork overturns the grain.” (Bereshit Rabbah 63)
And I would like to add, heartfelt prayers emerge from a tumultuous soul. Their cries emerge from trials and difficulties. Like the farmer who wields a pitchfork such prayer is hard work and even painful. All our prayers cannot possibly take this form. They are too hard. They hurt too much. It can become debilitating to utter over and over again, “Why me?”
Perhaps this is why most Jewish prayers are not requests but instead thanks. When we pray, we give thanks. We are familiar with the words we offer in the evening. “Blessed are You, Adonai, our God, Ruler of the universe, who speaks the evening into being, skillfully opens the gates, thoughtfully alters the time and changes the seasons, and arranges the stars in their heavenly courses according to plan.” This is emblematic of our prayers. Look at the stars. Give thanks.
Offering thanks is about acceptance.
As much as we believe that our choices are our own, that our fate is something we can write for ourselves, our prayers are instead about accepting our destiny. It is does not matter how big your Thanksgiving turkey is. It does not matter how small the morsel of bread may be. Offer the blessing, the rabbis counsel.
No matter how big or small we say thank you. Now matter how much or how little, we say, “Baruch.” This is the essence of the tradition’s message. It is also the thrust of our Thanksgiving holiday. Give thanks for the food. Give thanks for family. Give thanks for friends.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel adds, “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
Prayer is about burnishing the spiritual. It is about cultivating amazement.
And teaching ourselves to offer thanks can sometimes be as hard as lifting a pitchfork.
It is not just tumult that requires heavy lifting. Sometimes the hard work is as simple as giving thanks.