Miller's Musings Parshas Tzav: The Good Debt

בס''ד

Miller’s Musings פרשת צַו

The idea of bringing an animal sacrifice is often not something that particularly resonates with us and modern society.  Yet there is much to be learnt from every facet of this fascinating practice which we will one day return to.  The Medrash states that in fact, of all the Korbanos, only the Korban Todah, the Thanksgiving Sacrifice, will be retained when Moshiach comes, an idea which gives us some inkling of the stature of this particular expression of gratitude to Hashem.  It is interesting to note, and, for us, to try to understand, that the word Todah, from the term Hodo’oh, actually has a dual meaning, firstly being that of ‘thanks’, as we see here. It also however is translated as an ‘admission’, as we find often in the Torah with regard to admitting a debt that is owed to another.  For how they are connected we will turn to the Ohr Gedalyohu.

In his essay on this week’s Parsha, Reb Gedalia Schorr zt’l explains that the link between these two concepts is found in the realisation that by giving thanks to Hashem, one is by definition admitting a debt owed to Him.  Conversely, when one concedes that they are indebted to Him, it is a form of thanksgiving to Hashem for giving us all the good we have been privileged to receive.  This is of course equally applicable to our appreciation that should be shown to our fellow man. 

This notion, that an expression of thanks is in effect a profession of indebtedness, may be a clue as to what it is that prevents us from giving thanks to the degree and with the requisite frequency that we should do.  To respond in the appropriate manner to those that have granted us some favour or kindness, in itself not something that we would eschew, contains within it an inherent feeling of debt, something which our ego cannot abide.  If we owe something to another, it is to our egocentric self, a statement of lacking in our own capabilities and so must be evaded wherever possible.  To understand this is the first step in acknowledging the extent to which a lack of gratitude is not just a lack of courtesy and poor etiquette, but a further expression of our selfishness and self-absorption and the first step towards a profound shift in our attitude towards the generosity we receive.

May we fully appreciate the gift of Shabbos this week.

 

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם