1) What do you find meaningful or inspiring in the text above?
2) To what do you have trouble relating or understanding?
3) Why do you think this piece of Torah is called the holiness code?
Rabbi Eric S. Gurvis, "Hakarut HaTov—Gratitude: Our Daily Struggle for K’dushah" in Block, Rabbi Barry H.. The Mussar Torah Commentary: A Spiritual Path to Living a Meaningful and Ethical Life (p. 187). CCAR Press.
Giving thanks is central to Jewish tradition’s view of how we interact with our world, with our fellow human beings, and with God. I believe we should look beyond hakarat hatov as simply “giving thanks for the good,” and in so doing we can acquire an additional quality with which we can navigate our lives and relationships. If we read Parashat K’doshim beyond the simple understanding of hakarat hatov as “gratitude,” we can open ourselves to being more mindful of the good that is both present and possible in our lives. With this additional layer, Parashat K’doshim can become more than a checklist of behaviors and attitudes by which we are called to live. Read through the lens of hakarat hatov, seeing the good that is present, seeing our strengths even in the midst of our struggles and imperfections, Parashat K’doshim can help us to summon the courage and strength, not to mention the will, to reach higher, toward the good and the holy. We live our lives in the context of a world and relationships that challenge our striving to do good and be holy.
Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness
“The Hebrew term for gratitude is hakarat hatov, which means, literally, ‘recognizing the good.’ The good is already there. Practicing gratitude means being fully aware of the good that is already yours.”
Bachya Ibn Pekuda, Duties of the heart
He explains that although every person has gifts, and there is good all around us, there is a tendency to not recognize it for a number of reasons, including:
1)We are too absorbed in worldly things. Physical and material pleasures can never fully satisfy us. This endless pursuit of gratification can keep us from appreciating what we do have.
2) We become so accustomed to the gifts we have that we take them for granted, or become blind to them.
3) We focus on the negative, rather than the positive. Rather than emphasizing the good others bring into our lives, we waste too much energy focusing on others' mistakes.
(9) Then the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph...(19) In three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale you upon a pole; and the birds will pick off your flesh.” (20) On the third day—his birthday—Pharaoh made a banquet for all his officials, and he singled out his chief cupbearer and his chief baker from among his officials. (21) He restored the chief cupbearer to his cupbearing, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand; (22) but the chief baker he impaled—just as Joseph had interpreted to them. (23) Yet the chief cupbearer did not think of Joseph; he forgot him.
Pirkei Avot 4:1
(1) Ben Zoma said:Who is wise? He who learns from every man, as it is said: “From all who taught me have I gained understanding” (Psalms 119:99). Who is mighty? He who subdues his [evil] inclination, as it is said: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Who is rich? He who rejoices in his lot, as it is said: “You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors, you shall be happy and you shall prosper” (Psalms 128:2) “You shall be happy” in this world, “and you shall prosper” in the world to come. Who is he that is honored? He who honors his fellow human beings...
Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness
When you open yourself to experience the trait of gratitude, you discover with clarity and accuracy how much good there is in your life. Whatever you are lacking will still be missing, of course, and in reaching for gratitude no one is saying you ought to put on rose-colored glasses to obscure those shortcomings. The obstacles to appreciating the good can also be very real, especially when life is riven by suffering. But it is worth the effort to practice gratitude, especially since the one who benefits most is the one who is suffering. Recognizing the good affirms life, and more, because you see the good in the world it sets your heart free to soar, to shout, and to sign a song of life.
Reading Torah text with Rabbi Gurvis commentary
Leviticus 19:9
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.”
In my fulfillment of the sacred responsibility of tzedakah, can I see not only an extension of myself to others, but also an aspect of recognizing and acknowledging the good that I enjoy?
Leviticus 19:10
“You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the Eternal am your God.”
...we may be best show our hakarat hatov for our blessings when we share them with others.
Leviticus 19:18
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
I may not love everything about my neighbor, but can I recognize what is good in her? Can I use hakarat hatov to appreciate and honor the ways in which she adds to our world?
Leviticus 19:32
“You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old.”
Many of us experience the treatment of the elders among us as deficient, a personal and communal failure to fulfill this mitzvah. As a society, we can do better. How might our engagement with our elders change if we viewed them not only through the lens of the kavod (“honor”) to which this verse calls us, but also through hakarat hatov?
Rabbi Eric Gurvis
On the way, let us not lose the tov—
the good within us and that which arises from us.
Rather, let us shine light, with hakarat hatov,
in recognition of the good that is in us.
Let us utilize that light as a foundation
on which to reach higher and higher
in our pursuit of living
the ideals of our tradition.