Everywhere one looked today (Thanksgiving 2020) they were reminded about the theme of giving thanks and expressing gratitude. With the popularization of Zoom and other such platforms one couldn’t help but be overrun by e-mails enthusiastically promoting shiurim such as ‘Jewish perspectives on giving thanks’.  Hoda’ah, hakaras hatov and the like are themes that one might feel that they have heard enough of. What then can I add to this crowded field?

I would like to share a thought that I had several years back and would appreciate any relevant feedback that you would like to offer. Similar themes can be seen both in the commentary of R’ Schwab as well as in the Pardes Yosef. 

We are introduced to the concept of hoda’ah in this week’s parsha when Leah chooses to name her 4th son Yehudah. The names of the first three sons expressed her heretofore unheeded desire to feel beloved and connected to her husband Yaakov. Finally with the birth of their fourth child, Leah seemingly feels a sense of relief and gratitude and declares that:

 הַפַּ֙עַם֙ אוֹדֶ֣ה אֶת־יְהוָ֔ה עַל־כֵּ֛ן קָרְאָ֥ה שְׁמ֖וֹ יְהוּדָ֑ה 

“This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she named him Judah.

The language of הפעם - ‘this time’ is striking. There was no impetus to have given praise and thanks beforehand? The gemarah in berachos 7b makes Leah’s statement even more confounding and says that: 

מִיּוֹם שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת עוֹלָמוֹ לֹא הָיָה אָדָם שֶׁהוֹדָה לְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, עַד שֶׁבָּאתָה לֵאָה וְהוֹדַתּוּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״הַפַּעַם אוֹדֶה אֶת ה׳״.

From the time that G-d created his world, there was no man who gave thanks to G-d until Leah came and praised him as it says, “this time I will praise G-d”. 

The gemarah seems beyond comprehension in that what emerges is that not only had Leah not praised G-d until now, but no one else had as well. It seems incongruous that Adam Ha’rishon, Noach and the Avos/ Imahos all assessed G-d’s universe and stayed quiet with their praise until Leah birthed her fourth child. Rashi on the gemarah seems to create even more befuddlement. Famously he comments that:

הפעם אודה את ה' – לפי שראתה ברוח הקדש שיעקב מעמיד שנים עשר שבטים ולו ארבע נשים כיון שילדה בן רביעי הודית על חלקה שעלה יותר מן החשבון המגיע לה:

This time I will thank G-d -Because she had Ruach Hakodesh that Yaakov was going to have twelve tribes(through 12 sons), and he has four wives, so when she had her fourth son, she gave thanks because she got a greater portion than the original calculation she expected(on average each wife had three sons, and she had four).

In other words no one had given hoda’ah until now. Leah only gave hoda’ah upon the birth of her fourth child and that hoda’ah was only due to the fact that she could now feel assuaged that she had more children than her counterparts. Is that the image of one of our matriarchs who we proudly refer to as the foundation of the world? Only because she could lord over her co-wives does she feel grateful? Each piece of this equation seems to be call out for clarification and resolution. Many of the meforshim deal with different pieces of the puzzle and clearly I am not the first person to travel down this well-tread path. 

I would like to suggest an answer that would deal with all of the problematic parts of the pasuk as well as explainh the statement in Chazal. Was Leah in fact the first person who gave thanks to HKB’H? Clearly not. It’s not logical to assume that, and it’s not born out by numerous ma’amarei Chazal. However Leah’s hoda’ah was fundamentally unique. Adam Ha’rishon took in the majesty of the world and praised G-d. Abraham experienced the birth of a child and offered hoda’ah. Others followed suit. That hoda’ah however was born out of a sense of pure joy, pure shevach. 

Leah’s hoda’ah feels very different and in a way far more profound. Leah’s praise comes amidst the counterbalance and backdrop of pain, suffering, rejection and feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness.  Each of Leah’s previous children were given names that conveyed the hope of her being valued by her husband. Leah was described as one with “weak eyes” and as being שנואה. When now with the birth of a fourth child and with the knowledge that her place in the future of Klal Yisroel was secure, there now emerged a feeling of ‘I have found my place, I have traveled a long path and now have found a sense of belonging in the framework of my current and future existence’. Was this the first time that man offered thanks? Clearly not. Was this the first time that Leah herself offered praise? Also most probably not. However this might have been the first example of man giving praise precisely from the depths of this journey of being at this moment a mended kli nishbar. The words and expressions of praise might be the same, but the depth, resonance and richness of that expression seems far more profound in the type of praise offered by Leah. 

When I serve as a mesader kiddushin I often take a moment to look at the faces of the couple getting married. They are always (hopefully!) overjoyed but there is a huge difference of the face of a young person getting married at 23 versus what one looks like getting married later in life. Often, the young man or woman getting married at 23 hasn’t yet tasted an entire life of struggle, disappointments, loss and brokenness. His joy and feelings of hoda’ah are somewhat pure and unadulterated. 

Not so the individual standing under a chuppah at age 45. He/ she have felt a lot leading up to this moment. A lot of pain, a lot of disappointment, crises in faith, rejection and hopelessness. The feelings of hoda’ah in those moments under the chuppah are so deep, so profound, often more understated and consequentially so much more meaningful. 

Each form of hoda’ah has a place, and each form of praise offers a promise that no matter life’s circumstances and journeys that one can bring themselves ultimately to a place of gratitude and deeply felt connection to HKB’H. 

Everyone should have a joyous and meaningful Shabbos 

J. Blass