November 2001 - חֶשְׁוָן .. כִּסְלֵו תשס״ב Cheshvan..Kislev 5762

President Bush has Cheney, Powell and Rice, but I have the best and wisest advisers in the world, my family. Struggling with what to say for a Thanksgiving message, my wise wife (who is also my best friend) suggested that I expand on the Yom Kippur message from God. So, thank you Barbara, you are right as usual.

How do we thank God in light of the terrorist attacks on Israel and the United States? On Yom Kippur, I shared with you a letter that I imagined that God would write to us answering the question what should we do now? The answers were pretty standard, donate blood, give money, continue living life with joy and don't give into fear. But then I added a little something personal that Barbara has always advocated. Do not say goodbye to best friends or loved ones without first saying “I love you.” (This has always been important to Barbara because she knows that one night her grandfather leaned over to kiss her grandmother goodnight and he said “I love you, Rose!” He died that night, but Grandma Rose always knew how much he loved her.)

Now I would like to add another little personal something. Never forget to say thank you to all of your friends and loved ones. My wife makes me dinner, I have to remember to say thank you. My son does the laundry (when he is home), I have to remember to say thank you. My God allows me to wake up to a new day, I have to remember to say thank you. It is not the big things that I am writing about it is the little things. The big things usually prompt an automatic thank you. (Give your spouse a piece of expensive jewelry as a gift, and s/he will almost always say thanks.) It is for the little everyday things that we take for granted that we need to express our appreciation.

We can look beyond the suicide bombings, the anthrax scare, the threats and the attempts to terrorize us. We can even look beyond the big thank yous to God on Thanksgiving such as for good health, the harvest and our families. This Thanksgiving, I would like to suggest that we open our eyes in the morning and thank God for the sun. I suggest that we put on our clothes and thank God that we have clothes and shelter. I suggest that we go outside of our doors and thank God for the freedom to go anywhere at any time. As we look at the grass or some flowers or the sky I suggest that we thank God for an infinite number of daily miracles. Then go over to someone you love and give him/her/them a big kiss and say thank you, you make life worth living.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from me and mine,

—Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, Ph.D.

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