I need Thanksgiving more than ever.
I love turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie. But moreover, I love that for a week, we are meant to focus on gratitude, blessings and how we can gift ourselves to others. This is the first time that I am taking my child to volunteer with others that are impoverished and in need of a smile or two. It is my attempt to impart the message that our purpose as human beings is to open our hearts, extend our hands, and ask, “How can I brighten this world?” Paraphrasing the Baal HaTurim, Rabbi Lori Forman explains: v’natnu looks the same written backwards or forwards. This is to teach that when a person gives tzedakah, something is given back to that person. The individual will experience no shortage because of his or her generosity.
What a lesson to teach our children: when we give, we get. When we offer our hearts, our hearts expand. Spreading our light both warms our spirit and ignites our soul.
This Thanksgiving…give and then, give some more.
Shabbat Shalom
