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Dear Yeshiva Family:
In this week's parasha we encounter the mitzvah of the Korban Tamid, the offering brought every single day, morning and afternoon. The Abarbanel (29:39) discusses at length the placement of the Tamid here, addressing many questions, among them, why is the Tamid the only offering mentioned here, to the exclusion of all other Korbanos?
The Abarbanel explains that the Torah is teaching us something fundamental about the Beis HaMikdash. One might mistakenly assume that the primary purpose of korbanos is kaparah, that the Mikdash exists mainly as a place to correct sin and facilitate teshuvah. To correct this perception the Torah discusses only the Tamid when teaching the building of the Bais Hamikdash. To generate connection, not for correction. This is what the main purpose of the entire Bais Hamikdash is about. Only if someone sins can we later tell you that one can also achieve atonement here, but that is not the primary purpose of the Bais Hamikdash.
The Abarbanel goes on to explain that the main theme of the Tamid is gratitude and the Tamid represents the steady acknowledgment that everything we have comes from the Ribbono Shel Olam. It is a daily declaration of hakaras haTov. According to the Abarbanel, this middah of giving thanks is the most essential qualities a person can acquire, because it is the fuel of avodas Hashem. When a person truly recognizes how much he receives, he naturally desires to draw closer, to serve, and to respond.
Many people describe life in terms of a "half-full" or "half-empty" glass. The optimist says it is half full; the pessimist says it is half empty. But perhaps both perspectives miss the point. Sometimes the issue is not how much is in the glass, but how large we have made the glass in our own minds. When expectations are inflated beyond reality, even abundance feels lacking. But when a person understands what he truly deserves, and how much he in fact receives, he begins to see that his cup overflows.
Hakaras haTov is what transforms existence into avodah. It shifts a person from entitlement to appreciation, from complaint to connection. And that steady recognition, embodied in the Korban Tamid, becomes the engine that drives a life of closeness to Hashem.
So let us examine the root of Hakaras Hatov and why it plays such a central role in Yiddishkeit.
Why Say Thank You
A fundamental question is often raised regarding hakaras haTov. When someone harms a person, we believe with full emunah that nothing occurs without Hashem's decree. This understanding underlies the prohibition of nekamah[1], for one must recognize that whatever befell him was destined to occur in any case. If so, why should the response to good be any different? Just as we attribute harm to Hashem and refrain from vengeance against a human aggressor, should we not likewise attribute benefit solely to Hashem and see no need to thank the human agent at all?
There are two primary ways to answer this question. The first is from the Sifsei Chayim[2] in the name of the Chovos Halevovos who explains that it is certainly true that the blow was decreed in Shamayim. Nevertheless, the one who chose to strike is fully responsible, because he exercised his own bechirah to become the vehicle through which that harm occurred.
The same is true in reverse. The benefit was likewise decreed in Shamayim, and the ultimate thanks indeed belongs to Hashem. Yet the one who chose to perform the act of kindness is accountable for his choice — and therefore deserves acknowledgment. Bechirah creates responsibility, whether for harm or for good.
At the same time, because we recognize that all good ultimately flows from Hashem, our gratitude must remain properly calibrated. We may not deify the giver or become emotionally dependent upon him. Just as the Torah prohibits nekamah and netirah because no human being is the ultimate source of harm, so too our thanks to others must be framed within the awareness that the true Source is HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
The Sifsei Chayim distinguishes between a case in which a person intentionally acted to confer benefit, where a genuine obligation of repayment may arise and there is a moral obligation to reciprocate[3], and a case in which the benefit occurred incidentally. In the latter situation, the primary basis for gratitude is that Hashem chose this individual as the vehicle through which the good reached you. In such circumstances, it is possible that a simple expression of thanks is sufficient.
A second Approach
There is another approach to this idea. R' Shach (Haggadah, p. 135) explains that the entire concept of hakaras haTov toward human beings is, at its root, an avodah in training ourselves to recognize what Hashem has given and continues to give us. Expressing gratitude to a human being is not a contradiction to emunah; it is a vehicle through which emunah is deepened.
According to this approach, the focus of hakaras haTov is less about the giver and more about the recipient's internal development. It is about cultivating the instinct of appreciation. In that sense, there is little distinction between thanking a person and acknowledging even an inanimate object. The avodah is to avoid dulling our sensitivity to the good we receive.
This Yesod is also written in Michtav Me'Eliyahu[4] regarding having hakaras Hatov to inanimate objects. R' Dessler develops this thought of hakaras haTov from Chazal's teaching that Moshe Rabbeinu did not strike the water during the first makkos. On a purely logical level, this is difficult. Water has no da'as, no feelings, and no intention. It did not consciously save Moshe, and Moshe himself, as a baby, was unaware of what was happening. Moreover, at that moment the water was about to serve as the vehicle for immense Kiddush Hashem. If ever there was justification to strike it, this was it. Yet Hashem instructed that Moshe not be the one to do so.
The Michtav Me'Eliyahu explains that had Moshe raised his hand against the very medium through which he had once been saved, something subtle within him would have been diminished. Even though the water had no awareness, acting against it would dull his instinct of hakaras haTov. When a person behaves in contradiction to that inner reflex, even toward an inanimate object, he weakens it within himself.
Hashem was cultivating Moshe Rabbeinu's middos. It was more important that Moshe preserve the purity of his sensitivity to gratitude than that he personally perform the makkos.
This form of hakaras haTov that has nothing to do with repayment and nothing to do with the giver's intent. It is entirely about the recipient's character. If something benefited you, even unintentionally, even inanimate, you must treat it with respect, for doing so preserves your own integrity.
R' Dessler adds that this sensitivity is the very foundation of avodas Hashem. One's service of Hashem is built upon recognizing the constant tovos bestowed upon him such as life, health, sustenance, opportunity. From that recognition flows ahavah, yirah, and avodah. A person who minimizes benefit, who explains it away as insignificant or effortless, will eventually apply that same pattern toward Shamayim. But one who lives with genuine hakaras haTov finds in it the fuel for avodah. Gratitude becomes the catalyst for serving the Ribbono Shel Olam. That is why Moshe Rabbeinu's instinct of gratitude had to remain pristine, because hakaras haTov is the engine of avodas Hashem.
According to R' Dessler, the essential avodah here is not repayment, but restraint, the discipline of not striking the very source of one's past good, so it is not exactly like R" Shach's principal, it is however based on the same ideals.
The source of this category comes from the Passuk (Dvorim 23:8) "do not despise a Mitzri for you were strangers in his land". The Torah does not command us to "thank" the Mitzrim. It does not say we must actively benefit them. It says, "Lo sesa'ev Mitzri." Do not despise a Mitzri. Do not reject him. Do not treat him with disdain.
The Mitzrim enslaved and brutalized Klal Yisrael. Yet the Torah says that because at the beginning they hosted us during famine, that original benefit may not be erased. History does not become one-dimensional. Later evil does not grant license to rewrite earlier good.
The Gemara (B. K. 92b) derives from that verse do not throw a stone into a well from which you drank. The Torah does not require positive repayment here. It requires that one not repay evil for prior good. Similarly, Moshe Rabbeinu was not told to repay the water. He was not told to build a monument to it. He was told not to strike it. As explained by R' Dessler, this form of Hakaras Hatov is there just so as not to damage our sensitive intuition of Hakaras Hatov.
Not Flying Lufthansa
Now, people sometimes ask contemporary questions in this vein. Should one refuse to benefit Germany because of what occurred during the Holocaust? Some people refuse to fly Lufthansa or would never buy a BMW. Should one avoid certain products or institutions? Or do we remember the thousand plus years that Jews dwelled on German soil in peace?
After we have explained this form of Hakaras Hatov, it does not seem that having the attitude of not buying German products runs counter to this Passuk, for the Passuk does not say you must actively benefit Mitzrayim. Rather what the Torah does prohibit is active disdain and hostility rooted in erasing past benefit. So perhaps destroying something German would be frowned upon, but one does not have to pretend that evil did not occur. And in this case as well, there is no specific individual to whom repayment is owed. There is no interpersonal chiyuv. It is a national, abstract reality. Therefore, it fits into the second category: not repayment, but restraint, more so a prohibition against kefiyas tov than a positive hakaras Hatov.
May we be zocheh to live with true hakaras haTov, to recognize clearly the constant chesed of the Ribbono Shel Olam in our lives. And through that recognition, may our avodah be filled with simcha, humility, and genuine closeness to Him. Have an amazing Shabbos!
Rabbi Moshe Revah Mrevah2@touro.edu
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[1] See the Sefer Hachinuch 241. [2] 1 Pg. 347-352 [3] See the Chinuch Mitzvah 33, Rabbeinu Yonah on Mishlei 17:13 and Mishlei 22:11, Ramban on Devorim 23:5 are just a few of the many sources in Chazal, the Rishonim and Achronim which indicate one should not suffice himself with a mere 'thank you' when practicing 'Hakaras Hatov'. Famously there is a story cited with R' Shimon Schwab who borrowed money from R' Yeruchem. When he said thank you he was told not to, for it would be ribbis. When he then borrowed again and did not say thank you, he was told off for not saying thank you for a favor. When R" Shimon asked for a clarification, he was told that you should look like you want to but you can't! However barring the prohibition of Ribbis receiving a favor from someone should generate a requirement of returning the favor. [4] 3 pg. 98-101 | 
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