Birkat Hagomel - Thanksgiving Blessing (Part 4)
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”
G.T. Shedd
AFTERWORD
In Temple times, when a person had a Halachic obligation to thank Hashem they would come to the Holy Temple in Yerushalayim and offer up a Korban Todah – a thanksgiving offering. The four categories of people required to do so are the same as those required to recite Birkat HaGomel nowadays.
Although it was not an expensive offering, it was a large offering. It comprised forty loaves of bread, of which thirty were matzah [unleavened] and ten were chametz [leaven]. This combination was unique, as no other offering in the Temple was made up of a combination of both matzah and chametz together.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab eloquently describes the matzah as symbolizing the obvious miracles that take place in our lives:
Just as we eat matzah on Pesach to symbolize our deliverance from slavery, so, too, the person offering a Korban Todah to the Temple brings matzah to symbolize his having been saved from an obviously perilous situation. By contrast, the chametz – regular, mundane bread – represents all the “miraculous” occurrences that happen to us on a daily basis without our even realizing. We assume that a loaf of bread is a natural consequence of mixing water, flour and yeast, but the Korban Todah is telling us “Stop! Reflect for a moment. Realize that there is nothing ‘natural’ in our world. Everything, but everything, originates from Hashem.”
It transpires thatthe Korban Todah was more than just an offering; the Korban Todah was a learning experience, a “visual aid” to teach the person, having just experienced a miraculous escape from danger, to look closely at their regular, humdrum existence and try and identify just how many blessings Hashem showers upon them every single day. To identify what Nachmanides calls the “hidden miracles” that surround us at all times.
Our Sages offer a beautiful insight as to why the Korban Todah was so large: There was no way, they explain, that one person could possibly eat so many loaves of bread within the timeframe that the Halacha allots. They would thus need to invite others to join; during this festive meal, they would share with all the participants the miraculous events that necessitated their bringing this Korban Todah and - in so doing - publicize Hashem’s goodness and blessings to all those gathered there.
Through the Korban Todah our Sages are teaching us a fundamental lesson: Good fortune should be shared. Not in order to brag about one’s mazal – that is a thoughtless and spiteful thing to do - but because the more we include others in our providence, the greater will be our appreciation for what Hashem has done for us. And the greater our appreciation, the greater are our feelings of thanksgiving. All it requires is to learn how to feel Hashem’s caresses as He accompanies us throughout our day.
In Sefer Tehillim (104:24) King David writes: “Mal’ah Ha’aretz Kinyanecha – The earth is filled with Your possessions.” The simple understanding, say the commentaries, is that Hashem has complete mastery and ownership over the world – that every part of the creation is His. However, Rabbi Dov Ber the Maggid of Mezeritch (1704-1772), one of the closest disciples of the Ba’al Shem Tov and his chosen successor, would interpret the words homiletically “Earthliness is filled [with abundant opportunities] to acquire [closeness with] You!”
Birkat HaGomel is the opportunity to recognize clearly that all the blessings in my life – both the obvious ones and the “mundane” ones – emanate from only One Source. And it is an unparalleled moment to thank Hashem for having “bestowed every goodness upon me.”
