Wow, Please and Thank You

In Jewish thought, Thanksgiving isn't an annual tradition, but a practice we are invited to step into three times a day. 

The Amidah is the central prayer of Jewish liturgy and it scaffolds thankfulness in a way that makes space for gratitude, awe, pain and more.

This structure has helped me through some difficult moments; I hope it's helpful to you too. 

The Amidah's structure is simple: Wow, Please and Thank You, or if you prefer the Hebrew, shevach, bakashot and hodaot, or .

Shevach, or WOW (more literally, praise) comes from a place of “radical amazement.” We exist because stuff that was once part of an exploding star has coalesced into us, we eat because plants turn sunlight into sugars that we eat and we breathe because other plants pump out oxygen. That we exist at all is simply awe-inducing; that we endure at all is grounds for praise and devotion. 

Next is bakashot, or PLEASE (more literally, requests). Incredible though it is, we don't generally want to simply exist. We want to love and be loved, we want to be healthy and engaged. We all long for things we don’t have. There is not a God in the sky waiting to give us what we long for if only we ask nicely. There is, however, an ache in our heart, a fear of the pain that emerges from longing. Naming our fears is part of taming them. Simply to articulate what we long for, what we are lacking, is a huge step towards diminishing the power that our fears have over us. 

Last is hodaot, or THANKS (or thanksgiving). Having just expressed our longing for what we don’t have, the Amidah asks that we give thanks for what we do have, even if what we have is not everything that we want. It is possible - common, really - for pain regarding what we lack to eclipse gratitude for what we have. Our desires will never be fully met. Our hunger for more, more, more is is never quenched, yet we end with thanksgiving so that we are more grateful for what we have than we are bitter for what we lack.

We need all of this as we head into Thanksgiving,

We cannot lose sight of the awesome reality of simple existence.

We cannot pretend the pain we feel over the things we lack is not there.

We cannot allow that pain to be everything we experience. 

Whether you are alone, with your immediate family, chosen family or have traveled to be with extended family, you can walk the path of the Amidah and articulate, by yourself or around the table, your own personal Wow, Please and Thank You.