By Laura Seymour

Dear Families,

We are preparing for Thanksgiving — not a Jewish holiday but definitely one with all the important Jewish values from “hoda’ah — gratitude” to “hachnasat orchim — welcoming guests.” As you prepare for the day, no matter how your family celebrates, remember the blessings! We have heard we must say 100 blessings each day and I have also recommended getting the app (there are a few) to remember all of them. If you look for where in the Torah it says to make a blessing, the only place is where we are commanded to bless G-d after enjoying a meal. Our sages added the blessings before we eat, which is a good idea; it makes us stop and think how fortunate we are to have food to enjoy.

Besides food blessings, there are so many that we say after experiencing something. However, there is an important idea which is repeated over and over in the Torah, the first time when G-d tells Abraham: BE A BLESSING! This has always been a question — how do we BE a blessing? Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger tells of Kabbalistic wisdom that there were two different types of vessels for G-d’s creative energy. Some were containers open at the top and closed at the bottom and some were open at the top and bottom. It would seem that a vessel open at the bottom would not be very helpful; however, looking at the idea of energy, the question would be whether it is best to keep the creative energy bottled up and not shared or to let it flow. Rabbi Schlesinger tells us to take the cue from the vessels of creation: “Blessings are not meant to flow into us, but rather to flow through us.” Here are suggestions for how to be a blessing:

How do you be a blessing? With a smile or with a hug. By always thinking of giving, of helping, of lending a hand. By offering an invitation instead of waiting to receive one. By opening up to a stranger, by making someone feel at home. By teaching and helping others to learn. By offering insight and inspiration. By encouragement or a kind word. It is not hard to find ways to be a blessing — you just have to constantly be aware of it.

One should always ask himself: Is the world a bit of a better place today because of me? Is it good for the world that I am here? Has my existence added anything to the sum total of blessing in the world? We compute our carbon imprint and our ecological footprint gives us pause, and that is as it should be. But those concerns are only a matter of doing as little harm as possible. We must go beyond that and strive not only to refrain from damaging but to repair as well.

Let us ponder our blessing input and then strive, always strive, to be a living blessing.

Let this message get us in the mood for Thanksgiving and guide us every day, as each of us has the ability and the power to “be a blessing.”

Laura Seymour is Jewish experiential learning director and camp director emeritus at the Aaron Family JCC.