Thanksgiving Thoughts

While Tehillim 100 would see the most salient for Thanksgiving (as it starts with "A Song of Todah - Thanks) I'd like to look at Psalm 95. This one is immediately associated with Shabbos, as it's the first one of Kabbalat Shabbat. For many years it was not part of our Shabbos prayers, as that is a relatively new, though completely accepted part of our traditional prayers.

Tehillim 95 starts with the words, "Let's go sing to Hashem our G-d and call out to The Rock of Our Salvation. Let's greet his Presence in Thanks and call out to him with songs."

It goes on to speak of recognizing G-d as Creator and of seeing his hand in our personal lives. These are two tracks which can be separate, or one can lead to and connect with the other. These are two elements of what we focus on on Shabbos.

The last lines of this psalm take an unusual turn as Dovid HaMelech channels the voice of G-d. He complains of quarreling with The Desert Generation for 40 years. Eventually the second Desert Generation do enter enter Israel, after their parents' generation erred in their hearts and were banned. Rabbi SR Hirsch infers from this that every Galus generation is a redoing of the desert scenario. If we would listen today to G-d's voice with whole hearts - starting, perhaps, with gratitude - then our exile would end and we would enter the land.

My own little song of thanks:

Every day is Thanksgiving

In G-d's world, in my mind

Every day is Thanksgiving

If we thank him all the time

Every day is Thanksgiving.