My mom and I began to discuss Thanksgiving, a favorite holiday among the Guzik family. Usually, the dining room is bursting with relatives, new friends, tons of food, and a warm fire that gives the illusion that we experience seasons in California. Last year, my brother and sister-in-law announced their engagement, and life felt content, a moment preserved in time.
This year, the planning is different. A slim guest list, plans to eat al fresco, donned masks, and limited exposure to the people we love the most. Past Thanksgivings, we baked pumpkin and brownie pies and traditionally picked up apple, pecan, cherry and blueberry. So many pies. So much dessert. So many smiles. This year, my mom said, “Nicole, it’s just not that many people. What do we really need?”
And although she was referencing the baking, the question remains: What do we really need?
It continues to be a hard time in which life cycles and holidays look drastically different. But we are revealing the true significance and meaning behind life’s most poignant moments. Do we need a thousand pies? Not really. Do we need 100 guests at a wedding or bar mitzvah? Not necessary. Do we need to mark time with sacred ritual? Absolutely. Do we need moments in which gratitude and blessing are practiced and shared? More than ever.
What we want and expect are very different than what we need and grow from. It is sometimes through the unexpected and unanticipated in which we discover veiled layers of our soul. And it is through initial disappointment that we learn what it is that keeps us standing, what keeps us whole.
Each morning we recite the words, “Praised are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of time and space, who gives sight to the blind.” Literally, these are the words we chant upon opening our eyes. Figuratively, they may be words we should say when faced with situations in which we wish to keep our eyes glued shut. Not wanting change. Not desiring a world that keeps tumbling beyond recognition. But God gifted us sight and clarity to absorb our surroundings, adapt, innovate, react and thrive.
With renewed sight, it will be a Thanksgiving — perhaps not of wants, but God-willing, filled with undiscovered meaning. A Thanksgiving enriched with blessings pointing to a brighter tomorrow.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Nicole Guzik is a rabbi at Sinai Temple. She can be reached at her Facebook page at Rabbi Nicole Guzik.
