Parashat Vayishlach Count Your Blessings

The reason why Yaakov is mentioning that Hashem gave him so much is because he's thanking Hashem. He's thanking Hashem. This is actually one of the reasons why the patriarchs got so much where Yaakov is trying to teach his children today that instead of complaining to Hashem about your problems, about the test that you have, about the difficulty that's in front of you first and foremost count your gifts. Count the blessings that he already gave you. Okay, so you're short of money, you're you're you're looking for a shidduch, you're you're you're you want to have another child or a child for the first time, you have health issues, whatever issue everybody has. Fine. I know it's easy to cry, it's easy to complain, it's easy to blame God about everything, but when was the last time you counted all the blessings you did have until now? All the good that God did give YOU UNTIL NOW. WHEN DID YOU actually count them? Needless to say, when did you actually thank Hashem for them? Did you thank Hashem for the fact that he's allowed you to breathe for the last 20, 30, or 40, or 50 years? Did you thank Hashem that he gave you vision? That you're able to see the beauty of his creation. When was the last time you thanked Hashem for being able to hear beautiful sounds, whether it be kosher music or the sound of your spouse or your children playing or learning Torah with the rabbi. What was the last time you thanked Hashem for that beautiful gift because there are many people that don't have good hearing or any hearing at all. What was the last time did you thank Hashem that you have taste buds that could still taste food? And in fact that there is good food available and we're not like the snake that everything is like sand. What was the last time did you thank Hashem for the last 20, 30, 40 years that he gave you, the clothing on your back, that house that you've lived in, the the the car that you drove, the money that you had, the food that you ate. Now, OF COURSE, YES, YOU HAVE ISSUES NOW, BUT did you thank him for what he already gave you before you're asking for this new salvation? Because if you thank Hashem, that in itself gives you the merit that would warrant getting further blessings. But if you don't appreciate what he already gave you, then you are portraying one of the worst character traits that's exists in the world, which is ungratefulness, being a kufui tova. The Gemara says there are certain people that God hates. One of them is a kufui tova, is someone that's ungrateful. Because if you're ungrateful, then certainly you're go you're going to a bad person. And of course, people think, "YEAH, YEAH, NO, I THANK GOD ALL THE TIME." YEAH, BUT THAT'S NOT THE only place you have to be grateful. Are you also grateful to people that have helped you? If you have your parents, they helped you. Are you grateful for the help they gave you? You have a rabbi, he helped you. Are you grateful for the help that he gave you? You have a spouse, she gave you, he gave you a piece of themselves, their life, their time, their money, their resources, their love, their emotions. Are you GRATEFUL FOR THAT? YEAH, YEAH, I'M GRATEFUL. DO THEY KNOW THAT YOU'RE GRATEFUL? YEAH, YEAH, I TOLD HER ONE TIME. WELL, WHEN DID YOU TELL HER YOU'RE GRATEFUL? YEAH, WHEN WE GOT MARRIED, 5 10 YEARS AGO. OH, SO you told her then. So what, if it changes you'll let her know? The reality is that most people do not realize that even if they are grateful, most of the time the people around them don't know. For some reason, people are not only stingy with their money, they're even stingy with their words. They're stingy with their gra- gratitude. When was the last time they say thank you to someone that changed their life and helped them do chuva, whether it be a family friend or brother or sister or rabbi, whoever it was. When was the last time they say thank you to their boss that gives them a job and gives them a paycheck. I have certain employees that literally every single check that they get every two weeks they get paid, they make sure to send me a thank you. I mean, this was something beautiful. I never had on Wall Street when I paid people millions of dollars. But yet here running organization of I have a few people that say thank you. BUT YET THERE ARE CERTAIN PEOPLE THAT YOU COULD LITERALLY give them a raise, you could give them a promotion, you could give them whatever they want and gratitude is simply unbeknownst to them. They don't even know what it is, they expect it. There are certain people in your life that literally do not know what thank you is and it behooves you to teach them. By showing them the shiur, by reminding them. Not by being abrasive and saying, "OH, YOU DIDN'T SAY THANK YOU." Because that's not going to help. In fact, that'll help, you know, cause them to not want to say thank you. But rather having them learn the Torah and show them the importance of gratitude. Because if a person learns how to be grateful to people, certainly he'll eventually realize that he has to be grateful to his creator or our creator. But if A PERSON IS UNGRATEFUL to people, for sure the Gemara says, he's ungrateful to his creator. So Yaakov Avinu is going through a life test unlike any other. But he takes the opportunity to thank Hashem for all of the blessings. Because he says THAT ALL OF THESE BLESSINGS ALREADY HAVE superseded whatever merit that I have, I need to earn what more merits. What's better than thanking you for what you've already given me? See, here we see that this whole battle is another way for Hashem to teach us the nature of the patriarchs and why he loved them so much. How much they thanked him. And if you calculate what did he really thank him for if from our perspective? Oh, he had wife. Okay, well, other people have wives. Oh, he had kids. Well, naturally if you have a wife, typically you'll have kids with Hashem. Oh, yeah. Well, he had a job. You call that a job? Working for some criminal for 20 years? That's a job? He cheated him of millions of dollars? THAT'S A JOB? WELL, technically it was enough to eat. Well, you're telling me I have to be grateful for for a job that just pays me enough to eat? Gratitude? You owe that job your life. Anyone that watched one of my Shiurim in the series that we had years ago, amazing questions about God. We had a whole Shiur about gratitude. When a person understands the importance of gratitude, they'll realize that literally for just somebody lending you a pen, a pen, you owe them a life of gratitude. A pen. Needless to say someone that gives you a job, needless to say a million and a half times someone that gives you an opportunity to go to eternal internal heaven. But the average person doesn't delve into what they already got. They delve into what they need. Hence the reason why they're miserable. So, here the Torah is trying to tell us that this judgment is one of the ways that Hashem can show us the beauty of our patriarchs.