Attention as an Essential Ingredient to Gratitude Each year, in late summer, we are told by the Rambam that the Shofar is there to wake us up. It is as if the Shofar tells us: Sleepers arise from your slumber, and those who are dozing, awake from your lethargy. And this year, in this late fall, this Thanksgiving, after reading an essay on gratitude by David Whyte, I realize that this call to wake up and to pay attention requires a constant reminder. David Whyte, in his masterpiece book, Consolations, writes: “Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention…Gratitude is not necessarily something that is shown after the event, is the deep, a priori state of attention that shows we understand and are equal to the gifted nature of life. (Consolations, p.89) We live in a world that is constantly trying to grab our attention. And it is the area of attention where we need to focus on most this Thanksgiving. As Jews, ...
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