From Gratitude to Blessings and Back

By Marilyn Price and David A. Teutsch

An exquisite combination of Judaism's common blessings, stories from everyday life, and tales and wisdom from Jewish tradition, this book is a source of inspiration and a cause for self-reflection. A resource of over fifty blessings in addition to thoughts about gratitude, this slim volume opens the door for readers to acknowledge the opportunities for thankfulness as they reflect on their personal history and their day-to-day lives. Seeing opportunities for blessings can lead the way to seeing the beauty in their lives.

The authors, a storyteller and a scholar who are long-time friends, have brought their diverse skills, insights, and experiences to help people discover the blessings in their own lives and connect afresh to their religious paths.

Every person's life is comprised of stories. Each story provides an opportunity for insight into the human condition, as well as a chance to think about the deeper meaning in our lives. Connecting our personal stories--our joys, troubles, and triumphs--to messages from the world's great religions can repair links that for some have long been broken. Many of the book's stories are warm, light, and humorous glimpses into treasured moments like the ones in the lives we all lead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Sep 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781498242592

Marilyn Price

Marilyn Price is an international storyteller, puppeteer, educator, and author. A specialist in creativity training, she heads a not-for-profit foundation, TriBraining, Inc., which teaches how to reach multiple learners within formal and experiential venues. Her published works include books on puppetry, original stories, and a primer using puppets to teach the Hebrew alphabet. Of her many accomplishments she prizes her work as the puppeteer for the Chicago Public Library and the Mayor's Award for the Arts in her hometown of Evanston, Illinois.

Book preview

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From Gratitude to Blessings and Back

Marilyn Price and David A. Teutsch

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From Gratitude to Blessings and Back

Copyright © 2017 Marilyn Price and David A. Teutsch. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199

W.

8

th Ave., Suite

3

Eugene, OR

97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-1771-3

hardcover isbn: 978-1-4982-4260-8

ebook isbn: 978-1-4982-4259-2

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

November 28, 2017

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: A Conversation about Gratitude

Chapter 2: Blessings over Food

Over grapes, grape juice, and wine

Over bread and the diverse foods of a major meal

Over baked goods other than bread

Over fruit that grows on trees

Over fruits and vegetables that grow in soil

On other foods and beverages

At the end of a meal

At the end of a meal—a second blessing

Chapter 3: Blessings for Nature

On seeing the ocean

On seeing a rainbow

On seeing beautiful trees

Over natural wonders

On seeing shooting stars or lightning or hearing thunder

On seeing something of natural beauty

Upon looking at the night sky

In celebration of living things

At dusk

When recognizing the unity of all creation

Chapter 4: Blessings Related to the Five Senses

On smelling spices or fragrances

On seeing a flame

On seeing a wise person

On seeing a Torah scholar:

On seeing an unusual-looking person or animal

On Seeing a Powerful Monarch or Leader

Upon donning eyeglasses or perceiving something new

Chapter 5: Blessings for the Body

Upon wearing new clothes

Upon awakening

When freed from a physical or spiritual constraint

When able to stand straight or free oneself of a burden

In appreciation of the satisfaction of physical needs

On getting a second wind

In appreciation of the capacity to act

After recovering from an illness or injury

When rinsing the hands prior to eating or praying

Chapter 6: Blessings for Shabbat and Holidays

For Shabbat

When lighting Shabbat candles

On ending Shabbat or a holiday

On entering a Sukkah

Chapter 7: Blessings for Special Occasions

Upon reaching a major milestone

When experiencing gratitude

Upon hearing good news

When honoring newlyweds

When holding your newborn for the first time

Upon hearing of a death or other bad news

Chapter 8: Other Blessings

After praying

In celebration of the Jewish people

When beginning Jewish study or listening to Jewish teaching

After resolving a conflict or disagreement

In recognizing our dependence on divine grace

At the start of a meeting of a not-for-profit organization or community project

Upon recognizing the spiritual and moral light within oneself or others

This wise and gentle book invites us to orient ourselves to awareness and wonder and gives us language, both traditional and contemporary, to express gratitude. It can serve as an aid to spiritual seekers and a resource for rabbis and teachers.

—Rabbi Deborah Waxman, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

This book is a bridge connecting the cultivation of gratitude to the treasure chest of Jewish blessings. It highlights blessings that have traditional places in the set liturgy and opens the possibility of using them to give voice to our gratitude—a blessing when resolving a conflict, a blessing to begin a community meeting, a blessing when hearing good news! Aided by this resource, a reader will be better able to discern and be grateful for moments of blessing.

—Jacob Staub, Professor of Jewish, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Acknowledgments

We Are Grateful . . .

While writing a book on gratitude and its partner blessings, we would be remiss if we did not remember and honor the many people who brought us to the publication of this book.

From our beginnings we remember our parents and grandparents, who nurtured us, and those who taught us in formal settings, by mentoring and being mentored, and through friendship and love. In particular we are thankful for those who guide and love us daily, our spouses Betsy Teutsch and Roger Price and our children and their children, who provide us with hugs and countless other blessings.

We were blessed to have the help of Vivian Singer, of Custom Siddur, who helped us place the blessings in Hebrew font. Rabbi Michelle Greenfield did research to locate quotations from classical texts and modern sources that beautifully express wisdom that is relevant to our work.

To our editors and publishers at Wipf and Stock who guided us through to a finished book we are very grateful. They include Brian Palmer, James Stock, Jana Wipf, and Matthew Wimer, as well as our friend Rabbi Maurice Harris, who made the introductions that brought this book to print.

We are of course grateful to you the readers who choose to read this book and make the journey from gratitude to blessings and back. May your journey be a good one, and may it lead to many joys for you and our world.

Just as Gratitude and Blessings are partners, so we are grateful and consider ourselves blessed to have had the opportunity to work with each other on this book. There was nothing but pleasure in its creation, and that is a blessing!

Thank you,

Marilyn and David

Chapter 1

A Conversation about Gratitude

When I was little, my parents constantly reinforced the idea that hard work and self-discipline are the way to success. You obtain what you want by earning it. According to that set of beliefs, the world is a morally neutral place, and everything depends on you and what you make of it.

When I was little, my parents constantly reinforced the same ideals but with different language and undoubtedly different techniques. There is also no doubt that they told us, my brother and me, that we had to work to get what we