We had the incredible privilege of greeting our incoming students at the airport earlier this week. After yet another summer of preparing entry permits, entry forms, PCR tests before and after flights, I couldn’t help but notice how I have taken it for granted for so many years that after high school, young men and women can come to Israel to learn, grow and give. Of course, in my mind I know every single day living in Israel, that I am living the dream of my forefathers. היינו כחולמים. I know that young women spending their year in Israel is a miracle that 100 years ago was not even feasible. But at the end of the day, this incredible dream is life. BH. And life is something we take for granted. It’s human nature. 

Until Covid. Last week, we greeted our students, each one with their folder of travel documents, their eyes smiling through their masks and I couldn’t help hold back the tears. This dream that has become our reality was no longer something I took for granted. They are here, and it is a miracle. Once our  students were all accounted for, and were sitting on the air conditioned bus, I got on the bus and had only one thought:

שהחיינו וקיימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה

I give our students a bracha that they don’t take one second of this year for granted. That this overwhelming feeling we have of gratitude towards Hashem right now never diminishes. Their year will be everything they dreamed it to be as long as they understand that it is a tremendous gift. 

But how? How do we not go back to the human nature of seeing the negative, getting frustrated, and caught up in the small things? How can we be people that hold on to this incredibly strong feeling of gratitude and never lose sight of what really matters?

The answer is in this week’s parsha. In parshat Ki Tavo, Hashem commands us to give bikkurim. We must give thanks and bring our first fruits to the Beit Hamikdash. With all the mitzvot we have of saying “thank you” – modeh ani, brachot, 3 davenings a day etc…- why do we need yet another mitzvah of giving thanks?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe has a beautiful explanation. He says that saying thank you is never enough. That doesn’t keep us grounded, it doesn’t change our essence. Saying thank you is what we are taught in kindergarten. It’s instinct and more often than not, lacks true significant meaning. An action of “thank on ” the other hand, is life changing, It is enough. It is the difference between me being ungrateful and me being genuinely and thoroughly grateful. The Rebbe says, learn from this. You want to change human nature? You want to remain grateful and not take your life and blessings for granted? Do good. Turn your words into actions. 

And this is exactly what our students have come to do. They are already inspiring us with their positive attitude, their ability to see each other’s needs and their kindness that they are exhibiting to one another. We cannot wait to see them use all their skills in order to better a child’s life. And bezH with all their actions throughout the year, they will become young women who take nothing for granted and who not only say thank you to one another, but live life as grateful human beings who count their blessings every single day.