Nestled in this week’s Torah portion of Mishpatim between the laws of damages and the prelude to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, where the Jewish people said נעשה ונשמע, “we will do and then we will listen,” the Torah discusses three Yom Tovim , Sukkos, Pesach, and Shavuos. “Three times during the year shall all your menfolk appear before the L-rd, Hashem” (Shemos 23:17).
Rabbeinu Bachye says on this pasuk, “These 3 holidays are on 3 different times of the year. Pesach is in springtime, Shavuos is in the harvest time, and Sukkos is in the ingathering time. These 3 holidays are celebrated for the sake of the grains and vegetation of the land. We are obligated by them to thank Hashem because He is good and to show our face by our master Hashem [in the Beis Hamikdash] for supporting His servants and giving sustenance to the entire world.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
People normally view Pesach as a celebration of our exodus from Egypt, Shavuos as celebrating the giving of the Torah, and Sukkos as celebrating Hashem having taken care of us in the desert. However, it sounds from this Rabbeinu Bachye that the main reason for these three holidays is really to show gratitude to Hashem for the food and sustenance that He provides us and prepares for us, every step of the way, throughout the year. If you think about it, it’s quite astonishing! According to this, Hashem orchestrated taking us out of Egypt, at that time of the year, gaving the Torah at that time of the year, and deciding to celebrate Sukkos at that time of the year. All to ensure that we can properly express gratitude to Him at these set times, that there are accomplishments in our produce, between the grains and fruits blossoming in the spring, harvesting at Shavuos time, and being gathered in on Sukkos. This means that showing gratitude for being given food is more important than celebrating our freedom, having been turned into the Chosen Nation, and sustaining us during our travels in the desert. We learn this from the holidays being designated at these specific times of the years, around the blossoming, harvesting, and ingathering seasons.
Why is gratitude for our food and sustenance so important? Wasn’t being freed from servitude, becoming a nation and the prince and princesses of the King Of All Kings, and accepting His gift, the blueprints of creation and handbook book for mankind, more important? Indeed, what about appreciating how He took care of us for the first years of our nationhood as His beloved children; this being more of an important reason to celebrate than thanking Hashem for our annual means of livelihood which should be secondary? Also why do we have to celebrate three times a year; why not at the end, when we have all our food brought into our houses?
However, it would seem that we can’t take for granted each step along the way, every buildup and success that Hashem provides for us as food is being produced throughout the year. Even in today’s day and age, where most of us just buy our food at supermarkets, we have an obligation to contemplate where it all comes from. Imagine and think about the sources, the farms, the fields, etc. etc., all down the line until it gets to our table. We have to appreciate the fact that without Hashem making the farmers’ crops successful we would not have challah, wine, kugel, etc. on our table; therefore, we have to be thankful every step of the way, three times a year, for Hashem keeping us alive and sustaining us.
Hakaras hatov, gratitude for our daily lives, seems to be more important than thanking Hashem for the monumental events that shaped us as a people. Remembering those monumental events is just a means of enhancing our gratitude towards Hashem; but our main focus should be thanking Hashem for all the good He does for us. for keeping us alive and sustaining us, year in and year out.
We see how important hakaras hatov towards Hashem is, even for the simplest things. That’s what builds our relationship with Hashem.