In an appendix to my book, Pirkei Avot: a Users' Manual, I
listed 43 good middot that we are encouraged to pursue, and a further 29 bad
middot that we are charged to avoid. But it was only this week that it occurred
to me that one important middah seems to be missing: hakarat hatov, gratitude
to others. Our sages of old were not reticent about the importance of
gratitude--even if it be towards non-human and even inanimate objects, so why
do we find no overt reference to
gratitude in Avot?
Some students of Avot have suggested that Ben Zoma's words
at Avot 4:1 address this issue:
אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר, הַשָּׂמֵֽחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: יְגִֽיעַ כַּפֶּֽיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל, אַשְׁרֶֽיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ, אַשְׁרֶֽיךָ בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה, וְטוֹב לָךְ לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא
Who is rich? Someone who is happy with his lot. As it states: "If you eat from the effort of your hands, you are fortunate -- and it is good is to you"; "you are fortunate" in this world, "and it is good for to you" in the World to Come.
With respect, this does not appear to correspond to
gratitude, though a person may not unreasonably feel grateful when happy with
his lot. Ultimately contentment and gratitude operate in different dimensions:
being contented is a passive state of mind; it does not impel one to do
anything. Gratitude, however, is at least a potentially active state of mind;
it has the ability to motivate a person to express gratitude to the person or
circumstances that lead to us experiencing it.
If anyone has a fresh insight as to where we might find an endorsement of gratitude by the Tannaim quoted in Pirkei Avot, can they please share it with us?
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