Feed the birds…! [tuppins a bag?!]

Shalom to one and all
My guess is that most of you are in the middle of vacation. Hope you’re having a blast and staying out of trouble!
This week is…. Shabbos Shira!
What does that mean? If you go to shul this week you will find that at some point in the middle of Torah reading, everyone stands up and the chazzan recites ‘Az Yashir’ the song which was recited as the Jews crossed the Yam Suf [Red Sea].
Some of you might have also noticed that there are some Jews throwing bread out for the birds today, Friday before Shabbos Shira. What’s up with THAT?!
Great question.
When the Jews were in the desert, Hashem sent them mann, a special holy substance that replaced food for their 40 years of wandering. There were many unique qualities about the mann, one in particular was that it fell double on Friday so that nothing had to fall on Shabbos. There were two instigators among the Jews who wanted to cause trouble, and they took their double portions of mann on that first Friday and spread it out over the field. Shabbos morning they wanted to wake everyone up saying “Come!! Look outside!! Moshe doesn’t know what he is talking about and the mann fell on Shabbos!” But the birds went and ate up all the mann at night so that there would not be a chillul Hashem.

And so, out of appreciation to the birds, we feed the birds on the Friday of Shabbos Shira.
Now. Those birds in the desert are long dead. The birds that are outside my house in New York are probably a different breed altogether and in no way related to the birds of the desert. Not only that, what do the birds of back then have to do with us right now?!

Rabbi Wallerstein gave a beautiful answer.

The bread crumbs that we will throw out today in 2008 are NOT for the birds… it is to teach us hakaras hatov. And if Hashem wants us to show gratitude to a bird that we have no connection to, they don’t know the difference and don’t care if they get food from you or from the garbage can…. HOW MUCH MORE do we have to give thanks to the people who are there for us all the time! How much more so do we have to show appreciation to G-d, who wakes us up every morning, gives us sight, lets us move, we’re healthy, we have family, we have friends, school, food, vacation…we’re alive!

Gratitude is one of the foundations of all other middos. When you thank someone, you put yourself aside and are totally focused on them. We acknowledge that we are not all powerful, and other people have done something for us that we couldn’t have done ourselves. It is a lesson in humility, and learning to be appreciative.
I heard a wonderful quote from Rabbi Heller, “Gratitude is the recognition that live owes me nothing, and all the good that I have is a gift!”
Wow.
So today, go take a piece of bread, break it up into crumbs and throw it out to the birds. Then go and call up someone who did something great for you. Write a letter to your parents. Thank a friend, a teacher. Go daven mincha. Make a beracha and mean it. Have some gratitude and in the merit of all the ‘thank you’s may we be able to bring a Korban Hoda’ah [sacrificial offering of thanks] in the Bais Hamikdash very soon!Shabbat Shalom!



p.s. The title is from Mary Poppins… apologies for the outdated reference