Hakarat HaTov
{{short description|Hebrew term for gratitude}}
Hakarat HaTov (or Hakaras HaTov; {{Langx|he|הַכָּרַת הַטּוֹב}}), is the Hebrew term for gratitude. It literally means "recognizing the good".{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishpathways.com/mussar-program/gratitude|title=Gratitude {{!}} Pathways|website=www.jewishpathways.com|language=en|access-date=2017-08-20}}{{Cite web|url=https://theshmuz.com/shmuz/hakaras-hatov-recognizing-the-good|title=HaKaras HaTov: Recognizing the Good – The Shmuz|website=theshmuz.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-08-20}}
Etymology
The Hebrew word {{Transliteration|he|lehakir}} means "to recognize" and the word tov means "good" or "goodness".{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/judaism/jewish-words/hakarat-hatov-1.8082|title=Jewish Words - Hakarat HaTov|website=www.thejc.com|access-date=2017-08-20}}
History
The word "Jew" is derived from the name given to Judah (son of Jacob), son of Jacob and Leah. The Hebrew for Judah is Yehudah, from the wording "I will praise" (odeh, Gen. 29:35). The root for this wording means "to thank".{{cite book
|last=Exell|first=Joseph Samuel
|title=Homiletical Commentary on the Book of Genesis|year=1892|publisher=Funk & Wagnalls
|location=USA|pages=583}} and refers to "I am grateful."
Hakaras Hatov is an attitude and a required part of the Jewish way of life:{{Cite web|url=http://www.ohrnaava.com/hakarashatov|title=Ohr Naava: Hakaras Hatov Initiative|website=www.ohrnaava.com|access-date=2017-08-20}}{{cite web|url=http://www.chinuch.org/topic/1/Hakaras-Hatov
|website=www.chinuch.org|title=Hakaras HaTov}}
- Your children are exhausting, but you have children.
- You misplaced your car keys, but you do own a car.There's also what some call "there's bad, and there's worse:"{{Cite news|url=http://hamodia.com/features/hakarat-hatov|title=Hakarat Hatov - Hamodia|work=Hamodia|access-date=2017-08-20|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821004247/http://hamodia.com/features/hakarat-hatov|archive-date=21 August 2017|url-status=dead}}
It is internal, whereas by contrast HoDaa, giving thanks, is an action.{{Cite web|url=https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/5884/hakaras-hatov-vs-hodaa|title=Hakaras hatov vs. hoda'a|website=judaism.stackexchange.com|access-date=2017-08-20}}
Rabbi Yissocher Frand explains the sequence: we must first admit we needed someone before we can thank them.{{Cite news|url=http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5756/tzav.html|title=Taking Out the Garbage • Torah.org|work=Torah.org|access-date=2017-08-20|language=en-US}} The difference is that HaKaras HaTov is about everyone who helps us, whether we needed it or not, and Hoda'ah is thanking someone for something we could not have done on our own.
The Torah commands not to despise the Egyptian "for you were a stranger in his land" (Deut. 23:8); the Jewish people received hospitality{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/judaism/jewish-words/mayim-achronim-1.21411
|title=Jewish Words - Mayim-achronim|website=www.thejc.com|access-date=2017-08-20}} and recognize this. Although when "A new king arose over Egypt who did not know of Yoseph" (Exod. 1:8), meaning "he did not WANT to know who he was! He lacked hakarat hatov for all that Yoseph had done for the Egyptian people,"{{cite web|url=http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/768067/harav-avigdor-nebenzahl/hakarat-hatov|title=YUTorah Online - Hakarat Hatov (HaRav Avigdor Nebenzahl)|website=www.yutorah.org|date=17 December 2020 }} Jews are expected to do their part in giving recognition. "We owe a debt of gratitude even to our oppressors for the small kindness they may have done for us",{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/judaism/jewish-words/hakarat-hatov-1.8082|title=Hakarat Hatov}} even though the Egyptians "did not know of Yoseph".
Thanking publicly
There is a publicly said prayer for giving thanks for surviving an illness or danger, Birkhat HaGomel,{{cite web
|url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/115308/jewish/The-Laws-of-the-Blessing-of-Thanksgiving.htm
|title=Laws of the Blessing of Thanksgiving}} which is recited before a Torah scroll. Sometimes Jews publicly give thanks with a Seudas Hodaa,sometimes called Seudat HoDaYa {{cite web
|url=https://www.aish.com/f/hotm/99828029.html
|title=At the bottom of the pool|date=7 August 2010}} a public meal of thanksgiving.
At the Passover Seder, Jews sing the song "Dayenu", the theme of which is that even if the Jewish people had not received all the blessings they did, they would still have been thankful for what they did receive.{{cite news |newspaper=The Jewish Press
|url=https://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/parsha/the-deeper-meaning-of-dayenu/2015/04/02
|title=The deeper meaning of Dayenu}}{{cite web
|url=http://jewishfederation.org/images/uploads/holiday_images/39497.pdf
|title=The Passover Haggadah: A Guide to the Seder
|website=JewishFederation.org
|access-date=2019-09-18
|archive-date=2017-05-17
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517022027/http://jewishfederation.org/images/uploads/holiday_images/39497.pdf
|url-status=dead
}}