Rabbi Yitzchak Mandel is Rosh Chabura for the YU Torah MiTzion Kollel in Chicago (led by the Rosh Kollel - Rabbi Reuven Brand)
The first three plagues in this week's parsha: blood, frogs, lice, were not performed by Moshe but rather by Aharon. The Midrash explains that Moshe could not start off these plagues, because each contained an object that he could not strike. The river had protected Moshe as a baby, and the earth hid the Egyptian that Moshe had killed. Gratitude made it impossible for Moshe to strike these objects, and therefore the plagues were done by Aharon.
Why do we care to show gratitude to inanimate objects?
This question is compounded when we see that Chazal emphasize this concept of gratitude towards inanimate objects in the Gemara in Bava Kamma on 92b. We are told by Chazal that “a well from which you drank water, do not throw a clod of dirt into it," don't throw a clod of dirt into a well that you drank water from. Chazal learn from this that we need to make sure not to disregard that which helped us in the past.
But the question remains: what does the well care if you throw dirt in it or not? R’ Dessler (Michtav Me’Eliyahu volume 3 page 100) explains that of course these objects don’t feel anything, and they certainly don’t benefit from the acknowledgement we ‘give’ them. The gratitude that we are required to have towards them is really for us. Our character traits are influenced and driven by both feelings and intellect. Therefore if we don’t give gratitude to these objects, and even go so far as to be demeaning to them, it will negatively affect us.
Rav Dessler explains that emotion doesn’t operate on the same wavelength as our intellect. Our emotion sees what’s in front of it - hitting the Nile or the earth. It doesn’t think ‘this will be a sanctification of God’s Name, so in this case it's okay to hit them.’ Therefore the act of Moshe hitting the Nile or the earth would be a flaw in the trait of gratitude for Moshe Rabbeinu. This trait of gratitude is so valuable in serving God because through it we can learn to appreciate the kindnesses that God does for us.
Rav Dessler quotes his father-in-law, Rav Nachum Zev of Kelm that gratitude to man and to God stem from the same place. Meaning, if our trait of gratitude to our fellow human is not up to par then we won’t come to realize the kindness of God either. This in turn, will affect us later on and in the World to Come we won’t have the tools (this trait of gratitude) to be attached to God. Additionally the Midrash tells us that anyone who denies the good of his fellow will eventually deny the good of God. One who denies the good that a friend does for him will inevitably come to deny the good that God does for him.
This illustrates the crucial importance of maintaining basic gratitude toward our fellow man. My rebbe, R’ Hershel Schachter in his sefer Nefesh HaRav (page 111-112) asks why we say in Nishmat for the Ashkenazic rite that we will give Hashem most of the praises (based on the Gemara), why only “most" and not “all"? R’ Schachter explains (based on a similar idea found in the Chovot HaLevavot) that having proper gratitude actually allows us to have faith in God and therefore so many mitzvot were given to strengthen this emotion.
At the end of the piece he explains that this is why we say in Nishmat only most of the praises - most of the praise. It’s in order to save some of that feeling of gratitude we have for humans. Meaning, in theory all of our thanks should be directed towards God, however, it’s necessary based on this principle of “the wine belongs to the owner, but the thanks go to the one who pours it" to limit the gratitude we have towards God a little in order to give some of it to humans as well.
He brings an example to illustrate this concept. Logic would dictate that when we are hired for a job, we shouldn’t have to give any recognition or gratitude towards our boss because he’s benefiting from us also. Yet we still feel grateful to our employer for hiring us! When receiving a gift we shouldn’t need to express gratitude because as the Gemara says in Megillah on 26b, he wouldn’t have given it to you if he didn’t also get some benefit from giving it. Even in the case of a wife, one could say that she is only helping her husband because he provides for her and he could feel no obligation towards showing her gratitude as well.
This attitude though would lead us to conclude that we never have to give gratitude to anybody for anything that they do to us because they derive some benefit from the act as well. Therefore, the only One we would need to show gratitude towards is to God.
R’ Schachter continues to explain that this is what the Gemara (in Bava Kamma on the same page as the Gemara above about the well) is teaching us when it says, “the wine belongs to the owner, but the thanks go to the one who pours it." Which means, even though the wine belongs to the ‘master,’ gratitude is still owed to the one who gave you the drink. Even though your gratitude in theory should only be towards the owner (because he paid for the wine and the waiter), still we need to express it towards the waiter since he physically brought us the drink.
The same principle applies to our case. If we won’t show gratitude towards a person who did something for us, even though technically they benefitted from the favor as well, we won’t give the proper recognition to God either.
For comments: ymandel@torahchicago.org