Chok Todah – Law of Thank You

UPDATE: Rabbi Arush is constantly answering questions and expounding more and more about the Chok Todah – The Law of Thank You. In order for the article to not become cumbersome, his comments and clarifications will be posted as comments to this article – so make sure to check them out!

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For years already, I have been expounding and explaining more and more new aspects of “todah” – saying thank You to G-d, and truly appreciating everything in our lives – from every part of our body that functions, to every item we own and use throughout the day, to the big aspects of our lives like our families, jobs, etc., and even for the things in our life that make us suffer – be it physical things like difficulties with earning a living, or spiritual things like lusts, bad character traits, or just not serving Hashem the way You want. I have written books on the subject, including The Garden of Gratitude, Say Thank You and See Miracles, plus the pamphlet Stop Crying, and countless lectures.

 

Throughout all this time, I have explained the importance of saying thank You for everything, including specifically the “bad” in our lives, for at least 30 minutes – one half hour – every day. I also explained the importance and power of saying Psalm 100 – Mizmor L’Todah. Many people have also seen miracles writing 18 or 40 new thank You’s every day, and I recommend writing 100 thank You’s a day, in order to fulfill the words of Arizal to say 100 blessings a day.

 

Recently, I realized how to best connect all these different pieces of advice into a daily program that is like a super shot of gratitude. This program sweetens judgements and brings down incredible miracles above nature.

 

It is called the Chok Todah – The Law of Thank You 15 minutes of saying “thank You” for your particular problem, and then saying Psalm 100 eight times

 

Why am I calling it a law? Because just like it is a law of nature that water puts out a fire, or any other natural law – this formula is a spiritual law that cancels suffering!!! The law works! Try it! (You can read stories about people who used the Chok Todah and saw miracles in our Inspirational Stories category).

 

1. Be very careful to start this time with your Daily Reminders

This is critically important, in order to ensure that you are thanking Hashem with your whole heart and with perfect and complete emuna. Otherwise, you risk saying “thank you” with your mouth, while your heart is complaining. Not only does that not bring down miracles – it will make your situation even worse, G-d forbid, because it awakens even harsher judgements against a person. 

 

G-d doesn’t need lip service – He wants the heart. The Second Temple was destroyed for exactly this reason, so obviously we aren’t doing anyone any good by continuing the same mistake they made. Check and double-check that your heart is in the right place!

 

Sometimes, the heart and emotions just can’t get into line – you know the truth, and that you should say thank You. You really believe that it’s for the best, but you just don’t feel it – and you might even be bawling. That’s OK! Say “thank You” with your mind, from the place that understands the truth, whatever else is going on with your emotions. That’s still saying “thank You” with truth – because YOU are saying thank You. The emotions  are tied to the nefesh, which is the most connected to the body – OK, so the body and the emotions are all messed up. But you are your soul! And you are saying thank You! And in time, the heart and emotions will straighten themselves out and follow along too, but in the meantime, just ignore them.

 

2. Thank Hashem from your heart

Choose the biggest problem in your life, and thank Hashem for it! If you have multiple problems, choose the most important one. If you want, you can repeat the Chok Todah over again on a second problem. Also, don’t skip around topics on different days. Focus on thanking Hashem for one thing until the suffering is canceled! Only then move onto something else.

 

During the 15 minutes of saying thank you, you want to really talk out your problems, worries and difficulties. It’s better not to just repeat “thank you” over and over again like a parrot. Talk out how hard it is for you, but that you want to be strong in your emuna and believe it is for the best, no matter what it seems like. Remind yourself that G-d is Avinu, Malkeinu – our Father, our King.

 

First of all, he is our loving Father in Heaven. Daddy! A father never does anything bad to his child! Even when he seems to reprimand or even punish, it never comes from cruelty or hate – only love and the desire to help the child in the long run. And if the child suffers in the meantime, the father suffers even more than the child, and wants even more than the child that the child should be happy, successful, and have everything good.

 

Secondly, Hashem is also a King. G-d has endless money, endless power, endless abilities, far above and beyond even nature. G-d can do everything, far more than even than a human king! He isn’t just some poor father with desire to help His child but no means to do so.

 

So wait – G-d loves us with infinite love far more than a human father, and suffers our pain with us, and wants us to have what we want, even more than we want it. Plus He has all the power to do everything. If G-d still chooses not to give us what we want, or chooses to give us a particular problem or suffering, then it must be for our ultimate best somehow.

 

It is from within this deep point of emuna that we say “thank You“! We must throw out own minds and our rationality, and simply believe that we are in the best Hands possible, which are guiding us towards our very best. To say to Hashem, “You must be doing something good for me even though I don’t get it, so thank You! Just give me the emuna to believe that it really is all for the best, and be happy with this portion You have given me!”

 

If you are still struggling to say thank You with your whole heart, say to Hashem: “I don’t understand a thing, I only believe that it’s for the best! G-d, I WANT to say thank You with my whole heart! Give me emuna! I know this is the truth – enable me to live it!” 

 

You’ll find that as you talk like this, you’ll start to understand things about your situation. Many times, this enables you to literally jump up and start dancing with happiness over your problem, as you begin to see the shining big silver linings of why this is really for the best, and how it is bringing you closer to G-d and your real purpose of life. That’s the universal good in every difficulty! That’s why the strongest “thank You” is: “Thank You G-d for life! Thank You that I am alive to say thank You! Thank You that I know that the truth is that this situation is good for me! Thank You for thank You!!!”

 

3. Say Psalm 100, Mizmor L’Todah (Song of Thanksgiving) 8 times without interruption

Wait – if speaking from the heart is so powerful – then why say Psalm 100, which is Moshe Rabbeinu’s words?

First off, as I just mentioned, oftentimes the heart is not in the right place, and even if we know that we should say thank You – we don’t feel it. Psalm 100 is a workaround – it helps us to get the heart into line. Even more, let’s face it – none of us can touch the shoelaces of Moshe Rabbeinu! His words are powerful in ways that we can’t even imagine. This is how he taught us to say thank You – and we want to use it!

And why eight times? In the past, I said seven times, but now I understand that it should be eight times, because the number eight is above nature. And Mizmor L’Todah is also above nature. That’s part of why in the Third Temple, it should be rebuilt speedily and in our days, the only sacrifice that will continue is specifically the Korban Todah – the thanksgiving sacrifice. And what Psalm accompanies that sacrifice? Mizmor L’Todah! 

 

That’s why we don’t say Psalm 100 in Shacharit, the morning prayers, on specific days through the year including Passover – because when you say Psalm 100, in Heaven it is considered as if you gave a thanksgiving sacrifice! That sacrifice includes baking bread – which you can’t do on Passover…

 

As a bonus, it’s fantastic to SING Mizmor L’Todah – sing, dance, and be happy! Let yourself be truly happy just with the fact that you are saying thank You, whatever else is going on in your life.

 

In all the years that I have been receiving “I said thank You and was saved stories,” from the time that I started teaching this new formula, I have received even exponentially more stories! 

 

It’s a law, a real spiritual law – truly say thank You and believe that it’s for the best especially when you understand it the least – and the suffering will be taken away! If the formula doesn’t work, say thank You for another 15 minutes. 

One more important note – you can only say thank You for your own suffering, not someone else’s. It’s forbidden to be happy over someone else’s pain! For example, let’s say it was to be your child who could not find their soulmate for years. You don’t say thank You that they still aren’t married. You say thank You for the suffering that you experience over the fact that they still aren’t married. It’s a very fine, but very important, point.

 

Another story I received. A mother had a son on drugs for some 10 odd years who never left his room. She didn’t thank Hashem that her son is a drug addict. She thanked Hashem for all the suffering she has over the fact that her son is a drug addict, the pain she feels not reaping pleasure from his good deeds, etc. She had tried every segula, everything. Nothing worked. One week of doing the Chok Todah every day – and her son left his room for rehab! And even more miraculously, he actually succeeded to get clean!

 

The law really works! Moreover – don’t forget to share your miracle story with us! It is VERY important to share these stories and encourage others to also strengthen their emuna, accept their suffering with love, do the Chok Todah – and cancel their suffering!

 

 Some Final Advice

*This is advice from the Editor, which works especially if you understand a little Hebrew: do the Chok Todah singing along to Rabbi Arush’s CD Open Up the Gate. Singing with the tracks enables me to get happy much faster, and start dancing from happiness almost immediately! It is a great workaround to feel the “thank You” with your whole heart when you’re really suffering. I highly recommend it!

 

There are a few songs on thank You Hashem, but I love Track 4 in particular. “Thank You Hashem for everything that I have, thank You Hashem for everything that I don’t have, thank You Hashem for every breath…” It’s 4 minutes long, so I repeat it 4 times and improvise my own words. Then I play and repeat the Mizmor L’Todah track 8, until I reach 8 times.

 

I personally like the new version from Rabbi Arush on the new children’s CD The Gift Whose Name is Thank You – I play that 4 times for a total of 8 Mizmor L’Todah. Check out the book (in English) The Gift Whose Name is Thank You. Or check out the video below!

  

*Adapted from Rabbi Arush’s lectures Parshat Mishpatim 5780

 

 

Here’s another idea – Read the booklet The Law of Gratitude! It’s a great bargain at 5 NIS ($1.60)! Click here to order.