Nishmas Day 31 - Rabbi YY Jacobson | Wonders of the World
נְהַלֶּלְךָ וּנְשַׁבֵּחֲךָ וּנְפָאֶרְךָ וּנְבָרֵךְ אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשֶׁךָ, כָּאָמוּר: לְדָוִד, בָּרְכִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת -, וְכָל קְרָבַי אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ:
“We will praise You, glorify You, exalt You, and bless Your holy Name,”
“As Dovid said: ‘Let my soul praise Hashem, and let all that is within me bless His holy Name.’”
There was a group of high school girls doing a classroom assignment about the Seven Wonders of the World. Their teacher posed the question simply: "What are the wonders of the world? What do you think belongs on that list?"
She handed out papers and pens, and within seconds pens were moving quickly as the girls wrote down their lists.
After about fifteen minutes, the teacher began walking the aisles, collecting the responses.
Most of the lists looked remarkably similar.
The Great Pyramids of Egypt. The Taj Mahal. The Grand Canyon. The Empire State Building. The Panama Canal. The Great Barrier Reef. The Great Wall of China.
But one girl still sat quietly at her desk, lost in thought.
The teacher walked over to her and asked "Are you having trouble with your list?" "A little," the girl admitted."Why don't you read me what you have so far," the teacher offered, "and maybe we can figure out the rest together."
The girl looked down at her paper and read: "I think the seven wonders of the world are… to touch, to taste, to see, to hear, to feel, to laugh, and to love."
The room went quiet.
in that moment, a teenage girl had cut through all the noise, recognizing that the most wondrous things in the world are the ones we wake up with every single morning.
בָּרֲכִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת ה׳. Sometimes the deepest gratitude comes from turning inward and truly experiencing each moment of life for the wonder that it is.
