הַלְלוּיָהּ ׀
הוֹדוּ לַיְיָ כִּי־טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּו
Halleluyah! Hodu L’Adonai Ki Tov Ki L’Olam
Chasdo!
Praise Yah. Give thanks to YHVH/Yah/Adonai/the
LORD/HaShem, for he is good; his Chesed endures forever.
The Message gives the following translation of
Psalm 106:1: “Thank God! And why? Because he’s good, because
his love lasts.”
Why give thanks?
In years past, we have itemized so many of the
things for which we are thankful—everything from atoms to zebras; terra firma
to technology; soup to nuts; prose to poetry; music of all kinds; friends,
family, and fortune; words, languages, and communication; love; children and
grandchildren; progeny and progenitor; minds to think and voices to speak; nature
and nurture; so many things for which to be thankful. When one gets right down
to it, in just a few words, succinctly, and in a nutshell, with zero redundancy—everything.
Everything-that-is is an object of, and a reason for, thanksgiving. 
Psalm 106 gives us the why in a concise manner, in the context of the Creator, the
Self-Existent One (which is a hint of the sense of the possibility of the
meaning of the Tetragrammaton, those mystical four letters—YHVH—that signify the “name” of the one
called Lord, Adonai, Yah, HaShem—the one who brought existence into existence
for us, as if we could fully understand the Name of that One.)
Praise and give thanks because that One is Good
and his Chesed endures forever. And what, pray tell, is Chesed? It is variously
given as the following:
Grace
Mercy
Lovingkindness
Faithful love
Love
Covenant Love
Loyalty
Kindness
Favor
Goodness
Whichever English word or combination of words
one may choose, it is all good and worthy of thanksgiving.
Put simply: It is an unending love.
And for that, both aside from, and because of, everything else in the universe for which we might and should be thankful, we
give thanks this Thankgiving Day 2014, which coincidentally (unless one does
not believe in coincidence) coincides with the first day of
Hanukkah/Chanukah/Channuka (so many ways to spell it), the Festival of Lights, the Feast of Dedication, as well as the celebration of the weak overcoming the mighty by the power of
the One who is good and whose Grace/Mercy/Lovingkindess/Kindness/
Goodness endures forever and ever.
Goodness endures forever and ever.
Happy Thanksgiving/Thanksgivukkuh, everybody.
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