If he brings it as a Karbon Todah (Thanksgiving Offering) (Vayikra 7:12)

Every morning we recite Mizmor L’Sodah (Psalm 100) in Pesukei D’Zimra. This short paragraph is for us to remember the Karbon Todah which was brought by a person who went through a dangerous situation and survived. No longer do we bring offerings on an altar, but we are still required to thank Hashem whenever we go through a dangerous situation and survive. But then, why do we recite Mizmor L’Sodah every morning?

To answer this question, let’s look at the Purim story. Purim is a very unusual holiday. Most of the Jewish holidays are connected with a miracle. Pesach has the Ten Plagues and the Splitting of the Sea. Shavuos has the Giving of the Torah when people saw thunder and heard lightning. Succos is a reminder of the Clouds of Glory. Chanuka has the miracle of the candle that burned eight days. Purim, though, does not have a single outright miracle! King Achashverosh throws a party and decides he wants his wife to dance in front of the men at the party. She refuses so he has her killed. No miracle there. He decides to find a new queen and chooses Esther. Although it was unlikely for Esther to be chosen, someone needed to be chosen, so no miracle there – there was nothing that went against nature. Haman wants to kill the Jews and the foolish king signs the decree – unfortunately, this has happened many times in our history. But suddenly everything changes – Mordechai is paraded around on the King’s horse. Haman and his ten sons are hung. The Jews are saved! But not a single miracle occurred during any one of these events! The awesomeness of the events was only realized after they were completed and tied together. Each day as the Jews were experiencing the events, nothing out of the ordinary was happening. It was only when the moments were connected with one to the next that the wonderful story of Purim was realized and the holiday was born.

Our lives are very similar to the story of Purim. Except for very, very rare exceptions, we do not have miracles happening in our daily lives. We go day after day with everything seeming to be very normal, but these events are creating a beautiful story.

A few years ago, I began thinking about when my wife and I met and started dating. I then started thinking about events that happened before we started dating and thought about what had happened during the year before we met. I started writing down the events that happened 11 months before we started dating and realized that one event led to the next. I wrote down a story which was about 15 pages long about these events and realized how Hashem made one event lead to the next. When I experienced those events, I had no idea something spectacular was occurring – I just thought they were regular events. It was only when I looked back and tied the events together did I realized each day was part of a miracle.

Every morning, we recite Mizmor L’Soda – the reason is because every day is part of a miracle. We do not realize it because nothing unusual seems to be occurring. But if we write down all of the events in our life and tie them together, we realize each and every day played its part in this wonderful story of our lives. Therefore, every day we should be extremely thankful for the miracle we are living!

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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