You're going to come to the Kohen (priest). That's going to be that day. You're going to tell him, “Higadti hayom (I already spoke).” I spoke by showing up. I spoke by the fact that I walked in and had enough confidence to say thank you. That's how I spoke. And then you want to know what my first message is? Here's why I am confident enough to say thank you: I am coming before Hashem. I came to this land, and Hashem is allowing me to serve. That's why I already spoke. I already spoke because I have confidence. And the reason I have confidence is because I know I am serving Hashem as best I can. At the same time, even with all this confidence, I have humility even to you. If you have this demeanor, then you could be comfortable in your own skin enough to acknowledge those who deserve to be acknowledged.
Have you stayed in someone's house all summer, even if that person is your parents? Thank you. Maybe get them a little gift. Maybe write them a one-page note. Is it so crazy? And maybe the parent who has the kids staying in the house—and somehow, when the parents have their kids staying in the house, the parents are on vacation and the kids are running the place—maybe write them a note too. You made dinner every night this summer. Thank you. You're a great cook. You're a wonderful son-in-law to have around. You know what? I'm so proud of how you're raising your children. If you have the right demeanor, this is not so hard to do. And we should all be good at it, because it's literally the essence of being a Jew. Hakarat HaTov, to really acknowledge—you don't need to bring seven Mazza platters for someone who saved your life. You just need to write a proper note. You don't need to get them an eternity band. You just need to say thank you with real, genuine humility. That's it. You don't have to do something earth-shattering and unbelievably creative that no one ever heard of before. Just bring your heart, bring your humility, and bring what you can. Someone helping you doesn't make you a bad person. The fact that someone helped you—maybe it means you're young. Maybe it means you're going through a difficult time and it doesn't mean anything else. Maybe you went through a difficult time and someone needed—you needed someone's help. Or maybe you're a normal person who needs other people, like every other normal person does. And just say thank you in its fullest form. That's what we do. That's the essence of being us.
And you want to say thank you really, really well? Look at the rest of what this man says, and we'll conclude in a minute. You want to say thank you really, really properly? Look at the rest of what he says. You know what the rest of what he says is? He goes through the whole history, like I just told you. Why does he go through the whole history? Egypt, going down to Egypt, and we suffered. Because when you give the history, you give context. And context is very important to a proper thank you. That means you tell someone, “I can't thank you enough for this barbecue. I had the longest week, and this Sunday night was phenomenal. It really helped my whole week.” Not just thank you for the hot dog. You saved my week. Someone else could say, like I said, if you stayed in someone's house or went to someone's bungalow: “You know what? I had a long year, and it was really wonderful. I know how much effort you put in, and I know you prepared the house and maybe even built an extra room for us. Thank you for building an extra room six months ago so we could have a wonderful summer.” Express it. It's not rocket science. You don't have to express. You don't have to be some poet. You don't have to be William Shakespeare to know how to express something. Just say what you've been through and how this means so much to you.