COMMENTARY: How a 5-Year-Old Left a Loquacious Rabbi Speechless

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Everyone knows that rabbis, pastors and priests like to talk and talk, then talk some more. That’s what they do even when their congregations, friends and family have heard enough and tune them out. Over the years, whenever I babble on about some arcane theological or historical subject, my […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Everyone knows that rabbis, pastors and priests like to talk and talk, then talk some more.

That’s what they do even when their congregations, friends and family have heard enough and tune them out. Over the years, whenever I babble on about some arcane theological or historical subject, my wife and daughters rush to form the letter “L” _ for lecture _ by placing their left forefingers and thumbs close to my face. It is the dreaded unmistakable signal to stop speaking.


But despite all such attempts to gag a spiritual leader, it is difficult if not impossible for a clergyperson to remain silent, especially during a holiday.

But that is exactly what happened at our recent Thanksgiving dinner when the articulate rabbis sitting around the festive table, along with other family members, were stunned into absolute silence by the words of a 5-year-old.

It is our custom to ask everyone to express what they are thankful for in their lives. This Thanksgiving was no exception as the adults gratefully ticked off many good things including health, love, family and children. It was like an iconic Norman Rockwell painting with stereophonic sound added.

When the big people had finished speaking, we all turned to Emma, my granddaughter, fully expecting she would mention her growing skills in gymnastics class or her increasing aquatic proficiency in the swimming pool.

At least that’s what we thought.

But instead, Emma spoke these seven brief sentences:

“I am thankful for God.

I am thankful for the world.

I am thankful for the darkness.

I am thankful for the lightness.

I am thankful for my stores.

I am thankful for my pets.

I am thankful for my family.”

We were all rendered mute. Happily, my daughter Eve, acting as the superb rabbi she is, eventually provided my granddaughter and her daughter with an important rabbinic commentary on the word “stores.”

While Emma was probably referring to the new, well-stocked Super Target that has opened near her home, Eve was quick to remind Emma that millions of other youngsters throughout the world do not have an abundance of physical possessions that is succinctly summed up in the single word “stores.” It is a theme Eve returns to again and again whenever her child is “acting materialistic.”

Nor is it a stretch to understand what Emma’s “darkness” means in her young life. It is more than the daily arrival of night and time for sleep. Sadly, during the past year Emma’s paternal grandmother died of cancer at too young an age. Emma was present at Grandma Eileen’s funeral in Detroit. “Darkness” can come in many forms for a child.


I am “thankful” that Eve copied down her daughter’s words, and there is little doubt Emma’s seven sentences will become part of our family’s Thanksgiving collective memory bank.

I am sure many other families have also been blessed by a child’s wise perception of reality that in its simplicity, clarity and honesty easily trumps the heavy verbiage adults frequently use to describe the world.

Clergy, indeed all teachers, parents and grandparents, would do well to remember that young children are not like little geese simply waiting to be stuffed with “adult talk and knowledge.” The truth is that youngsters often have an excellent sense of who and what they are, and they also possess an authentic spirituality that is minimized or blocked by the tedious educational rote present in too many classrooms and houses of worship.

Pity the adult with a tin ear who does not listen to the words spoken by small children. This is especially true of clergypersons who have lost the talent to learn from the youngest among us. And saddest of all are the youngsters whose freshness of spirit and spontaneity of expression have been crushed by adults.

Frankly, I can’t wait to hear what 6-year-old Emma will say next Thanksgiving.

MO/PH RNS END

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the forthcoming book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”

Editors: To obtain a photo of Rabbi Rudin, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.


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