Asking the Clergy: What are you grateful for this year?

Thanksgiving may be over, but in a world rocked by crises, it’s never too late to express gratitude for the good in your life. This week’s clergy discuss the blessings they are thankful for during the holidays and beyond.

CANTOR LEAH F. CASSORLA

Melville Jewish Center

In our time of multiple political, financial and ecological crises, it’s easy to feel hopeless and anxious. Thankfully, an ancient daily Jewish tradition fights against these hope-killers — and it’s even backed by science.

Each morning, Jews speak their first words of the day in gratitude, “I give thanks to you, Universal Sovereign, for returning my soul in your vast faithfulness.”

I love this simple blessing. It speaks of so much in so few words. Each day, I am reminded that as a Jew, I am tasked by my creator with making the world a better place through Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), that Judaism requires Hakarat HaTov (gratitude), and that even when my own belief in myself flags, my creator has faith in me.

And science backs this ancient tradition with proof! There are six types of dopamine, the body’s natural reward system. Interestingly, the dopamine we produce for anxiety is the same as that for gratitude. Research shows the fastest way to short circuit an anxiety attack is to ask what we are grateful for. Even just asking the question of ourselves switches the focus without losing the reward.

Judaism and science: I am grateful for both!

THE REV. EARL Y. THORPE JR.

Pastor, Church-in-the-Garden, Garden City

When I was young, the “old” folks used to say, “Thank God for Jesus!” As a youth and young adult, I can confess, I didn’t know what that saying meant. As years have passed and life has taught me some lessons, I now understand what the statement means and the wisdom of the elders.

Unequivocally, I’m grateful to God for Jesus Christ. In times like these, when the world is topsy-turvy, war is rampant, so many are suffering, people are ignorant of their hatred and biases and arrogant in their ignorance, politicians are oblivious to facts and reality and seek to remain or claim power at any cost — Thank God for Jesus!

I’m grateful to God for Jesus because Jesus’ message to humanity of a loving God (called by many names) and loving one’s neighbor as oneself is a radically necessary and liberating call to action in this world. My belief in Jesus helps me to be thankful in all circumstances. It opens the floodgates of thanksgiving for everything in life. My gratitude for all that there is to appreciate in this world is due to the blessings of God in Jesus Christ. Thank God for Jesus!

ARVIND VORA

Chairman, Long Island Multi-Faith Forum

When I left India for the United States in 1969 to study at Brooklyn Polytechnic, my neighbors gave me a memorable farewell party and a photo of the Hindu saint Swami Vivekananda, who in 1893 traveled with Jain scholar Virchand Gandhi to the first Parliament of World’s Religions in Chicago to acquaint the rest of the world with Eastern faiths. My own journey led me to live in a prosperous suburb called Long Island, where in 1993 local Christian clergies were welcoming newly arrived members of a dozen Eastern faiths to form the Long Island Multi-Faith Forum.

I will always be grateful for the opportunity to share my faith. It’s my chance to tell my fellow Long Islanders about the three jewels of Jainism — Right Knowledge, Right Faith and Right Conduct — and our central tenets: Ahimsa, or nonviolence; Anekantavada, that everyone possesses some truth; and Aparigraha, or keeping our needs to a minimum.

I am also grateful to the Long Island clergy people who reached out to me from the Long Island Council of Churches, the schools that invited me to speak to their students and, of course, to my neighbors back home who helped send me on this journey.