Leah, Yaacov’s first wife, understood that he was destined to father 12 sons who would correspond to the twelve tribes of Israel. When she gave birth to her third son she felt she had given her share, this would’ve been the case if each one of his four wives had three. But then she had a fourth child and that was more than she expected. Therefore she was overwhelmed with gratitude.
Since Leah recognized she was purely gifted, for she had received a blessing she hadn’t even requested, she named him Yehuda from the root word “hoda,” which means to thank.
From here Jews get the name “Yehudim,” because we are always blessing and thanking H”S for everything. Even the first thing when we open our eyes in the morning we say “Mode Ani lefaneja” (I give thanks to You).
There are so many things in our life that we don’t recognize as blessings because they are considered “normal.”
We have a costume to answer Baruj H”S when asked how we are doing, or when anything happens to us. This is an outlook on life that is ingrained in the Jews psyche, we just need to unearth it and make it real. When we accustomed ourselves to thank the blessing, the only thing we will see is the blessing, even if it’s wrapped in a package which would conceal it.
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