Modah ani lifanekha melekh chai v’kayam shehecḥezarta bi nishmahti b’cḥemlah, rabah emunatekha.
I offer thanks before you, living and eternal Ruler, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.
A Jewish day properly begins with gratitude.
Some say Modeh Ani* even before they set a foot on the floor in the morning. Some say it in the synagogue. And even for those who do not say it, it waits in the prayer book.
What is it that we can be grateful for, before standing up, before washing, before the first cup of coffee? We are grateful simply to be alive. “Restored my soul within me” refers to the ancient Jewish belief that sleep is 1/60th of death. We begin the day reminding ourselves that life itself is a gift.
Let’s remember that in our tradition, every day is thanksgiving day. The Torah teaches us that life itself is a precious gift: fragile, transient, infinitely precious. Use it well.
*”Modeh” is the masculine form, “modah”the feminine.