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  1. Chazal tell us that Leah Imeinu's naming her son Yehudah as an expression of her thankfulness was the first true expression of gratitude in the world. What does this mean? Had no one ever thanked Hashem before? And surely Leah herself had thanked Him for her first three chil dren! The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 71:4, cited by Rashi, Bereishis 29:35) explains that Leah, as well as Yaakov's other three wives, knew that there were to be a total of twelve shevatim, so they naturally assumed that each wife would have three sons. Although they were certainly thankful for each child they bore, the preexisting expectation tempered the magnitude of their appreciation. Yehudah's birth, however, marked the completely unanticipated arrival of Leah's fourth son. Only at this point, when she expected nothing, was her appreciation complete. The voicing of thanks might have sounded the same, but the barometer of true hakaras hatou is the depth of the person's realization of what they were lacking and how much good they received.

— from The Air Traffic Controller (God)

In the book

How much better off am I now that it was? The grand gestures of thanks are only ever expressions of that underlying recognition, not the thing itself; our mother Leah, naming her son Yehudah, gave what the sages call the first true expression of gratitude in the world. We are told, plainly, to be more grateful and more forgiving than comes naturally — even to grant that we may have a positive duty to feel grateful at all. — The Air Traffic Controller (God)

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