Ashrei 5
גדול ה' ומהולל מאד, ולגדולתו אין חקר – Hashem is great and exceedingly lauded, and His greatness is beyond investigation.
דור לדור ישבח מעשיך, וגבורותיך יגידו – Each generation will praise Your deeds to the next, and of Your mighty deeds they will tell.
Hashem’s greatness and His chesed to us are beyond our grasp, regardless of how much time and effort we would spend investigating it. We praise Hashem based on our level of understanding of His chesed and greatness and based on what the generation before us transmits to us. This is the flow of these two p’sukim. Any amount of investigation of Hashem’s greatness and His chesed to us will definitely fall short. That notwithstanding, we must transmit to the next generation (דור לדור), as each דור did before us, His “מעשים” (actions, creations, nature) and His “גבורות” (power, which transcends nature) that we have seen in our own lifetimes, in addition to that which has been transmitted to us from previous generations.1
Pesach is certainly one such opportunity. The weekly Shabbos table, too, can be a very opportune time to discuss the chesed that Hashem bestowed upon us that week. In fact, every time we receive a gift or we experience success, we have the opportunity to attribute that gift or success to Hashem in the presence of younger generations. When we see the “small” daily chasadim in our lives, attribute them to Hashem, and speak of them, that brings us closer to Hashem. It will also train the next generation to do the same. So the next time we are fortunate enough to get that great parking spot, let us thank Hashem immediately in the presence of our families.
From the fact that we are told to praise Hashem according to our abilities, even though they fall short, we see a fundamental principle in our avodas Hashem. We must strive to serve Hashem according to the best of the abilities that Hashem has granted us. The challenge many of us have is that we sell ourselves short. We should ask Hashem, Who knows exactly what our abilities are, to enable us to recognize our full potential and to use all of that potential to do His will.2 HaRav Yerucham HaLevi Levovitz zt”l (mashgiach ruchani of the Mir Yeshiva in Poland, d. 1936) would say: Woe is to those who do not recognize their shortcomings, but far worse off are those who do not recognize their abilities.
מאירי ורד״ק תהלים קמ״ה 1
ספר נפשי חולת אהבתך 2