Once again we read the bloodcurdling tocheycha, the lengthy list of curses that will befall the Jewish people should they not follow the commandments. Perhaps the most frightening thing about this lengthy list of horrific vicissitudes is how many of them have actually come true in our history. Our commentators have a great deal to say about all of this, but perhaps one of the best questions was raised by Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, the famous Spanish commentator, who simply wanted to know: why are the blessings listed before the tocheycha so much shorter than the list of the curses?

The Tosefet Bracha, written by the illustrious Lithuanian gaon Baruch HaLevi Epstein offered an answer 700 years later. Rabbi Epstein wrote a very profound answer well worth quoting in full. “It would seem that the blessings should be listed far more briefly than the curses, for if a blessing lacks even one element, it is no longer truly a blessing. For example: a person who is rich but in poor health cannot enjoy their money. And if they are healthy and wealthy, but have no children—their blessedness is compromised. And if this person has wealth and health but children who are rebellious, what good is that to them? Thus, when we speak of the “good” that arises from a blessing, we must pray that it is complete and unsullied.

“Evil is totally opposite in character. Any sort of evil is terrible and hurtful on its own. And if another layer of suffering is added, it magnifies the suffering. A poor person suffers already, but if they are ill as well, they suffer doubly. Thus the blessings are written in very terse language and in a very short list—to teach you that if a blessing is sullied in any manner it is no longer a blessing. Better it be short, clear, and unsullied. And this explains the verse in the Book of Lamentations (3:38) ‘From the mouth of the Most High [G-d] neither evils or good.” This teaches that people earn their own fate, be it evil or good. Note that the verse speaks of evils in the plural, and good in the singular. This reflects the fact that, as we have shown, that evils are many and different, but good has but one aspect, and if this is sullied, it is no longer considered “good.”

How often do we ruin our own good fortune by saying, “things are ok, but it would be nice if…” By doing this we sully the brightness of our good fortune and water down what should be the pleasure we derive from a situation. How many people keep moving from house to house just because they have yet to find “the perfect one?” How quickly do we complain and drastically increase the obsolescence of perfectly working appliances and technology devices. Did everyone really need to get the iPhone 5 so soon after the iPhone 4?

By contrast, as Rabbi Epstein notes, good is so simple. Let us return to it by beginning our day with the words every Intelligent Jew should recite: Modeh ani lefanecha—Thank you G-d for allowing me to wake up again for another day in this world. Short, sweet, unsullied, and grateful—these are the words and attitudes of blessing that should infuse our lives.