Gratitude

As the Esrog is compared to the heart, Rav Avigdor Miller zt”l suggests that when a person takes the Esrog on Succos he takes a moment to thank Hashem for his actual heart. According to the Mayo Clinic, the heart beats 86,400 to 144,000 times a day. That’s around 52 million times a year or over 4 billion in the average lifetime. Ideally, we’d thank Hashem for each one of those. As Rav Miller goes on to say, our primary obligation in this world is to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That’s what Avodas Hashem really means, to express constantly our gratitude.