Joke - I just didn’t sign the checks.”

 One Chanukah, a mother decided that she was no longer going to keep nagging her children to write thank-you notes for the presents they received from relatives. It was time for them to decide what was right for themselves without her cajoling and reminding them. 

As a result, their generous grandmother never received any acknowledgment of the generous checks she had given them—not a single tiny peep of thanks from either of these kids. It seemed as if they were not ready to properly experience or express gratitude. 

It was a real disappointment.

The next year, things were already different, however, and both mother and grandmother were thrilled at the sudden shift in behavior. The grandmother’s eyes twinkled as she told a friend triumphantly, “The children came over in person to thank me.” 

“How wonderful!” the friend exclaimed. “That’s very impressive. What do you think caused the change in behavior?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” the grandmother replied. “This year, I just didn’t sign the checks.”

They put that up for three days a year!”

There is a wonderful story about a synagogue in South Africa that hired a team of workers to put up a large Sukkah — the temporary hut used on the holiday of Sukkot. The workmen were fascinated by what they were building and asked the synagogue caretaker what this strange structure was being built for. They had never seen anything quite like it, somewhere between a house and a tent. He explained to the workers that the ‘structure’ was called a Sukkah and that it was needed for the upcoming eight-day Jewish holiday. The workers were incredulous. They said to the caretaker, “Do you actually mean to tell us that we’re putting all of this up for just eight days a year?” All that work was for little more than a week. They could not believe it. 

And the caretaker turned and pointed to the synagogue and said, “That’s nothing; they put that up for three days a year!”