Rabbi Chiyya ben Nachmani delivered a teaching in the name of Rabbi Yishmael that cuts against every natural human instinct. The verse in (Deuteronomy 8:10) already commands, "You shall eat and you shall be satisfied and you shall bless." That alone would establish the obligation to thank God after a meal. So why does the Torah add the phrase "that He gave to you"?
The extra words carry an enormous weight. They mean that a person must thank God not only for blessings and abundance, but also for suffering and punishment. The phrase "that He gave to you" encompasses everything — the measure of good and the measure of discipline alike.
This teaching from the Mekhilta, the great halakhic midrash on the Book of Exodus compiled in the Tannaitic period (c. 2nd century CE), reflects a foundational principle in Jewish theology: God is the source of all that happens, and gratitude must extend to the full range of human experience. The Talmud (Berakhot 54a) later codifies this idea, ruling that one must recite a blessing over bad news just as one does over good news.
The logic is not masochistic. It is theological. If God is truly sovereign, then suffering is not random — it has purpose, even when that purpose remains hidden. To thank God only for comfort is to worship a partial deity. To thank Him for everything is to acknowledge His full authority over creation.
Rabbi Yishmael's reading transforms a seemingly redundant phrase into one of the most demanding spiritual obligations in the Torah.