“Real joy comes not from ease or riches, or from the praise of man, but from doing something worthwhile.” — Sir Wilfred Grenfell (1865-1940), English medical missionary
January’s trait is “joy”. Amazingly when one starts to look into this character trait, Christian wisdom literature seems to have more to say than the Jewish view. But Jewish tradition encourages us to cultivate the conditions that will lead to more joy, more often. “Ivdu et HaShem ba’simcha”—serve God in joy. Alan Morinis says this of joy: “Moments come when the heart dances in the light. So much more than the experience of fun or even happiness, joy erupts when the inner sphere scintillates in its completeness. An experience touches us to the depths of our souls, and in that moment we are graced with a vision—if only fleetingly—of the flawless wholeness and perfection of it all. Then the heart fills and flows over, even amid the brokenness of this world.”
Joy is not syrupy or sappy, sentimental or seasonal. Joy is not happiness, because happiness depends on what happens to you. Joy is also not the absence of sorrow. Joy is a vivid emotion of pleasure or the state of being highly delighted: the birth of a child, marriage. Joy is dependent on spiritual insight and connection. Joy occurs when we close the gap between the high ideals we hold in mind and the living truth of how we act in life.
So, how does a congregation know joy? By being together for life-cycle events, by healing the world, by creating a joyful noise unto the Lord (as the Psalmist says). Our projects are off to a fabulous start this year: wonderful music with our children’s choir, a fabulous Chanukah basket project, a re-energized look at Tikkun Olam. On that note, last month the TE Board approved a renewed commitment to help the hungry by supporting MAZON. Founded in 1985, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national nonprofit organization working to end hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds in the United States and Israel. MAZON began soliciting donations by encouraging American Jews to donate a portion of the cost of life-cycle celebrations (weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, anniversaries, and other joyous occasions), a modern interpretation of the ancient rabbinical tradition of not allowing a celebration to begin until the community’s poor and hungry were seated and fed.
Beginning in January, TE will send MAZON 3% of the total spent on the food for any event that occurs at TE. We used to do this regularly in the past. We commit to do this now. We join nearly 1,000 synagogues and tens of thousands of individual donors, all of whom share our commitment to ending hunger once and for all.
This month, come experience the joy at TE.