Mazel tov!
We talk every Shabbat at my synagogue Agudas Achim in Columbus, OH about how a Jew is supposed to say 100 blessings every single day. We give ourselves the opportunity each week during our Torah service to share good news with each other and say the blessing for hearing good news, hatov v’hameitiv. Good news sometimes feels hard to come by, so it is all the more important for us to share it with each other when we notice it and experience it!
I have shared many times how inspired I am every time I walk into our sanctuary and chapel because the words that we have centered joy in the words that we have placed above both of our arks. In our sanctuary it says, Ashrei yoshvei veitecha, “happy are those who dwell in Your house,” and in our chapel it says oneg kara leyom haShabbat, “you shall call Shabbat a joy.”
In this week’s Torah portion, Tetzvah, we read about the lighting of the ner tamid, the eternal flame. But the flame does not burn eternally on its own. It is the will and action of the Levites who light it every single day who keep the flame alive. So too with joy. It is fleeting! But if we work hard to center it and lift it up, we can create the world in which we hope to live.
I hope that this video for my new Wedding Medley will help you do just that. Every time I watch it I look at a different person’s face and see the joy they exude as we sing and celebrate together. As we approach Purim, the holiday of joy and celebration, what is bringing you joy ? I hope we can share in it together!
Shabbat Shalom,
Josh Warshawsky