Finding Joy

“You have to smile to sing about happiness (Yis’m’chu) and joy (oneg),” Teddy, our choir director extraordinaire said. ONEG – we all thought that meant food.

You see we have an “Oneg” after most services at Temple Micah, where people gorge themselves on challah, humous and pita, herring, cantaloupe, cheese, brownies, you name it. There’s always way more food than we need, but it’s such a sweet way to end a prayer service.

At Washington Hebrew Congregation and even at Temple Beth El, the oneg was a catered affair. At WHC they used real silver and the bought pastries were divine. But truthfully, I like homemade brownies a lot better. At Micah it’s about the food, not the silver service!

So you see I have found JOY in a most unexpected way. I have been experiencing JOY every time I attended services and just calling it by its Hebrew name.

The next time through the Yis’m’chu we smiled and remembered that we were singing about happiness and joy. It made all the difference in the world. But all that discussion of Oneg did tend to make me hungry!