A Message from our President
During a recent Friday evening service on Facebook Live, our Rabbi, Yossi Liebowitz, began the service with his wish of our “oys” from the week turning into “joys”.
Hmm – “oys” into “joys”, now that is a challenge.
Whenever I attend the Friday evening service, either in person or virtually, I find I immediately relax and enjoy the familiar blessings and chants. But this particular week in February, I had encountered a week filled with project roadblocks, parental angst, and pandemic weariness. I felt pretty much done for the week and did not consider logging into our service on Facebook Live would provide any consolation. However, when presented with the thought of turning“oys” to “joys”, I began to rethink my current attitude about the previous week. Thank you, Rabbi.
After some reflection during the service, I realized all of my “oys” had a silver lining of some sort that could become “joys”. My project roadblocks were there to slow down the process to keep mistakes at a minimum; any parental angst I felt was simply an opportunity to allow my child to own the issue at hand and learn and grow from it. Finally, my pandemic weariness could to be channeled into some sort of productivity applied to a fun hobby, like needlepointing, which I have recently taken up.
It is my hope each of you are able to find “joys” in each of your “oys” every week. The “oys” are usually “joys” in disguise. Sometimes we have to look longer and deeper to see the silver lining, but it is usually there.
What is also there, is our Temple. Please find time each week to connect with our Temple in some way. There are multiple virtual options each week. Simply check the calendar in this and every issue of Temple Topics to see what options suit your schedule. I think you will be pleasantly amazed at how being connected with Temple B’nai Israel will improve your day or even your week.
This month we observe Passover and I wish you all a sweet and happy Passover. Chag Pesach Sameach!
Tina Lyon
President, Congregation B’nai Israel
