Joy-A Work in Process

She didn’t know. Or maybe she didn’t remember. That’s right, after so many years, she still gasps in disbelief as she enters the supermarket two weeks before the holiday. She thought it would be a regular Monday morning with few shoppers and short lines. She was wrong. It appears that everyone got confused and thought that the two-day holiday lasted a month and that there would be a shortage of food if they waited a week longer.

She doesn’t know what to do. Her window of opportunity is closing. She’s with the baby and only has a short amount of time to make this work. Should she leave the madness and go home? The fact that her refrigerator was completely empty and in a short time hungry children would arrive from school weighted her decision to stay and deal with the long lines and hordes of shoppers.

She gets what she needs, repeat-needs not wants, and she stands there in line. The energy in the supermarket is intense. She of course picked the line with the slowest cashier and most problematic customers. Everyone complains and sighs. The baby starts to protest.

The woman does something drastic. She takes her baby out of her carrier and starts to tickle her with kisses. The baby giggles and for the next forty minutes in line the two laugh and coo to each other. You see she’s in it. In what? In the situation. She knows that there’s a way out. She could just leave and go home. She would complain the whole way home. She could also stand there and pout. But she decided to stay and she’s in it. She put herself there, G-d put herself there. She’s there. She tells herself,

“This is my avodah (work, job, service). No, not the shopping or the standing in line (which actually is as well), but this is what she needs to work on. On not just making the best out of it, but on being happy in it. Yes, she’s going to work on making herself happy in it. In what? In the situation. In life.

All these curses will befall you, pursuing you and overtaking you to destroy you because you did not obey the Lord, your God, to observe His commandments and statutes which He commanded you. And they will be as a sign and a wonder, upon you and your offspring, forever, because you did not serve the Lord, your God, with happiness and with gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything (Devarim 28:45-47)

Everything, she has everything and she’s still sad. She still gets depressed. It’s the hardest thing that she has to work on, yes work on-being happy. So many distractions and challenges and what appears to be complications stand in her way, but if she works on it and if she realizes that the work itself is holy…If she understands that it’s not just about doing the action, the mitzvah, the avodah with joy, but that the avodah itself is to be happy, then she’ll value her happiness and work on doing things to bring herself joy. She’ll also see that life doesn’t need to be made so complicated. She’ll see that the things that bring her joy are actually simple, inexpensive, and yet priceless.

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May this upcoming year bring us joy and gladness of heart. May we find the joy within and work on making ourselves happy.

Ketiva ve chatima tova! Shana tova and Shabbat Shalom!