* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
It was 12:30 p.m. The women’s event for Rosh Chodesh Adar had officially begun at 11 a.m. I ended my speech about joy, the singer Rika Razel continued to perform, and I was getting ready to leave the Yeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem.
But then I had the opportunity to meet the women who arrived late— at the end of the event—and it was fascinating.
“I’m late, there’s no use in going in already,” one woman remarked with disappointment. Behind her stood a grandmother who told her granddaughter: “It’s not terrible. We’ll take part in whatever we can. The main point is that we’re here.”
Then I overheard two friends say to one another: “I told you we should have taken the car and not come by train!” while the next two girls coming in said, “Oh well. Let’s go have a fun day in shuk Machane Yehuda.”
Here was a clear illustration of women who realized that they had missed out— who fully grasped their situation— but chose to respond to it in radically different ways. On Rosh Chodesh Adar, the month of joy, I actually saw with my own eyes how the way we respond to situations immediately affects our mood and determines whether we will be happy in our given set of circumstances.
We see this play out in every situation we encounter. How do we interpret what we experience within the larger framework of our lives? Do we say, “I missed out, which just shows that I’m a general failure.” Or do we say, “It’s okay. I’ll try to make the best of what I have.”
The story ended when two American girls, studying in Israel for the year, arrived at 12:50, right before the last song. “Awesome! This is my favorite song of all!” shouted one of the girls, as she entered the hall, bursting with excitement.
So, what is joy and how do you achieve it? That was the topic of my talk yesterday, but the main lesson for Rosh Chodesh Adar I learned on my way out the door.
See you next time at the event for Rosh Chodesh Nissan. Try not to be late, but if you are…😊
