Pure Joy For Yom Kippur

While sitting on the couch last night and reading Shaya a book, we suddenly heard the garage door open. I said to Shaya, "Mushky's home!" and he went running for the door! After his mad dash to the door, Shaya opened the door to the garage and found Mushky walking up the stairs with my father right behind her! (Thanks to the Dad for driving to Richmond and back to pick her up!!) When Shaya saw Mushky, what I saw was absolute, pure joy. He started saying "Mushky's home! Mushky's home!" and the look on his face was worth a million dollars! My father watched the scene and shared that the drive was worth it just to see the joy on Shaya's face. We are of course all thrilled to have Mushky home - our family went right back to feeling whole the minute she walked in the door! 

Heart feeling complete once again, with my kids dancing to music in the kitchen, I got back to work on cleaning the kitchen. While emptying the dishwasher I did some thinking. 

With Yom Kippur approaching it occurred to me that I could learn a thing or two from Shaya's joyful happy dance at Mushky's arrival at home. Like most things in life, we can approach Yom Kippur from any angle we choose. We can go into this most special day of the year with fear and anxiety. We can worry about the what ifs, we can wonder if we have truly repented - or we can go into Yom Kippur with a joyful heart and mind. We can enter these 26 hours that we spend together with Hashem in a joyous way. We can look at Hashem through the eyes of a preschooler and talk to Hashem with joy and confidence. We can choose not to worry, we can choose to dance with joy as we ask Hashem, our Father, to bless us with a year filled with goodness that is sweet and not hidden behind challenges. We can greet this holy day with the simple and pure joy that I witnessed in my home last night. 

May Hashem bless each and every one of us with a year filled only with revealed blessings! May each of us be sealed for health, wealth, happiness, peace of mind and of course the coming of Moshiach! 

With that I share a recipe for a salad we will enjoy at our first pre Yom Kippur meal today! 

Beet Salad

Spring mix (check for bugs accordingly) 

Sliced beets (I buy the precooked ones) 

Fried sliced mushrooms

Diced red onion

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Salt

Pepper

Garlic

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!