Oy and Hallelujah—Cha, Cha, Cha
The Oys?
They seem to be everywhere these days.
Do you know the fabulous Yiddish word, Oy?
From the bowels of the Internet, we are told:
In essence, “oy” is a versatile word that captures a range of emotional responses,
often associated with the experience of hardship and resilience in the Jewish culture.
It can be a simple interjection of surprise, dismay, of woe,
of shock, of amazement, weariness, pain, disappointment.
That’s all? All squashed into two letters?
Yiddish, so energetically alive.
Here are just a few of the oys that accompanied me this week:
- Feeling bloated after the immense amount of Indian food I ate yesterday. Oy.
- Being awakened by Niki the Dog at 2:10 a.m. with her urgent bathroom needs Oy.
- Glancing oh, so cautiously at the headlines— “D.C. taken over by …….who….? and why….?” Oyyyyyyyy.
It goes on and on. Life asks something of me. I’m informed about something. I respond.
I sometimes respond with an oy.
Sometimes, but not all the time.
Then there are the hallelujahs.
Reporting from the Internet:
Hallelujah—used to express praise, joy, thanks
A shout or a song of praise, joy, or thanks
And there are hallelujahs a’plenty in my day, my week:
- Standing barely awake at 2:13 a.m. in my damp yard, my slippers wet with the dew, as Nik sniffs for her spot. Looking up at the soft and fuzzy stars in wonder,
Soft and fuzzy, just like me, hardly awake.
Hallelujah. - Snuggling in bed with Nik at 2:17 a.m., as she falls instantly asleep in my arms,
Breathing warm life into my belly.
Hallelujah. - Watching the moon rise,
Extraordinarily full against a pitch-black sky.
Hallelujah.
~~~
Dear friends,
Isn’t our practice
The transmuting of
The oys into the hallelujahs?
Isn’t an oy just a hallelujah waiting to happen?
~~~
News flash to self—this not about attempting to control life,
Damn it.
This not about attempting to limit the amount of potential oys we might receive.
Good luck with that,
An inefficient and life-numbing pursuit.
It’s about allowing the oys to be,
To take a breath,
And to lean toward
The hallelujah that’s waiting to happen.
Maybe the oy is just a doorway
To the next, miraculous hallelujah.
Looking around,
No matter what is happening,
Ours is to eventually
And inevitably
Open our hearts.
Opening our hearts,
Looking for
The
Beauty.
Looking for
The
Grace.
It’s there.
~~~
What about you?
Check out your oys-of-the-day.
Is there a hallelujah lurking?
Check it out.
~~~
I am so committed to my monogamous relationship with Leonard Cohen.
I have an internal compass that prohibits me from listening to or offering others covers of his songs.
But then I heard this one by Pentatonix.
It’s a beauty.
Leonard would be proud:
~~~
Dear Friends,
Reality is relentless.
She wins.
We are practicing partnering with her.
We are practicing living into what she offers us.
Eventually and inevitably,
We are practicing
Surrendering
To her.
Permission
To be human
Is fully granted.
Let’s
Continue
Receiving the bounty
And the vastness
Of our lives.
May all beings benefit from our time together.
Stay blessed,
Aruni