Prayer First. Lox Immediately After
By Misha Sauceda
Mondays and Thursday mornings are my favorite days of the week.
Let’s face it: after morning minyan in the chapel at Congregation B’nai Israel, there is breakfast. And of course, breakfast always includes lox. Like any good Jewish girl, I know this is the breakfast of champions.
Lox is salmon transformed into silk. It’s tender, almost translucent, glowing in a beautiful coral hue. It’s almost a sin to eat it — but I don’t mind being a sinner. Piled onto a fresh bagel with a generous schmear of cream cheese, it makes the morning.
I usually arrive around 8:11 a.m., not 8 — like everyone else — and if we’ve got ten people or more, I start handing out the honor cards so we can read from our sacred Torah.
Handing out the honors is always an adventure. Inevitably, Marty Mayo and I spar over whether he’s going to take an aliyah or open the ark. He usually defers to Larry Golden for the ark, Larry's only been opening it for about twenty-five years. Marty has a wonderful way of honoring our older generation.
Meanwhile, the Brody family is putting on tefillin. Jonathan, Nathan, Angelina, and Andrew (13 year old); sit together, wrapped and praying. We all know the truth: the family that wraps together stays together.
There are plenty of other familiar faces in our little congregation, and those who join us online, like Rodica, who moved to Delaware last year. Our regulars—two Martys, Lynn, Terry, and the Garcia’s grace the worn fabric seats and just before we finish—Suzy dashes out the door to make sure the coffee is made just right.
And don’t worry — Rabbi Flicker is as curmudgeonly as ever. You get used to it.
This summer has been an especially sweet gift. Izzy Goldstein and Caitlyn Diamond, both still in high school, have been joining us for morning minyan. Nikki Ienni’s (first letter i) two little boys carry their plush torah toys in the procession. Wow! We old folks adore young visitors and dote on them shamelessly. We even buy an extra plain bagel just for Caitlyn— unless Yoni accidentally nips it first. (Scowl. Scowl.) And Izzy can effortlessly eat two lox-and-bagel sandwiches without gaining an ounce.
Ah, to be young again.
We pray together, listen to Rabbi Flicker’s lyrical Torah trope, laugh, tell stories around the breakfast table, and treasure the camaraderie that follows the service.
It’s more than a minyan. It’s a family — the way being Jewish is supposed to be.
And that’s why I love Mondays and Thursdays.
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Misha Sauceda has called Albuquerque home for more than 35 years. Raised by an eccentric Jewish mother and an outspoken atheist father, she has spent a lifetime collecting stories — and a bit of perspective. These days, she writes in her flannel pajamas with two faithful dogs at her feet, convinced that humor is life’s most reliable survival skill.
This essay first appeared in Congregation B'nai Israel's new weekly newsletter Kibbitz, with Misha Sauceda as editor, designed to bring a more informal communication outlet for the CBI community.
Rabbi Arthur W. Flicker is Rabbi Emeritus at Congregation B'nai Israel in Albuquerque. Rabbi Flicker served the community for 14 years before retiring in 2016. Rabbi Hazzan Jonathan Angress is the spiritual leader at Congregation B'nai Israel, since 2022, supported by Rabbi Flicker.
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