Jewish Life #4: A Life of Joy

[photo by dr. Gershom, at Judea Desert: Praying and seeking silence in nature can be part of a joyful life. "One must perceive God not only in miracles but in natural phenomena, and particularly in one’s own destiny."

  
In the preface of my upcoming book A Life of Meaning and Joy: In Search of Social Identity Man, we stated: “Joy is a supreme value. Above all, joy is a social emotion. A person can only experience joy when shared. This implies an open house. A well-occupied and filled table is the way to give shape to this.”

[references and literature, see: Dr. Gershom Kloens: A Life of Meaning and Joy: In Search of Social Identity Man, release autumn/winter 2024]
 
 Joy, in Hebrew, simcha, is the sensation that one feels when one is close to one’s own destiny.[1] Simcha is an emotion shared with others. Joy is at the heart of Judaism. “Serve the Lord with joy,” says the psalmist (Tehillim 100:2). The root s-m-ch of the word simcha in this psalm is also at the heart of the book of Kohelet and is the theme of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Sacks highlights the message of Kohelet and Sukkot: “What redeems life and etches it with the charisma of grace is joy: joy in your work, joy in your marriage and joy in the simple pleasures of life. Take joy in each day.”[2]
 
In the book of Devarim, we read about joy as an imperative for a meaningful orthopraxis: “And you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God” (12:18). In Devarim 14:26–29 it says: “You shall rejoice, you and your household.… and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are in your cities, will eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord, your God, will bless you in all the work of your hand that you will do.”
 
“And you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God.” This phrase suggests, according to Rabbi Soloveitchik, that when one is in the presence of God, there is joy. A person is required to develop the ability to feel closeness to God every nanosecond of his life, to feel His breath on his face, to see Him in every phenomenon, in historical events, and in the majesty of nature.[3] One must perceive God not only in miracles but in natural phenomena, and particularly in one’s own destiny. True simcha occurs only when a person feels himself directly in His presence and logically when he has a strong identity and a basic attitude of chesed[4] (loving-kindness) and mishpat[5] (justice) regarding others, above all for the stranger and the vulnerable (orphans and widows). 
 
On a personal level, joy and a positive mindset give a person energy and allow him to overcome obstacles. Joy enables one to actualize his potential.[6] Joy is a natural inclination. Joy brings out a person’s hidden strengths. Joy opens the heart. According to Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, it is always possible for a person to see the positive, and one should rejoice over whatever positive exists in a particular situation. As he says, “The way to achieve constant joy is to identify one’s positive points and to be happy about them. Focusing on the positive is uplifting.”[7] According to him, a person must search for and find his good points. Quoting Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, he says: “A person who is healthy in spirit and body will always be cheerful and joyous. This is the natural state of a healthy spirit.”[8]
 
Joy can be distinguished from happiness (in Hebrew, osher, and in Greek, eudaemonia). Happiness is the outcome of a moral life and depends on external circumstances. It involves a judgment about life as a whole. Happiness is something you can feel alone, but joy is something you share with others.[9] Joy, as was mentioned, is a social emotion. That’s why eating together and offering the other a delicious meal is inextricably linked to simcha and the blessings that follow. This implies an open house.
This of course has everything to do with the great value that Judaism places on hospitality. It’s even fundamental to Judaism.[10] The patriarch Avraham is often taken as an example in this context. He was sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day when three strangers passed by. He offered them food, drink, and the chance to wash and rest. Unbeknown to him, they were angels, bringing news that Sarah would have a child, Yitzchak, first child of the covenant (Bereshit 18:1–14). On this Rabbi Sacks comments, “God shows kindness to those who show kindness to strangers. The Hebrew letter Beit, with which the Torah begins, also means ‘house.’ It is open at one side, signaling graphically that a Jewish home is one that is open to visitors and strangers.”[11]
 
Another difference is that joy is experienced in the moment. Joy lives in the moment. It celebrates the power of the now.[12] Joy is a state of radical thankfulness for the gift of being. To feel joy, you need neither wealth nor power. A person can experience joy in the ordinary, the everyday, the small values of life. You can even feel joy in the midst of experiencing vulnerability and brokenness. As Rabbi Sacks says, “Joy is born in love, work, and thanksgiving.”[13] Joy bathes life with light.[14] He states, “Happiness tends to be a cool emotion, but joy makes you want to dance and sing. It’s hard to feel happy in the midst of uncertainty. But you can still feel joy.”[15]
 
Joy can be also distinguished from gladness (in Hebrew, gila). Gila is a person’s gladness that comes with the completion of a long process. Whereas simcha is more in the moment, instantaneous, gila is beyond the moment but well worth the wait and toil. Gila is the status we confidently aspire to enjoy in the months and years ahead. The words gila and simcha are beautifully displayed in Shir Hashirim: “We will be glad and rejoice in You” (1:4).[16]
 
In sum, joy is the supreme, socially imbedded emotion in Judaism. To highlight the centrality of joy as a supreme emotion, Rabbi Sacks quotes Robert Louis Stevenson, a nineteenth-century poet and novelist: “Find out where joy resides and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.”[17]
 
Simcha and a positive lifestyle characterized by chesed and mishpat are the necessary (prior) conditions for a good and blessed life. For Social Identity Man these conditions are the heart of his orthopraxis.
 
True simcha occurs only when a person has a strong identity and a basic attitude of chesed (loving kindness) and mishpat (justice) for others, above all, the stranger and the vulnerable. Chesed, we described, is love-as-loyalty and loyalty-as-love – love not as an emotion but as a moral commitment. Mishpat means doing justice to everyone’s uniqueness.
 
This is why Judaism places such a high value on an open house, a set table, and welcoming guests. This hachnasat orchim, the act of welcoming guests, is impressively described in Bereshit 18, where Avraham welcomes three strangers. Without immediately knowing who they are, he welcomes them with open arms and prepares them a delicious meal. According to Rabbi Soloveitchik, this hachnasat orchim demonstrates full human equality, the belief that every human being has dignity and is just as important as any other. If I invite a person in, no matter what his station in life, I am treating him with respect, as an equal.[18] The joy will follow naturally.
 
In my opinion, you can recognize a social person primarily by his ability to open up his home. A lifestyle characterized by loving-kindness and justice are the necessary (prior) conditions. Rabbi Soloveitchik describes in this context a basic principle of Judaism: “Intellectual perfection combined with a balanced emotional life, which expresses itself in abiding by a code of unique norms, is the basis in Judaism.”[19] For Social Identity Man these conditions (loving-kindness and pursuing justice) are at the heart of his orthopraxis. The value of these actions lies in the movement, in the ascent, the progress of improvement and drawing closer to perfection.[20] It may be that a person needs a sixth sense for this.
 
Obviously, this orthopraxis requires persistence and perseverance. Rabbi Soloveitchik, commenting on the haftara of Lech Lecha (Yeshaya 40: 27–41:16), says the following in this context: “Even in moments of crisis and failure, when they will walk slowly, step by step, due to great setbacks and strong oppositions; even when many plans collapse and many hopes disappear, they do not allow a mood of faintness, of despair and frustration to overcome them. In spite of temporary setbacks, they will try again. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint. The joy of running and moving at a fast pace does not make them self-satisfied, nor does the pain of walking a slow drag of minimal achievement draw them into moods of despair.”[21]
 
Ideally, Social Identity Man is a person of simcha. That’s why this type of person must be able to live a balanced life. He must be capable of a strong identity as well as meaningful social relationships.
 
[1] Lustiger (2018), p. 109, a commentary on the book of Devarim based upon the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. 

[2] Sacks (2017a), p. 126. 

[3] Lustiger (2018), p. 109.

[4] “Hesed is love-as-loyalty and loyalty-as-love. It means love not as an emotion but as a moral commitment, as in marriage” (Sacks, 2016b, p. 416). 

[5] This is what Albert Einstein called the “almost fanatical love for justice” that made him thank the stars he was a Jew. 

[6] Steinsaltz (2020), p. 263. 

[7] Steinsaltz (2020), p. 267. 

[8] Steinsaltz (2020), p. 268. From Rav Kook’s Ein Aya.

[9] Sacks (2021), p. 257. 

[10] Sacks (2016b), p. 181. 

[11] Sacks (2016b), pp. 180–81. 

[12] Sacks (2017a), p. 127.

[13] Sacks (2016b), p. 812.

[14] Sacks (2017a), p. 129. 

[15] Sacks (2021), p. 258.

[16] Scherman (2018), p. xiii. 

[17] Idem. 

[18] Lustiger (2013), p. 117. In Bereshit 18, this hachnasat orchim is contrasted with the lifestyle and worldview of the people of Sodom, who were extremely cruel to strangers. 

[19] Soloveitchik (2017), p. 74.

[20] Thanks to Rabbi Ezra Bick for this insight (Bick, 2011, p. 75). 

[21] Lustiger (2013), p. 385.

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