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by Rabbi E. Tauger The Month of Happiness Our Sages teach us: "When Adar enters, we increase our happiness." Now that's a subject we can all relate to, because people all over are seeking happiness. Unfortunately, however, many times the search is a fruitless one. Too often, our search for happiness is circular, like a cat chasing its tale. What Money Can't Buy All too frequently in America, we're told what to do to become happy. "Drink this soda; play this game; try this cigarette; go to this movie." Besides the crass commercialism of this approach, there is something inherently wrong with it. It's a quick fix, hype the moment attitude that doesn't change anything fundamental. Today, this will make you happy. Tomorrow it will be that, and the next day, something else. You're always going to need something new to make you happy, because inside you're not. On the contrary, you're desperately sad and you need constant new diversions to try to convince yourself that you this is not so. What's the problem at the bottom of the issue? We're looking to satisfy our desires and think that doing so will make us happy. But it just doesn't work that way. Shortly after being satisfied, the same desire - or a different one - will pop up again, even stronger than before. And so, we need a new fix; and when that desire is satisfied, we will need still another one. Looking For More It's not hard to appreciate an alternative, a path to more durable happiness. Instead of indulging yourself, go beyond yourself. Identify with something larger, more inclusive than your own wants and supposed needs. This provides a real sense of relief. A person feels at peace with the fact that he or she is no longer on the treadmill of chasing the daily hype. And it's not only a sense of calm. On the contrary, belonging to a larger group imparts energy and vitality. You feel one with the group; their highs and successes become your own. Let's take a very basic example: a sports team. Be it baseball, football, basketball, or hockey, Americans love sports. It isn't just a passive involvement. When you go to a game, the energy is powerful, sweeping you in, sometimes almost against your will. You find yourself rooting for one team with your heart and soul. Your feelings rise with their successes and sink with their failures. What's at the core of such an experience? A person wants and even needs to feel part of something bigger than his or her "I." He looks forward to his individual concerns being forgotten in the face of the larger happening. The Day After It's happened to every one of us. We have woken up the day after an exhilarating experience, a moment when we felt part of something bigger and greater than our own selves with the question: Why? What made us so excited? Why on earth did we identify with that experience? Asking ourselves such questions is healthy. A child doesn't know anything about responsibility. Each moment is lived for itself without thinking of the next. Adults - indeed, this is the threshold of maturity - understand accountability. They are willing, and even desire, to hold their conduct up to scrutiny and ask: Is what I did in line with my long term mission? Or did I just let loose and let go? Unfortunately, however, often such questions create conflicts. A person may realize that the experiences that provide him with his "highs" don't fit his long-term mission. What he considers right and valuable and what makes him feel good aren't the same. Some try to ignore the issue and avoid the questions. Others get caught up in guilt, and still others compromise either their happiness or their principles. Giving Yourself Away with Confidence
Judaism offers a different alternative. It gives a person an option to identify with something higher than himself - with G-d and His Torah. A person does not live for his own fulfillment. He lives to express G-d's truth and make the world a dwelling for Him. He is given an opportunity to express all his diverse potentials. For G-d, man's Creator, would not give man a potential that would not have a useful and constructive field of expression. But that expression is not self-oriented. A person is taught to act for the sake of others and more importantly, for G-d's sake. This endows his conduct with depth, meaning, and purpose and unlocks resources of satisfaction and joy. All of the intensity, power, and energy that comes with dedicating himself to a greater purpose surfaces. And simultaneously, there is the security that he's giving himself over to something of genuine value, not a lark or fantasy. We have a history of the over 3500-year long relationship our people have shared with G-d as proof of the reality of the mission. And we have the Torah's guidelines to use as an objective standard to evaluate if our conduct is attuned to that mission or not. Toward the Ultimate Joy The above also explains why the era of the Redemption is identified with happiness and joy. In that era, when "the occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d," every person will feel swept up in the awesomeness of his or her bond with Him. Today, we believe and trust that the Torah we study and the mitzvos we perform fulfill G-d's intent. In the era of Redemption, this will be openly perceived and that will be the source for our happiness. We will be overwhelmed with joy at the awareness of our connection with G-d. This is not merely a promise of the future. It is a key to making the future happen. For once we appreciate the dynamic that will grant us true joy, there is nothing holding us back from living it today. It's true, we cannot see G-dliness with the clarity of revelation that will exist then. But the fact that we cannot see it does not make our relationship any less true or our connection any less vibrant. By putting this connection in the forefront of our consciousness, we can experience true happiness even in the present age. And living our lives with the happiness that stems from the awareness of our relationship with G-d will create a setting where that relationship will blossom forth into complete fulfillment. A person who proceeds through the day glowing with joy will awaken similar feelings among others, creating a rippling effect that will, step by step, prepare the world to experience the ultimate joy with the coming of Mashiach. |
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Experiencing Purim Today The Purim saga centers around two people: Mordechai and Esther. Certainly, it was a series of Divine miracles, but the people who set the example and provided the catalysts to call forth those miracles were these two. What was so unique about their conduct? When the Megilah describes the way Mordechai informed Esther of Haman's decree, it states: "And Mordechai told her of all that had happened to him." Now the decree was against the Jewish people as a whole. As the king's counselor and as the uncle of the queen, it is very likely that Mordechai could have avoided being included in it. But he had no thought of that. The decree "happened to him." This is also the tone with which he approached Esther when at first she hesitated to join him: "Do not imagine… that you will be able to escape in the king's palace any more than the rest of the Jews." Esther heard the message and risked her life for her people. These weren't absentee leaders, people who sit in the back and give advice on how to deal with difficulties; they felt their lives were on the line and behaved accordingly. Why? Because the most important things in their lives were their people, and their people's mission in the world. Once the Baal Shem Tov had a spiritual vision of a calamity that was to be visited on an outlying Jewish community. He traveled there with his students and for several days and nights engaged in spiritual activities that were able to arouse G-d's mercies and avert the decree. Afterwards, his students asked him: "Why did you have to travel to that community? You could have carried out the same spiritual activities in your home town." The Baal Shem Tov answered: "If I could not save them, then I would share their lot." For a true Jewish leader, there is no difference between the fate of his people and his own personal fate. On the contrary, he has no thought of himself at all and thinks of destiny only in terms of his people. This has an effect on the people, jarring them out of their self-concern and their involvement in their petty private affairs and pointing their attention to their national mission. When a person sees a Mordechai or a Baal Shem Tov giving up all his personal concerns for the people that person realizes that he too can and should focus on a goal in life that is greater than his individual self. And as that aspiration spreads within the Jewish people, G-d creates an environment that allows it to happen, even bending the natural order - if that is what is needed be - for that to happen. This is the core of the Purim story. The Mitzvos of Purim Hear the Megilah twice, both in the evening and in the morning. Give Shalach Manos, presents of food to at least one other person. Give Matanos L'Evyonim, gifts to the poor, to at least two needy people. Make a Purim feast and celebrate without reservation. Add the passage V'al Hanissim in prayers and in the grace after meals. |
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Parshas Pekudei Pekudei means "reckonings." After the Jews built the Sanctuary, Moses made a careful reckoning of all the gold, silver and brass used in its construction. Implied is a lesson in our Divine service. Many of us have the tendency to say: "Look at the end result. The general goal was accomplished. That's fine. Don't pay attention to all the details." Moses tells us that this is not a correct approach. The little things are big. For everything G-d created in this world was created with a purpose. And if a particular article or moment was not used to its fullest - even if the general objective was accomplished - G-d's intent was not fulfilled. Parshas Vayikra
This Torah reading describes the sacrifices brought by the Jewish people in the Sanctuary and later in the Temple. The Hebrew term for sacrifice Korban shares the same root as the word kerov meaning "close." The intent of the sacrifices was to bring our people and each person as an individual close to G-d. On this Shabbos, we also read Parshas Zachor, the second of the special Torah readings added in preparation for the holidays of Purim and Pesach. This Torah reading recalls Amalek's attack of the Jewish people as they departed Egypt on their way to receive the Torah. Without minimizing the historical element of the narrative, our Rabbis emphasize that it conveys an important lesson for our Divine service. Amalek - in Hebrew is numerically equivalent to Safek meaning "doubt." Amalek refers to those influences, which create doubt for a person in his service of G-d. Amalek confronts the Jews "on the way, as you were leaving Egypt." When a person achieves freedom and sets out to receive the Torah, Amalek confronts him and casts doubts that cool off his ardor. The response must be, as the Torah relates, "to utterly destroy Amalek," to obliterate any trace of the influences that create doubt and hesitation. Parshas Tzav This Torah reading contains the command to keep the fire of the altar burning at all times. The fire of the altar refers to the spark of Divine fire each one of us has in his heart. That spark must always burn brightly, never to be extinguished. On this Shabbos, we also read Parshas Parah, the third of the special readings instituted in preparation for the holidays of Purim and Pesach. Parshas Parah describes the laws of ritual purity. For before bringing the Paschal sacrifice, a person had to be ritually pure. On the surface, why is that necessary? The Paschal sacrifice is a reliving of the exodus from Egypt. G-d redeemed the people despite the fact that they had sunk to the lowest levels of impurity. So why can't He do it again? He can. But we should endeavor to be pure. He can redeem us whatever our state. But as people who take responsibility for ourselves, we should try to come to the Redemption in a state of purity. Parshas Shemini This Torah reading speaks of the prohibitions against eating non-kosher food. On the surface, what difference does it make which food we eat? If we eat it with the intent of serving G-d with the energy with which it provides us, shouldn't that be satisfactory? This is not so. According to Kabbalah, the Hebrew word assur, commonly translated as "forbidden," should be interpreted according to its literal meaning - "bound." Food is forbidden because it is bound to the material realm. There is no ordinary way that its spiritual potential can be expressed. That is the larger reason for all the prohibitions mentioned in the Torah reading. On this Shabbos, we also read Parshas HaChodesh, the final special Torah reading instituted in preparation for the holiday of Pesach. Chodesh means "new." Within the context of the passage, it refers to the obligation to consecrate the new moon. In our Divine service, it points to the need to seek the new, not to rest on our laurels, but to proceed toward fresh horizons. Just as G-d is infinite, we all have an infinite potential within us, a G-dly spark, which knows no bounds. Hence even if a person has sunken low, he must realize that there is nothing preventing him from starting anew and ascending upward. And if he is already on a lofty plane, he must appreciate that he can and should seek to advance higher.
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