Joy!

 

 

 

If you were always joyous, you would never see Hell! Reb Nosson

 

 

Not knowing that God loves His Children, wants what is best for them and only afflicts them to draw them closer to Him, could lead a person to pessimism. One could then sink into anguish and despair at the slightest misfortune… Not realizing that such feelings constitute the greatest sins; they are an offense to the Almighty’s compassion. Pessimism distances people from God.

 

The Hebrew word Yehudi – a Jew, comes from the etymological root hod, "to thank." Hence, basically, a Jew is someone who is always happy no matter what happens, knows that all is for the best and thus thanks God.

 

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov insisted on the duty of being joyous. This is the only manner of being Jewish in the true sense of the word (Yehudi means one who gives thanks).

 

By turning joy into a duty and not an optional ideal, he taught us anew the precondition to any step towards good. Sadness is thus the magnet of all moral blemishes – just as joy is the focal point of the entire Torah.

 

When God decided to create man, an angel objected, "What is man that You are mindful of him?" In other words, "Why should a fallible being, placed in a world of doubts, merit Your attention since he will certainly rebel against You?" This angel could not imagine the possibility of a man who improves, who overcomes his difficulties with god’s assistance and finally converts this world of doubt into certainty! This is the angel of pessimism, who questions any possibility of progress. This is the fallen prince of darkness

 

All the temptations in the world come from the prince’s challenge: "Man will not succeed!" Each time that Satan places temptation in a man’s way, the intention is, in fact to lead him to melancholy, so that when a man sees that he has failed, he will agree with the voice that whispered, "I told you that you couldn’t do it!"

 

Even knowing that he is doomed to failure (ever since his combat with Yaakov – Jacob) the angel of evil continues his task of teaching defeatism by any means. A man who accepts this defeatism, a man who claims that his task is beyond his power, in other words, a men who is discouraged, allies himself with the forces of evil.

 

On the other hand, the optimist, the  man who believes that God has given him boundless forces which will be revealed if he arouses them by believing, hoping and singing, such a person will rally to Yaakov, the hero of redemption.

 

Like stars in the firmament of hope, the Righteous in each generation, teach us this lesson repeatedly. In a language suited to the time and the place, they remind us that man can overcome.

 

 

Speech therapy has only recently discovered the phenomenon of self-stimulation through sound. The sounds our mouth strikes our eardrums, which communicate an energy charge to our brain.

 

Our sages have always known this! "The best way to give yourself strength is to sing a lively tune. A joyful melody. To clap your hands, to sing and dance."

 

Our soul needs exercise, just as our limbs do, and just as our bodies need vitamins. Heaviness and despondency are bacteria which constantly threaten our spirit. It is easy to slip into melancholy, but this is a danger to be combated mercilessly, as it is a negative state of mind.

 

Whenever a sad idea tries to infiltrate our heart, we must react immediately; we must start to sing!

 

 

Joy is so precious to God that He has only granted prophecy to those who are joyous. Even the greatest visionary had to find joy, to be able to hear the Voice. A man who makes an effort to be cheerful out of love for God will receive, at his level, quasi-prophetic ideas that will allow him to resolve many problems.

 

According to the Kabala, the man who forces himself to sing when he is in trouble brings echoes of Eden into his voice.

 

One morning, Reb Nosson began to pray with little enthusiasm. This can happen even to the greatest Chassidim. When he came to the second part of the service, overwhelmed by torpor, he looked up from his prayer book and began to sing "Eishit Chayil," a profound Friday night melody. He sang and sang until, suddenly, the melancholy left him. Imbued with joy, he was then able to continue his morning prayers.

 

Each of can find individual ways of stimulating ourselves, to give ourselves cheer and courage. The common key for success in doing so lies in the following saying: "It is a great obligation to be always happy!"

 

Good acts, good words and good thoughts are known to stimulate and to produce serenity. If an idea weighs heavily on us (however pious it may seem) then it contains venom. We must shun it meanwhile and postpone all remorse to the time that we have set aside for that purpose (which will be discussed in chapter 15).

 

Be at peace my friend, and be of good courage! As you are reading these pages, take them to heart. Whatever your present difficulties, understand that the only thing that matters is to seek joyously the light for which your soul thirsts.

 

Never let yourself fall prey to the slightest hint of gloom, or weariness. Melancholy is a blemish on our soul; it debases us by its ugliness and it is detestable to God. On the contrary, take hold of this melancholy and transform it into joy!

 

When we are worried, it is not enough to shun our worry aside and think of something else. We must take hold of this worry and examine it closely. If we realize that all our worries are tests visited upon us by God for our own good (to blot out our transgressions or to increase our understanding) we will rapidly discover at the very root of the concern the tremendous goodness of our Creator. This discovery will throw light on the negative sides of the incident; melancholy will turn to joy.

 

A concrete example is given by Reb Nosson: "Most people have great difficulty, when they want to come close to God, to the Torah and the sages, because they start examining their own behavior. A person who is removed from Torah does not have the proper mirror in which he can really see his personality, his inner being. But as soon as one starts studying and praying, the inner being comes to the surface and sometimes it is frightening. Some even give up, crushed by sorrow because they feel themselves to imperfect, so far from the goal. They give up, because they do not know our principle. They should have analyzed their concern – the worry of being imperfect. Then they would have realized that the very act of being preoccupied by perfection and imperfection is already of great value. Most people are not preoccupied by such moral concerns. The man who senses that he is far removed has a certain nobility of his soul. He is aware of his weakness, whereas others are unaware of it or are apathetic about it. The man who is aware of his limitations can certainly be proud and happy about this very awareness. He is one of those who seek to discover himself in order to progress.

 

The man who thinks in this way has transformed his sorrow into an object of joy; his worry assumes a new light.

 

"If you believe that you can damage, then you must believe that you can repair."

 

If you are someone who feels your imperfection, someone who believes that it is possible to damage and destroy (by transgressions) then you are also someone who can restore what has been damaged. Knowing that something needs mending is the starting point for any progress. If you know this, you can strive to become an architect of reconstruction; as long as you do not lose heart and in spite of any temporary damage, you never cease aspiring to the rectification. One who is joyous in performing good deeds releases the Divine Presence from darkness. 

 

To be continued…

 

 

(Used with permission from COURAGE by Israel Isaac Besancon. Published by Shir Chadash Publishers).