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| Followers of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov celebrate Rosh Hashanah in Uman, Ukraine |
Today
is Day One of Week Five of the Omer. That is Twenty-nine Days of the
Omer. The Theme continues to be Happiness.
It’s hard to believe that we’re entering the fifth week of the
Counting of the Omer! The time has
simply flown by. This week, beginning on
Wednesday Evening, we celebrate LaG Ba-Omer, the 33rd Day of
the Omer. But more of that in Wednesday
night’s installment of the blog. For
now, I’d just like to invite you to join us at 5.00PM on Wednesday night, to
observe this holiday with a casual gathering at our home in Southport. Bring your own meat, fish, or veggies –
something to grill on the barbeque – and a little extra to share. We’ll provide the rest: chips, salad, desert and drinks. We’ll have a brief evening service, dinner, and
good conversation. A great way to
celebrate Lag Ba-Omer on ‘Hump Day.’
I didn’t really plan to keep writing about Happiness this long, but
there you go! Oh, I’m sure somebody out
there who is grousing: What’s with
that Rabbi Don??! Why doesn’t he write about something Jewish? Well, if
you’re out there, know that there isn’t any subject more profoundly Jewish,
than that of Happiness.
When Jews greet one another on or close to Pesach, they frequently
wish one another a Kosher Pesach. But
on any other occasion – be it a communal celebration or a personal milestone –
they wish one another Happiness. When I
first got my driving licence as a teenager, what did various relatives
say? Drive in safety and happiness. When I got married, what did they say? Enjoy your bride and be happy together. When Clara and I announced her pregnancies,
what did they say? May the baby be
healthy and bring you much happiness.
Nobody wished me a kosher car, a kosher wedding, a kosher baby. Does that mean that they didn’t hope for
those things? (What’s a kosher car? One
that will refuse to start from sundown Friday ‘till sundown Saturday? Who knows?)
Of course not; everything being kosher – that is, ‘fit’ – is a given
desideratum. But Jews are not obsessed with it – at least, not the Jews I know. What they are obsessed with – if you
want to call it an obsession! – is Happiness.
Every event in life should only bring us Happiness and joy; everything
else is just details.
Many other religions have an ascetic side. I’m reminded of this whenever I participate
in some kind of interfaith forum.
Various forms of Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, Buddhism, Hinduism…they
all teach some form of asceticism as the ideal way of life, to be striven
towards at least at certain times and seasons.
There is no parallel in Judaism.
The closest thing is the law of the Nazir, one who has taken a
vow of holiness. Nobody takes Nazirite
vows anymore. But even in ancient
Israel, one who would undertake such a vow was looked at askance. Like something was wrong with him. And therefore Nazirite vows were allowed, but
discouraged. And had to be for a
specific period of time, not a lifetime self-imposition. There is no Jewish ideal in a life of
self-denial. There is no virtue in it.
Look at the Jews that one might consider the ‘most passionate’
ones, the Hassidim. There’s not a trace
of asceticism in them. They marry, they
reproduce (oh, do they ever reproduce!), they drink (to excess, at times), they
dance in wild abandon. They joke and
prank one another. They celebrate a life
of ecstatic joy. And they seek deveikut
– oneness – with Hashem through all this.
No, there’s no more Jewish subject than Happiness. Anybody who thinks otherwise, hasn’t a clue. Anybody who thinks there’s something more
important in Jewish life, simply doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Yes, keeping kosher is important. So is joining with the congregation to
observe and celebrate the sacred moments of Jewish life. So is study of Torah and keeping G-d’s mitzvoth. But nothing in life is more important, or
more mandatory, than being Happy.
A good week, all!
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