Almost a decade ago, the animated Disney film “Inside Out” broke through the usual PG fare by examining a more serious topic: emotional well-being. Five emotions personified Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness, and even Disgust, through the experiences of a young girl moving from her birthplace to a new environment. I remember enjoying watching it, though my memory has faded so I couldn’t begin to relay some of its greater teachings, except for one. Culturally, as the movie showed, we tend to think of all emotions as being equal. Not so in Judaism.
Anger is seen as a highly dangerous emotion, akin to idolatry. Why? When anger rises up in you, it overtakes you totally, and almost being consumed, often you give in to the rage. The Vilna Gaon says that anger is the ultimate expression of arrogance. In a sense, you’re deferring to this emotion, letting it rule you instead of you ruling it. This is echoed by Ram Dass1, a spiritual teacher, who notes that emotions like Hate, Fear, Greed, Jealousy and Anger derive from our ego, our need to feel and be important. Love, he says, is what comes from the soul. There is a pureness to the positive emotions, which is why, during special holiday insertions in the siddur / prayerbook, we repeat the 13 attributes2 of Hashem, all of which are expansive and loving.
As a Mussar trait, Anger is both complex and powerful, with the ability to have constructive and destructive consequences in our lives. Anger can be channeled in positive ways, to enable us to take action and stand up for challenges to injustice and f inequality.
Since October 7th, I have had to deal with my anger…an anger that wells up when I experience the injustice of the world, the inability of thousands to live by moral truths, and the havoc that is wreaked on innocents both here and in Israel. This anger is not on the surface, but instead resides deep within me, dormant and ready to rise up. Yet, this was the type of anger that fueled my engine, my ability to stand up for what I knew to be right, to send emails, add my name to petitions, and call out the injustice of inaccurate Mainstream Media reports. But now, Sukkot beckons with the mitzvah of Joy. I am commanded to try and be in a different space.
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, (1925-1994) said that coming out from Yom Kippur, when our sins were bared and in the open, we might feel a sense of despair and even shame. But instead, he relays that after all this, the Divine says, "Come; come with Me. I have a place for you, a place to shelter and protect you." That place is called the Sukkah3.
How do we understand the notion of Joy from the Hebrew? The word simcha (root Shin-Mem-Chet) is often translated as ‘happiness’, but when we examine the English word more closely, it’s not entirely accurate. The word ‘happiness’ derives from Middle English, and connotes an accidental uplift—think of the word haphazard or happenstance. Luck seems to play a role. We might actually say “it was a happy accident…”
In Mussar teachings, happiness is a fleeting emotion and therefore, comes and goes. The emotion of Joy conveys more of the intention in simcha. Joy is a way of being, a decision to see the world hopefully, despite the hardships. We wish each other a Chag Sameach (from the same root word), a Joyful Holiday. When the Torah describes the holiday of Sukkot (Deuteronomy 16:13) the wording is וְשָׂמַחְתָּ֖ בְּחַגֶּ֑ךָ - V’samachta B’chagecha / You are to rejoice in your festival! One verse later the Torah tells us that with all the blessings we have been given, וְהָיִ֖יתָ אַ֥ךְ שָׂמֵֽחַ /V’hayita Ach Sameach / You should have nothing but joy!
Filling ourselves with Joy is being open to the miracles within our lives and recognizing our blessings. Psalm 100 tells us to serve Hashem with joy, to come before The One in joyous song. These teachings express a modern idea; that we can alter our inner reality by our own will. We can be masters of our emotions and train ourselves in that practice.
Dr. Martin Seligman (b. 1942), known for the promotion of Positive Psychology, demonstrates through his research that a person can become more positive and optimistic, causing an improvement in outlook and disposition. How? By incorporating practices of gratitude.
We can move toward joy, toward filling ourselves up with the recognition of all the good that is in our lives. This was the heartfelt lesson we learned from Rachel Goldberg-Polin when she gave the chesped / eulogy for her son Hersh z”l, who died in Gaza just before he was to be rescued. She, impossible as it seemed, had gratitude. We can emerge from the deepest, most horrible pain with appreciation for what gifts we have been granted.
May we enter the Sukkot holiday with joy, knowing how far we’ve come in the past year, ready to appreciate all the good in our lives despite pain, despite challenges that we face.
Ram Dass, born Jewish though disconnected from his roots, went on a spiritual journey to the East and learned spiritual teachings there, writing about them in several influential books.
Not unusual, there are differences of opinions as to what constitutes the 13 (based on two verses in Exodus), but in the main they are: The Lord! The Lord! God, Compassionate and Gracious, Slow to anger and Abundant in Kindness and Truth, Preserver of kindness for thousands of generations, Forgiver of iniquity, willful sin, and error, and Who Cleanses.
We are commanded on the holiday of Sukkot, a harvest holiday which also commemorates the time spent in the wilderness living in makeshift tents, to build an impermanent dwelling where meals are eaten and some also sleep there. The stars are to be visible, and all parts of the Sukkah must be made from natural materials. The many spiritual messages speak to us clearly…our joy results from Hashem’s blessings…not from the stuff of our lives. You can read more here.