It's not every day that Orthodox Jews gather in a synagogue to learn about happiness. But on a recent Sunday morning at Young Israel of Century City, a standing-room-only crowd came for precisely that. The event was the seventh annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture, and the speaker was author, radio host and happiness guru Dennis Prager.
The very idea of a serious lecture on happiness felt weird, and Prager sensed it. After all, synagogue sermons usually deal with sober topics like ethics, compassion, truth and justice. Personal happiness? That feels more like a selfish fetish of the secular world. The Torah world is supposed to operate on a more noble and altruistic plane.
Well, that is the misconception Prager came to correct.
Prager's thesis -- which he expounds on in a book, Happiness Is a Serious Problem, and a weekly "Happiness Hour" on his radio show -- is that happiness isn't a selfish act at all, but might be, in fact, the ultimate mitzvah.
To dramatize his point, Prager used the religious language of altruism. If the Torah commands us to look beyond ourselves and consider the welfare of others, what better way than to act happy around others and elevate their own happiness? It's a worthy sacrifice, Prager explained, not to allow one's negative feelings to bring others down.
His subject touched a sensitive nerve. He was talking to Jews who pride themselves on following all of God's mitzvot, and yet, acting happy to make others happy hardly seemed like an obvious mitzvah; certainly not as natural or obvious as lighting the Shabbat candles or donating to charity.
Prager's thesis came to life when he talked about his "war on the moody" -- people who put their feelings first, even at the expense of bringing others down. Judaism isn't about putting feelings first, he said. It's about actions, and actions that bring happiness to the world are supremely moral.
Prager explained how he stumbled onto his happiness philosophy. Many years ago, Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz invited him to speak to students at UCLA and suggested "something light, like happiness." When Prager responded that "happiness is a serious problem," Schwartz said he loved that title, and Prager crafted a talk that became one of his most popular.
He's been on a happiness mission ever since.
His mission isn't to promote the suppression of negative feelings -- that's not realistic -- but to make people aware of the power of a happy disposition to change the world around us and make it a better place.
His lecture hit home with me, since one of my pet peeves is moody or disengaged people who think they're being "authentic" when they inflict their moody vibes on those around them, especially in a festive setting. Of course, at the other extreme, I also don't enjoy people who try too hard to act happy. Faux happiness makes me feel guilty that they're faking it on my behalf. Maybe, then, Prager's lecture should come with this caveat: If you have to act happy when you're not feeling it, make sure only the happiness shows, not the acting.
Eventually, Prager says, the more you act happy, the less you'll have to fake it.
This whole notion of happiness was on my mind last week when I went to an event at the Backdoor Art Gallery, a little space located off an alleyway behind Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills.
The gallery is run by my friend Bob Ore, a French-Moroccan Jew who is one of the premier producers of French cultural events in town. Last year, when he brought the popular comedian Gad Elmaleh to Los Angeles, several hundred French-speaking Jews packed a local theater. Ore is the kind of guy who can get a hundred fashionable people to show up at a party on an afternoon's notice.
At his event last week, you felt you were in a little nightclub in St. Germain, with a French poet singing love songs to a summer night crowd seeking a little moonlight bliss.
The singer was Pol-Serge Kakon, a painter and troubadour in his late 50s with long silver hair and a thin mustache who looked like he could have been married to Edith Piaf. I couldn't believe I was in Los Angeles.
As Kakon was singing to his adoring crowd, I thought about Prager's lecture on happiness. For all I knew, Pol-Serge could have had a real crummy day or been consumed by the sadness of a failed romance. But if that was the case, we saw none of it. All we saw was a singer exhaling happiness onto the people around him. It wasn't a showy kind of happiness, but an intimate sort that comes from being lost in the pleasure of the moment.
Kakon had the power to make us happy, and he used it.
Maybe Prager wants us to be a little like that French troubadour -- to elevate those around us by simply exhaling happiness.
To Prager, this simple act is so important that he calls it a moral obligation. If that's still not enough to motivate you, well, just remember that happy people get invited to the best parties.
Follow David Suissa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SuissaOlam
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Happiness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Happiness Quotes | Happiness Quotations | Happiness Sayings ...
How to Find Happiness: 7 Timeless Tips from the Last 2500 Years
Maybe he's just hiding it inside?
ruHap, The Happiness Company took all the leading research and compiled ruHap’s 14 Ways to be Happier Right Now. Number 2 was above!
1.Try
2.Act Happy
3.Appreciate the Moment
4.Simplify
5.Tiggers, not Eeyores
6.Set Goals
7.Help Others
8.Express Gratitude
9.↓ TV
10.Show Compassion
11.Focus
12.Listen Carefully
13.Hug
14.Stay Active
More information on each can be found at http://ruhap.com/content/freeresources/14ways/
Thanks, and Be Happy,
Gregory S. Barsh, Esq.
Chief Happiness Officer
ruHap, The Happiness Company
Follow our blog, How to be Happier, at http://ruhap.com/content/category/blog/
http://ruhap.com/
Perhaps you have a misunderstanding of the clothing of Orthodox Jews. It varies as greatly as the clothing of general population. Most of the female Orthodox Jews among my friends and family, whether from the Northeast, Israel or Texas, sport an array of stylist pants, skirts, and blouses. T-shirts and jeans are staples among most of the males.
Perhaps you are referring to the ultra-Orthodox Jews who wear the clothing of their Eastern European spiritual ancestors. Maybe you should read up on this diverse group of people before you make such uniformed remarks.
As a disclaimer, I could never be an Orthodox Jew as my views on the contribution and equality of women differs greatly from most Orthodox establishments. We also disagree on the nature of commandments and the origin of the Torah.
I'm the last guy to say there's anything wrong with staying at home and raising children--and definitely the last guy to say anything is wrong with building one's family life around Torah. But something deep inside me reacts strongly against forcing the diversity of the children of Hashem being forced into one - or few - molds.
One other thing: not to seem disrectful, but the clothes the women wear are just awful! The fabrics and the styles look as if they were designed by their men!
I liked Gus314159 comment.
He clearly wrote about fervently religious Jews. The more one learns about this group, the less he is willing to express sympathy for their dangerous, sacred superstitions.
MY BLASPHEMOUS BLOGS
In the East God Won - The high cost of organized ignorance.
Michael Pieracci, Ph.D., Religion Instructor: “Holy heretic’s insight is indeed profound.”
http://whengodwins.blogspot.com/
Holy Cows and Calves - Sacred superstitions, aka religions.
http://holycowsandcalves.blogspot.com/
ניפוץ אלילים - ביעור הבערות
Holy Heretics - Jesus, Maimonides, Spinoza, the Founding Fathers, Herzl, Einstein.
http://holyheretics.com/
Holocaust Haggadah - שואה
Delusion dealers blame the victims.
Rabbi Irwin Kula: "Your Holocaust Haggadah is amazing."
http://holocausthagaddah.blogspot.com/
Simcha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Simcha (Hebrew: שִׂמְחָה IPA: [ˈsimχa]) is a Hebrew word with several meanings. Literally, the word "simcha" means gladness, or joy. It comes from the root word "sameyach," which means glad or happy.
The concept of simcha is an important one in Jewish philosophy. A popular teaching by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a 19th century Chassidic Rabbi, is "Mitzvah Gedolah Le'hiyot Besimcha Tamid," it is a great mitzvah (commandment) to always be in a state of happiness. When a person is happy they are much more capable of serving God and going about their daily activities than when depressed or upset.
It didn't always work...
Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9K4BKkLaCI
--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Worry,_Be_Happy
lol
Not.
Do some proper research next time.
God the Mother , was the Semitic Mother Goddess . The clues still found in
the original Testaments also further lead to the Trinity confusion .
Particularly disturbing is the continuous procreation which drains the city´s social services since most are on food stamps and public assistance.
Kohav Yair tops matriculation table
Aug. 11, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
The Education Ministry on Tuesday morning published a list of matriculation pass rates according to region for the past year.
For the third year running, Kohav Yair topped the table, with a pass rate of 82 percent. Tel Aviv was placed 23rd with a 68% rate, Haifa had a 63% rate and Beersheba got 55%.
The northern Arab village of Fureidis scored a major achievement, jumping 73 places to third, with a pass rate of 75%, one place below Shoham.
Sderot dropped 30 places, from 25th to 55th.
Bnei Brak was at the bottom of the list with a meager 15% pass rate.
The national average of the 144 cities and local authorities listed stands at 44%, and unsurprisingly, with the notable exception of Fureidis, there was a direct correlation between socioeconomic level and matriculation pass rates.
Army Radio said that the report aroused a anger in the haredi sector due to the fact that their communities were included on the list, even though in cities like Bnei Barak some 90% of students are in the religious education system and are not part of the Education Ministry curriculum. They said that the list doesn't reflect ability, and that many haredi students reach very high accomplishments in their religious studies and don't even learn for matriculation exams.
Happiness is not a goal you set out to achieve.
Of course, you'll never achieve it.
http://firedoglake.com/2010/02/09/dennis-prager-angry-that-conservative-anti-gay-hysteria-not-seen-in-a-more-positive-light/
http://scienceavenger.blogspot.com/2008/05/dennis-pragers-gay-marriage-hysteria.html
Thanks for the link. I just watched the CNN video you recommended.
Prager peddles the bigotry and tyranny of the Bible.
That's his Job.
Why do addicts to organized ignorance need to believe that a Pie-in-the-Sky wants them to be merry?
Why do addicts to disorganized ignorance need to believe that biology wants them to be miserable?