The Chassidic Approach To Joy

Can we combine simchah and responsibility? Is it possible to have purpose and direction, and at the same time to let loose and feel free? Yes. This is the type of happiness that comes from kabbalas ol, accepting G-d’s yoke. On the one hand, a person lets go of his self-consciousness, but he does not sink into emptiness; he connects to a force that

there is a type of joy that destroys a person, and there is a type of joy that makes a person even stronger than he was before.

We all are motivated by both these thrusts. Each of us shares a certain degree of sensitivity to others, and every one of us has a certain measure of self-concern. The question is, however, what is the person’s prime motivating factor.

The depression that dulls a person’s sensitivity and should be avoided is termed atzvus. The type of feeling bad that spurs a person towards positive activity is referred to as merirus, “bitterness.”

R. Zushya looked at him in puzzlement. “I do not know how to answer this question,” he replied. “This question should be answered by someone who has suffered. I have never experienced suffering in my life.”

one of the temporary names used to refer to chassidim was di freilicha, meaning, “the happy ones.” How could you define and identify a chassid? By seeing if he was b’simchah — happy and joyous.

the person can feel charged with energy and filled with the resolve that he will get the job done.

Is it not important that a person experience pain when things are not working out, for this will spur him to improve?

the chassid thought, “What is more important: my spiritual experience on Yom Kippur or the fact that I can get this family out of the dungeon earlier?” He did not have to think long. His entire life was directed towards others, not to himself.