We just entered the month of Av, the month in the Hebrew calendar where historically Jews have faced tragedy. It’s a heavy time, and anyone who keeps the laws that were intended for us to feel the pain of our history, you really feel it.
Generally, in America, there is an obsession with happiness. And the negative effects of this obsession are clear. Ironically Americans are among the least happy people in the developed world, they also report the highest levels of anxiety.
I think another deleterious effect of our happiness-seeking culture is that it has led us to believe sadness is the opposite of happiness, and we should go to great lengths not to be sad. But Torah teaches us to embrace sadness as a rich emotion that is empowering. Sadness is not depression that is diminishing. Sadness is part and parcel of the grandness of life. If we can’t be sad, it means we never understood what we lost.
This is a difficult time for the Jewish people but I also think for the world. To feel the sadness of what we all have been through could be the best way to become sensitized to the beauty of what life has to offer. And that itself, can be the first step in the journey to find happiness.
2021