Joy is in our hands: how do we obtain this wonderful gift?

The month of Adar brings with its wings the winds of joy, as the sages say, "When Adar enters, joy abounds.".

But how do we find joy amidst limitations and uncertainties? Perhaps we should first clarify what joy actually is.

Not everything that people call 'joy' is really joy. Light-headedness and 'taking life easy' are not joy. Nor are fooling around, pranks, pranks at the expense of others, or just plain falling apart.

Perhaps all of these bring a smile to your face for a moment, but they do not fill your heart with true joy.

What is true joy?

Hasidism distinguishes between joy and revelry. Joy is a noble, pure, holy, and exalted emotion, while revelry is the release of a burden and the giving of free rein to the passions. It is not always easy to distinguish between the two, and then instead of positive joy, one may slip into empty revelry.

Think about the feeling that fills us with the birth of a child or grandchild; the marriage of a son or daughter; the inauguration of a new home; the winning of a coveted job. It is a feeling of inner happiness, of expansion of the soul.

In contrast, revelry has no real content behind it. You can revel all night, without any real joy. It's basically a kind of escape. People feel an emptiness, and try to cover it up by drinking alcohol and going wild without restraint. Sometimes this 'joy' ends in a detention cell.

Joy is a rather elusive quality. A person may be rich, able to buy everything they want, and yet have no joy in their heart. On the other hand, there are those who lack everything and are always full of joy and cheerfulness. How do you achieve this wonderful gift?

Happiness is not a derivative of what is and what is not. It stems from an approach to life, from the perspective, from the way of relating. The happy person sees the positive side in everything. He always finds the bright spots, and reduces the weight of the less good things.

This way he can always be happy, because he gives excess weight to the good and the positive.

And what will someone who was born a pessimist do? Indeed, the innate character certainly affects a person's ability to feel joy, but it is not a matter of character alone. It is mainly a matter of upbringing, worldview and approach to life. The question of whether you will be a happy person is in your hands. If you want to - you will be happy; if you don't want to - joy will be far from you.

Your behavior and approach to life determine whether you will be a happy person or not.

The believer is happy.

Happiness is based first and foremost on faith. If you believe that God runs the world, it is clear to you that everything He does is for the good. If you are late for the bus, you do not think that a disaster has happened to you, but you immediately tell yourself that it is probably for the good. If someone in the family is sick, God forbid, you are filled with faith and confidence that the sick person will recover and that everything will return to its place in peace. This faith also fulfills itself, according to the Hasidic proverb: "Think well - it will be good.".

The month of Adar opens the gates of joy to us. Let us be filled with true joy, with firm confidence in the Creator of the world, and may we merit that the reality in which we live will also become a joyful and joyful reality.

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