Anyone who’s anyone knows that the Jewish cheers over a glass of wine (or other adult beverage) is l’chaim! If you didn’t know that, then you probably are also due to watch Fiddler On The Roof, ASAP.
L’chaim! means “to life!” And we cheers to life because for the Jew, life is good. It isn’t easy and it isn’t devoid of pain, struggle, or the depths of grief. In fact, life is also full of all of those feelings. But ultimately, it is good – a blessed opportunity. When God was creating the world, “it was good,”1 and at the end of Torah (which we are quickly approaching), we are told to “Choose life.”2
But Jewish tradition does not just want you to know that life is good or shout about it, our tradition wants you to feel it. This week, in parashat Ki Tavo, we are commanded to “enjoy.”
“And you shall enjoy, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that your God יהוה has bestowed upon you and your household.”3
You shall enjoy your bounty – the goodness in your life – with your community, stranger or friend. You shall savor. Delight in. Relish. And you shall do this for what you already have – what is in your household. You shall not covet your neighbors new stylish Patagucci jacket. You shall love up and appreciate your own jacket. How soft! How warm! Baruch HaShem you even have a jacket!
In fact, our tradition takes joy so seriously that we are taught that for every joy we avoid, we have to explain ourselves:
“R. Chizkiyah said in the name of Rav: You will one day give reckoning for everything your eyes saw which, although permissible, you did not enjoy.”4
In other words, when we are walking down the proverbial street and stumble upon an opportunity for joy, we ought to say yes! The Jewish tradition is not one of self deprivation (though we have our moments that ask us to use such behavior as a tool for spiritual direction). The Jewish tradition is one that says our physical world is holy and all the pleasures it affords (when engaged in responsibly and respectfully, of course) are part of experiencing the goodness of life. Tasting new flavors or kissing a lover. Reading a good book or staying up too late, deep in discussion with a friend. Listening to that new record, volume turned all the way up. Accepting invitations to celebrations. Taking that last minute trip to the mountains. Our tradition says, embrace, embrace, embrace.
However, our tradition also says that enjoyment come from inside of you. The two texts mentioned above imply that what we are enjoying are things external to ourselves – our bounty and things our “eyes can see” – it is Kohelet (the Book of Ecclesiastes) who brings us the next level:
“To the person, namely, who pleases God, God has given the wisdom and shrewdness to enjoy themself; and to the person who displeases, God has given the urge to gather and amass.”5
It is a sign of wisdom to be able to enjoy oneself – what one is and already has. It is a sign of wisdom to be content and not look to amass more and more.
So, on the one hand, don’t pass up opportunities for joy. And on the other hand, may be you wise enough to know that joy is always available to you. It comes from within. Enjoy the bounty of our stunningly beautiful physical world and cultivate your internal orchard. Our tradition teaches both.
And now I’m thinking about how my ultimate frisbee coach (I played ultimate during my undergraduate years), Alex Korb, used to quote Albert Camus as we ran our conditioning practices:
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
I’m reading this today and realizing that Camus’s invincible summer was only the first part. How lovely to have an invincible summer warming you from the inside, but how double wonderful to know that you have it. That is what ultimately makes him happy, understanding his own resilience and capacity.
In some ways it is scary to realize or admit that we are in control of our own joy. It means that when we lack it, it is up to us to create it. There is no one to blame. There is no thing we can become or achieve or buy that will finally satiate our longing. This wisdom itself is revolutionary – what do we do with an entire economy that claims otherwise? What do we do with our time at all?
But alas, it was our ancient civilization that said the some of the greatest joys come from Shabbat – a day when we don’t ask for anything new. A day when we enjoy what we already have and who we already are. A day when to enjoy is to be wise.
Just imagine what this wisdom of joy could do for our world? Ok, maybe start smaller. This week, challenge yourself to take the reins of your joy. See if you can feel your invincible summer. And maybe also, raise a glass. L’chaim!
Genesis 1:4 and on and on and on
Deuteronomy 30:19
Deuteronomy 26:11
JT, Kiddushin 4:12
Kohelet 1:26