The Basis for True Joy

by Yedidah on February 14, 2013

True joy: connection with God

The Sages have taught that when the month of Adar comes in we increase our joy. But we must have a basis for this. A person cannot feel happy without a reason. Senseless happiness feels foolish and silly. The Sages are referring to the happiness of holiness, the happiness of being in unity with the Creator.

However to feel the presence of the Creator in our lives we need to first feel how empty our lives are when we don’t feel in connection with Him, otherwise we do not appreciate what we are given. Feeling happy and feeling empty are two opposite states of being.

Prayer and thanks or praise are our responses to God to these states. Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that for both prayer and praise to be real they have to come from the depth of the heart. How can we achieve this depth of feeling, and what does this have to do with the month of Adar?

From an article by Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag z”l (Sefer HaMa’amarim)

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