Jackson: Its not good to be sad because it will not give you a good mindset. You should be welcoming, kind and giving to others. Those are the kinds of mindsets you want to have because it makes you an overall better person.
(12) You turned my mourning into dancing, you undid my sackcloth and girded me with joy,
Miya: We are supposed to rejoice on Shabbat and Festivals, even when you are mourning. You still feel a loss but should be happy that it is Shabbat or a holiday and you should enjoy the presence of Shabbat and the people. You should be happy and sing and rejoice with your family and friends who make you feel special. That is what Shabbat and festivals are for.
Micah and Miya: During COVID we turned the darkness into light By being with our community over zoom and by being able to share with our families when we would not have been able to otherwise.
Sharon Frant Brooks: As part of the morning service every day, we find ways to find see how G-d has turned a sad situation into a joyful one. What difficult things have happened to you that have turned out to bring out some good as well?
Why Festivals Are A Joy of Life!
January 29, 2020 by rajathe
Why Festivals Are A Joy of Life!
Festivals bring about a range of emotions in us. They take us to a different level of emotional experience which is not only limited to ourselves, but also includes the society we interact with. Festivals can take vivid shapes, colours and procedures across the globe, but eventually it is towards the all-prevalent desire we all have to share with others, happiness and brotherhood beyond day-to-day existence.
eprinted with permission of the author from (edited by Sharon Frant Brooks)
The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
Most Jews still think that fasting is more righteous than feasting. Yet the Talmud suggests that in the world to come a person will have to stand judgment for every legitimate pleasure in this life that was renounced. The Nazirite–the person who gave up the pleasures of wine and family life to devote himself entirely to God–was called a sinner on the grounds that he gave up the joys of wine when the Torah did not require him to do so....... Many Jews who observe only one holiday a year make it Yom Kippur , a day of great deprivation, since eating, drinking, washing, and sex are not permitted. Furthermore, Yom Kippur is a day of self-criticism, of repeated confession of sins, and even a day of Yizkor in which the memories of departed loved ones usually bring up a good deal guilt. Since all this is hardly fun, presumably the one- or three-day observers feel that all this angst makes it the most holy day of the year. Sukkot gives the lie to this perception; because of its joys, it is known throughout the Talmudic period as Ha-Chag, the holiday.....There is “a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Correct behavior consists of when one does all these acts and how..... As a harvest festival, Sukkot incorporates frank recognition and celebration of material goods. Jewish tradition sees material possessions as a necessary but not sufficient basis for spiritual fulfillment....
But making joy holy means being selective in the enjoyment of God’s gifts, not worshiping those gifts or those who own them. The first and foremost expression of this insight is to share the bounty and the joy. Gifts from the harvest were given to the poor: “You shall rejoice before the Lord. You, your son and daughter, manservant and maid, the Levite… the stranger, the orphan, the widow in your midst” (Deuteronomy 16:11).
By Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg
Adam: Share the enjoyment of a holiday with others that aren't just family. Holidays are joyous events so you should share these joyous times with others. It's the right thing to do
The Religious Value of Joy (editted)
BY : ISMAR SCHORSCH RABBI HERMAN ABRAMOVITZ DISTINGUISHED SERVICE PROFESSOR OF JEWISH HISTORY AND CHANCELLOR EMERITUS POSTED ON SEP 24, 1999 / 5760
But Judaism does not only posit joy as the overall goal of observance; it directs us overtly to reach for it on specific occasions. Thus to heighten the experience of Shabbat, we are encouraged by Jewish law codes to shower and change our attire, to set a festival table and prepare a menu that includes meat and wine, to have enough food for three meals and to spend some time with family and friends. Nor are we permitted to dilute that singular joy by either holding a wedding ceremony on Shabbat or continuing to mourn publicly for the loss of a loved one during the period of shivah.
Similarly the pilgrimage festivals of Pesah, Shavuot and Sukkot are to be marked by overt acts of celebration. The Torah appears to go out of its way to stress that “you shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow in your communities (Deuteronomy 16:14).” On the basis of this verse, the Talmud stipulates that on the haggim a man is to give candy and nuts to his children and clothes and jewelry to his wife, while the family is to enjoy a meat meal with wine (B.T. Pesah 109a). Maimonides, with his pronounced ethical impulse, adds on his own that we are equally obligated to comply with the rest of the verse, that is to invite the stranger, orphan, widow and poor to our holiday table. “Anyone who closes the doors of his home, feeding only his family but not the poor and depressed has not attained the joy of performing a mitzvah but only of stuffing his stomach (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Yom Tov, 6:18)”
From:
"What Jews Know About Happiness" December 18, 2017 By Olga Gilburd
What is more, I came across a short list of questions we will have to answer for when we go to heaven, the list of what our sages believe our lives boil down to. One of the questions God asks is if we enjoyed His world. Which means that not only we all could be happy, but Judaism insists that it’s our duty, and God will hold us accountable for it. It shows that happiness is not just a pleasant state to pursue and occasionally be in, but our responsibility to ourselves, our families, our communities, our world. This passage (Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 48b) and its interpretation enriched my understanding of Judaism and of the importance of happiness.
Micah: When you treat yourself nicely you feel good about yourself, then you want to share it with others. It makes you treat others with kindness and then they do the same. It creates a big butterfly effect. It causes a chain reaction.