Getting to Know Your Simcha - 004 Fixing Sadness

The Root Of Happiness – Gan Eden

Hashem created the power of happiness in Creation; for every force in Creation, there is something else with equal force to opposite it. Whatever is holy has something else that is unholy to opposite it, equal in strength. Happiness is opposed by sadness.

The Gemara says that in today’s times, there is no happiness except in wine; in the Temple era, there was no happiness except in meat. Where can we find the root of this? Before the sin of Adam, the angels were roasting meat for him and straining wine for him. Here we can see the roots of happiness – before the sin, which was the perfect kind of happiness, we can find meat and wine.

The root of happiness is found before the sin, in Gan Eden. When a couple gets married, we bless them that they rejoice “just as Your creator gladdened you in Gan Eden of old.” The state of Adam in Gan Eden was the root of happiness.

In the future, we will once again have this happiness. We will also fix up our sadness; Chazal say that Tisha B’av will be transformed into a Yom Tov.

The Root Of Sadness - Amalek

We have explained what the root of happiness is. What is the root of sadness?

Sadness is rooted in Amalek. Amalek is called “the first” of the nations, and they are also the heads of the Erev Rav (the “Mixed Multitude” of Egyptians who left Egypt together with the Jewish people). The Erev Rav consists of five groups: Amalekim (Amalek), Refidim (“pursuers”), Giborim (“warriors”), Anakim (“giants”) and Nefilim (“fallen ones”).

Amalek causes sadness in the world both because they are the first of the nations, and both because they are the heads of the Erev Rav. Each of these two aspects in Amalek create a different kind of sadness, which we will explain.

There are two root kinds of sadness in Creation. One kind of sadness comes to us because of our element of earth in the soul; this is a materialistic kind of sadness that has to do with our body’s desires[1]. The body’s desires for materialism are responsible for this kind of sadness.

There is another kind of sadness, which has to do with our mind. This is the sadness caused by our doubts. “There is no happiness like the clarification of doubts[2].”

Both kinds of sadness came about through Adam’s sin. There were two curses of sadness that came because of this sin – “With pain shall you eat,” and “With pain shall you bear children.” The sin of eating from the eitz hadaas damaged our daas and created a sadness that can come from our mind; this was the pain of childbirth. The other kind of sadness comes from materialism – this is the pain of having to work hard in order to make a living.

Amalek also causes “coldness.” Of Amalek it is written, “And they met you on the way.” The word “met”, korcha, is rooted in kor, “cold.” Sadness also causes a person to feel a certain coldness toward spiritual matters.

The perfect happiness of the future will fix the damaged caused by the Erev Rav. The five “sounds” by a wedding are really meant to counter the five evil groups of the Erev Rav.

Chochmah and Daas

In the mind, there are two distinct powers that are unique – Chochmah and Daas. They are not the same thing.

Had Adam and Chavah not eaten from the eitz hadaas, they would have remained with Chochmah. The whole temptation to eat from the eitz hadaas was because they wanted to exchange their Chochmah for the Daas, which is a higher kind of knowledge that they wanted to have. (When they ate from the tree, not only did they not receive this Daas, but they received the evil kind of Daas).

What is the difference between Chochmah and Daas?

Chochmah is the knowledge that one receives from his teachers. In our Chochmah, we sometimes make use of our power of imagination, by comparing facts. But Daas is a kind of knowledge we use which does not involve our imagination. It is above the imagination.

When Hashem created man, He said, “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness.” “In our image”, betzalmeinu, is the root of Daas. “In our likeness”, kedemuseinu, is the root of Chochmah. Thus, Chochmah and dimayon (imagination, which is the power of kedemuseinu) have some relation, while Daas is a power that is above the imagination.

When a person has doubts, his Daas has been impaired and lowered to the level of imagination. Doubts are essentially a mind that has been taken over by imagination.

We have so far mentioned the two roots of sadness – sadness rooted in materialism, and a deeper kind of sadness, which is the sadness of doubts. Both kinds of sadness can be fixed through happiness.

Fighting Amalek Through Dancing

Channah said, “Olatz libi b’kirbi.” (“My heart rejoices in me”). Olatz has the same letters leitz eiyin, to “scoff with the eyes.” There is an evil kind of scoffing, leitzanus, which is the power represented by Amalek. To counter this, we scoff back at them. How do we do this? This is when we have our own leitzanus – “olatz.” What is olatz? Olatz is to be happy upon dancing. When we use our feet to dance, we lift our feet off the ground, and in this act we are able to make “light” of the evil of Amalek.

With olatz – dancing – we are able to ward off the evil of the other nations, represented by Amalek.

Fighting The Erev Rav Through Inner Happiness

But in order to fight off the Erev Rav, we need a higher kind of happiness. Dancing is only happiness that manifests itself in our feet, which can fight off the other nations. But the Erev Rav can only be defeated by a higher kind of happiness – the true happiness, which is found only in the heart – “And to the upright of heart, (He has implanted) happiness.”

The happiness we have on Purim is a happiness of the heart. “And the city of Shushan was full of tzahalah (rejoicing) and simcha (happiness).” The joy of what is called “tzahalah” is precisely the kind of happiness which can fight off the evil of the Erev Rav. What is the happiness of tzahalah?

Tzahalah is a happiness of the heart. It is not the same thing as olatz, but it is a more internal kind of a happiness. Olaz is when you dance, so it’s not yet a happiness of the heart – it’s only a happiness of the feet. It’s enough of a happiness to ward off the evil of Amalek and the other seventy nations, but it’s not enough to fight the evil of the Erev Rav, which is a deeper kind of evil. To fight off the evil of the Erev Rav, we need a deeper happiness – a happiness of the heart. What exactly is this happiness?

“There is no happiness like the clarification of doubt[3].” When we are free of doubts, there is happiness.

The whole idea of Purim is to remove our doubts, to repair our damaged Daas. We must remove our “cheshbonos rabim” – the various “many calculations” we have which do not involve serving the Creator – and come to the yashrus (uprightness).

Only through yashrus can we have happiness – “And to the upright of heart, happiness.”

Two Ways To Fix Sadness

Thus, there are two different ways to fix our sadness. It depends on what is the root of the sadness.

If we are sad because of our materialism, such sadness comes from the element of earth in us. Earth is heavy; the way to oppose our inner heaviness is by being “light”. We can do this by dancing.

But if one is sad because of his doubts, his sadness is deeper. It is rooted in his daas, which has been affected by the doubts (and as a result, it has become lowered to the level of imagination). The way to fix this kind of sadness is through yashrus (uprightness). How does a person have yashrus?

The way to have yashrus is to remove the “cheshbonos rabim” – the various “many calculations” that a person has, desires which have nothing to do with serving the Creator.

This is when a person uncovers from within himself an inner yashrus – the “yishrei lev,” “uprightness of heart”.

The Perfect Happiness Of The Future

In the future, a third kind of happiness will be revealed, which will be the perfect happiness. This is a happiness that will be derived from the Creator. “We will rejoice and be happy in You.”

The happiness of Yom Tov comes to counteract the sadness caused by the seventy nations of the world, headed by Amalek. Yom Tov is called shalosh regalim, which hints to regel – “foot.” The happiness of Yom Tov is happiness manifested in the feet, which is when one dances.

Purim comes to counteract the sadness caused by the Erev Rav. The happiness of Purim is happiness in one’s heart, which is when one reaches his yashrus by removing his cheshbonos rabim.

But the most perfect kind of happiness will only be in the future. This is even deeper than the happiness of the heart. This will be a happiness in Hashem alone – “In You.”

The whole world today is full of sadness. Why? The deep reason for this is because really, there is no real vitality on this world. The entire world today is so devoid of any real life, and this is because there is no wisdom to be found in the world today. There is no real life on the world – only death.

The perfect happiness will only be revealed in the future, when Hashem will be revealed on the world. Chazal say that in the future, Hashem will rule over every single part of the body. This is the most perfect happiness – happiness from living with Hashem…