Increasing Joy
„Let him truly picture to himself the things that sadden his spirit, and let him deepen and understand with his intellect that even for the things that are the greatest causes for sadness, there is in them no true path of sorrow.”From Ein Ayah, Berachot, Chapter 5, Section 15
"When Adar enters, we increase in joy"! At times there is a thought that joyful people are disconnected people, and against this come the words of Rav Kook: the call to joy is a request that we dare to look honestly, without masks and without repression in our lives, and out of this we rejoice. Rav Kook does not propose a joy that denies difficulty, but a deep awareness that is able to contain the complexity of reality and to see, even within the hard places, the call to grow stronger, to grow, and to orient oneself toward the purpose of life. When a person internalizes that in the world there is providence and meaning, even what at first appears as a justified cause for sadness receives another dimension of inner transformation. Joy is an engine of coping but also an engine that drives a better life. Not an escape, but a goal!
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.