Hot answers tagged simchah-joy-happiness
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Likutei Moharan II 48:
וְדַע, שֶׁהָאָדָם צָרִיך לַעֲבר עַל גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאד מְאד וְהַכְּלָל וְהָעִקָּר שֶׁלּא יִתְפַּחֵד כְּלָל
According to Wikipedia, the song adaptation was composed by Boruch Chait of The Rabbi's Sons.
Likutei Moharan II 24:
מִצְוָה גְּדוֹלָה לִהְיוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה תָּמִיד
8
That reminds me of the anecdote from Rabbi Emanuel Feldman's book, Tales Out of Shul. A woman once told him, "Rabbi, I'm really not enjoying this week of mourning."
Not everything in life (or Judaism) has to be enjoyable. Nor is it meant to be. At least not in the immediate gratification, self-centered sense of the word. Sometimes your enjoyment should not ...
8
The Nitei Gavriel - Purim Perek 11 #4 brings from the Yalkut Avraham Siman 686, that the Minhag was to put the משנכנס sign over the Zecher L'Charban area, since it is a Zeman Simcha.
Regarding hanging a Mishenechnas sign in the Shul - see page 262 - that the Minhag was to hang it on the Western wall of the Shul - where often that is where the entrance is.
...
6
A good summary of a lot of the pros and cons:
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1507393/jewish/Is-It-Okay-to-Celebrate-Bin-Ladens-Death.htm
A couple of key paragraphs:
For the same reason, Solomon tells you
not to rejoice over the fall of your
enemy. If that’s the reason you are
celebrating—because he is your enemy,
that you have ...
6
The teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the topic of Simcha are collected in a sefer called "Simcha Ubitachon B'Hashem" published by Heichel Menachem. The entire first chapter (some 60 pages) deals with the obligation of being happy.
One source that the Rebbe often mentioned: The Rambam writes (Hilchos Lulav Perek Ches, Halocha Tes Vov, English ...
4
Commentaries on Likutey Moharan (I think it's Parparos Lechochma but I'm not sure, as I'm looking in the English edition - b'n I'll try and look it up) bring the following sources for an actual mitzva of simcha:
Moshe Rabbenu chastised the Jewish people for not serving G-d with simcha.
David Hamelech says "serve G-d with simcha", which Rabbenu Bachya ...
4
The gemara in Megillah 5b quotes the Megillat Taanit which extends the restrictions of fasting and giving eulogies to both days in all places. Tosfot there (sv SheAsurim) says that this teaches that we don't say tachanun on either day because the days are not days of Tzara (pain) but days of Simcha (joy).
EDIT
The last Beit Yosef in Orach Chaim states that ...
4
Regarding the first quote "The whole world is a very narrow bridge..." I can only find "A man must traverse a very narrow bridge...". Perhaps the songwriter wrote the song based on those words which are attributed to Rabbi Nachman.
Regarding "It is a great mitzvah to be happy constantly". This is mentioned in Likuteh Morahan Tinyana 24
מצוה גדולה להיות ...
3
The Rama writes meat and wine by a seudas mitzvah davka and the food can only be eaten in the room of the siyum(Mishna Brurah 551:75).It seems that meat and wine are the only exception and it only applies during the seudah,not the rest of the day.
It should be noted that planning a siyum to davka come out during the nine days is not so pashut,even though ...
3
Just want to add a citation that I don't think any of the previously posted answers or comments mentioned, and that was mentioned by a local rav this Shabas: Sanhedrin 94. Rashi there gives two reasons Chizkiya should have said shira, one of which is having been saved from his enemies. A glance at navi will show that that salvation came about through the ...
3
Here is a recent translation, published on the Kol Harav blog, of an essay by R' Meir Simcha of Dvinsk on this topic. He shows how the precedent from how we observe the various "They tried to kill us and failed" holidays indicates that we do not rejoice at our enemies' downfall.
2
R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi, when discussing this minhag (and citing earlier sources about it), adds that we consider these days כעין יום טוב - "akin to a Yom Tov" (Orach Chaim 429:9).
In Hilchos Nefillas Apayim (131:5), he writes that tachanun is omitted when a groom is present, מפני שיום טוב שלו הוא - "because it is his Yom Tov"; on the day of a ...
2
During the week before the wedding the Chasson and Kallah do not see each other, so she can't go to the Aufruf.
Instead they hold a Shabbos Kallah for her. There is no source that I could find that requires this, it's just something people do to make the Kallah happy.
Note that this is an Ashkenazi custom, Sefardim don't have an Aufruf or a Shabbos Kallah.
...
2
Not sure if this answers your question, but here are a few anecdotes:
A central thesis of the Tanya is that a "super-righteous person" will never even have thoughts occurring to them to do bad things. A "normal" person will occasionally have such thoughts, and then not act on them. It's acknowledged that not everyone's role is to be a "super-righteous ...
1
This post differentiates between being happy in general and serving God in happiness. The latter of which seems to be your question. His conclusion (tl;dr) is:
As it appears to me, the Jewish attitude to simcha (happiness) is
nuanced. Proper simcha, though not a mitzva, can be desirable /
praiseworthy. Other simcha is undesirable, even forbidden. One ...
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