The Happiest Man
Rabbi Ron Shulman
Shabbat Vayikra 5771
Every day for the past three years, the Gallup organization has been polling 1,000 randomly selected Americans asking them about their well-being. Included are questions about stress, work satisfaction, family life, eating habits, and a variety of other indicators of life quality.
In the most recent survey results, people who live in Maryland ranked 14th in overall well-being. People who live in Hawaii ranked first!
This is my favorite survey question. “Did you experience feelings of happiness during a lot of the day yesterday?” The people who felt happy most often during the day live in Hawaii.
To synthesize this survey, the New York Times asked Gallup to come up with a statistical composite for the happiest person in America, based on the answers to questions most associated with being happy.
Here’s the composite result for the happiest person in America. Imagine a tall, Asian-American man who is an observant Jew. He’s at least 65 and married with children. He lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 per year.
Now, listen to this. It turns out that living in Honolulu is a gentleman named Alvin Wong. He is 5-foot-10, 69 years old, a Chinese-American, and an observant Jew. Mr. Wong and his wife have children. He runs his own health care management business and earns more than $120,000 per year. How did the New York Times find America’s happiest man? They called his synagogue!
When told that he fit the composite description as America’s happiest person, Mr. Wong shared his thoughts. “My life philosophy is, if you can’t laugh at yourself, life is going to be pretty terrible for you.” He also thought the whole thing was a prank.
Mr. Wong’s insight sets us up for Purim. Be happy, the Jewish calendar tells us. It’s Adar! Lighten up! We can’t always carry the burden of redeeming the world, of seeking goodness, and of all we worry about. We’ve got to take a day off.
We take ourselves and our Jewish mission so seriously. It will be Passover thirty days after Purim. On that holiday, we’ll get serious again. On Purim, in our costumes and silliness, we agree with Mr. Wong. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, life is going to be pretty tough.
In addition to setting up Purim for this year, the Gallup composite is intriguing. Here’s my midrash, my interpretation of what it says about us.
Happiness derives from acquiring life wisdom. (I take this from being at least 65.)
Happiness comes from immersion in a cultural heritage. (I base this in the ethnic description Asian-American.)
Happiness emerges from religious ritual and ethical conduct. (This is suggested to me by the observance of Jewish tradition.)
Happiness is rooted in a sense of independence and responsibility toward others. (I find this in owning a business and earning a good living.)
Happiness grows out of sharing your life with others. (This is represented by marriage and family.)
Happiness includes a sense of self-esteem. (This is my twist on being tall.)
And it doesn’t hurt to live in a nice place!
One element of this description, however, needs greater emphasis. I am fascinated that observing Jewish ritual is a factor in Gallup’s composite of what it means to be happy, to enjoy a high quality of life.
This means that out of 1,000 random daily respondents to the survey, they either spoke to a lot of observant Jews, or those religious Jews with whom they did speak were really happy people.
Notice, it wasn’t generic religious ritual that the survey identified, though I used that in my interpretation. It was specifically Jewish observance that was cited as an element of overall happiness, or emotional well-being.
Why? What is it about Jewish celebration and ritual practice that leads to feelings of satisfaction or contentment?
Earlier this morning we studied the opening chapter of Vayikra. There we saw that the offerings to God filling the first chapters of Leviticus are all about ritual, described as gifts of pleasing scent to the Lord.
The rabbis explain it isn’t the aroma that God desires. Rather, God’s satisfaction, nahat, or can we say happiness, comes from the Jewish people acting on what they understand God’s will to be.
Let’s think about this a bit more. Jewish celebration and ritual traditions are acts that demonstrate what we believe. They place awareness of God into our routines, and they symbolize our emotions and hopes. They reinforce our ethics and ideals.
The rites of Jewish practice are sources of beauty and pageantry beyond our normal activities. They establish a bond with others through time and place. They point to the sacred and infuse our days with meaning.
Awareness of the sacred, demonstration of genuine emotion, striving for the promise of our ideals, infusing our lives with beauty, living in relationship to others, discovering the meaning of our days; these are the most profound elements of happiness our lives can ever know.
Learn with me from a second text. Toward the end of Megillat Esther, when relief has come to the Jews of Shushan, we read: “Mordecai left the king’s presence in royal robes of blue and white, with a magnificent crown of gold and a mantle of fine linen and purple wool. And the city of Shushan rang with joyous cries. The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor. La’Yehudim hai-tah orah v’simha, v’sason vi’kar.”
The Talmudic Rabbi Judah, based in other Biblical statements, interprets this verse along the same lines we’re considering. “Light,” he teaches, “means Torah.” Let’s call it the wisdom of life. “Gladness means feasting on a holiday,” in other words celebration with others. “Happiness means circumcision,” which represents our people’s covenant with God. “Honor means tefillin,” which is of course ritual and the demonstration of our beliefs. In other words, happiness is built upon wisdom and insight, celebration and community, and the concrete expression of our values.
Data in the recently released demographic study of our Baltimore Jewish community clearly records that those who include regular patterns of Jewish celebration and ritual in their lives find the greatest happiness in being Jewish.
The Gallup poll seems to suggest something similar. A feature of genuine happiness in life is Jewish celebration, as declared by real people who are more and less happy in the places and circumstances of their lives.
Getting ready for Purim and celebrating this Shabbat, when we get home let’s each reflect upon the sources of our own happiness guided by the Psalm’s declaration, “Happy are all who live in awe of the Eternal, who follow God’s ways. You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors; you shall be happy and you shall prosper.”
© 2011 Rabbi Ronald J. Shulman
