YONATAN HAMBOURGER & TZALI REICHER: Joy breaks barriers this troubled holiday season

As the holiday season has approached, many of us have eagerly anticipated the warm embrace of joy and happiness that typically accompanies this time of year. We eagerly await the festive decorations, the cozy gatherings with loved ones, and the giving of thoughtful gifts. Perhaps it’s a quirk of the calendar that somehow many faiths have celebrations in the winter months, be it Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa — but it is truly wondrous that there is a joyous holiday for anyone to participate in this festive season.

Holiday cheer is the typical sentiment that defines the month of December, but for countless people, finding joy and happiness this year feels heavier and more challenging than ever. The global events of the last few months, coupled with the many domestic challenges many of us, or people we know, have been facing, have left us grappling with uncertainty and isolation, and confusion about how to celebrate the holidays in good conscience.

And yet we must. We must find that mental bandwidth to celebrate our traditional holidays guilt-free, because only with joy and purpose can we overcome any challenge or adversity.

Let’s explore the importance of joy in Judaism, where the need to be happy is emphasized in many scriptures and teachings: Deuteronomy 28 warns the Jews of dire consequences if they do not serve God with happiness and gladness of heart. In Kings II, Chapter 3, we learn that even the prophet Elisha recognized the importance of joy in achieving prophecy. After King Yehoram of Israel aroused Elisha’s wrath, a minstrel had to play before him to lift his spirits before he could attain prophecy once again. This story illustrates that a prophet could only connect with the divine when in a state of happiness.

The Talmud further emphasizes the significance of joy by stating that the Divine Presence rests only on one who is joyous.

And finally, in the daily morning prayer, we are commanded to “serve God with joy,” as mentioned in Psalm 100. This commandment reminds us that joy is an integral part of our service to God. It is not enough to merely go through the motions; our hearts must be filled with joy and faith as we carry out our divine duties.

But why does God care about our mood? Why is it essential to serve Him with joy?

The answer is simple: Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi in his seminal work “The Tanya” explains that serving God without joy indicates a lack of faith. If someone is upset about their situation, and falls into a melancholic funk (excluding mental health conditions), they are in effect questioning the plan that God has for them.

In the midst of those “curve balls” that life throws at us, mustering the faith that it is God who has custom-made our challenges out of His love for us, invariably leads to joy, which is the secret to overcoming any challenge. The Jewish motto “joy breaks all boundaries’’ endures, while negativity and pessimism lead to apathy, paralysis and the abdication of personal responsibility.

This holiday season — precisely when the world feels dark and confusing — is a time for reflection, gratitude and joy.

It’s a time to thank God for and rejoice in the blessings that we have been granted — our families, our homes, our communities and other blessings we typically take for granted — and make an effort to share those blessings with others less fortunate than ourselves. Practicing this gratitude and taking stock of all the good things in our lives, while engaging in acts of service and community, will foster a sense of contentment and joy while making our challenges seem trivial and easily fixable in relation to all the positive things going on. Embracing traditional celebrations with family and friends can serve as an anchor in these troubled days.

Joy is not a mere fleeting emotion but a profound state of being that sustains us through adversity. It serves as a beacon of hope in the darkest of times, reminding us that even in the midst of turmoil we can find light and purpose. By embracing joy and gratitude, we can overcome the long winter darkness, together.