30 years ago a situation arose because of a person’s ill feeling, even justified, that jeopardized Ascent and a solution could not be found.
I was pacing back and forth nervously. Rabbi Schneur Zalman Gafni, one of Ascent’s teachers, sensed a problem and asked me about it. After describing the details, he said, “Kee b’simcha tey’tzai’u. The straight translation is, “When your departure is with joy, your arrival will be in peace.” He looked me in the eye and said, “If you want to ‘get out of it’ in peace, it has to be by starting with happiness. Your only choice is to be HAPPY!” Happiness, as the chasidic saying goes, breaks through all barriers.
His words brought me back to reality. This is one of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s most well-known teachings, only I had never applied it to myself. Thank G-d, I followed the advice and eventually the matter was resolved for the benefit of everyone. Try it yourself and prepared to be amazed.
People automatically assume since my Jewish birthday is Shushan Purim, the 15th of Adar, one of the happiest days of the Jewish calendar, that I have a happy disposition. Not true. Being in a state of happiness is a challenge that I have to work on. As is quoted in the name of Mark Twain, “I spent much of my life worrying about things that NEVER happened.”
What can we do about it? Let me share with you a formula that works!
Chasidut teaches us that the way to “sweeten the severities” is, first and foremost, have faith that things will work out well. Your faith must infuse your whole being. It is something that takes effort.
Second – dig. Find some positive detail even in the most dark and negative events and focus on it. This draws on a supernal divine space to transform darkness to light.
Finally, and perhaps the most important, act happy! Smile, breathe deeply, sing and dance every day, whenever and as much as possible!
The Rebbe taught that during leap years (like this year) there is a special additional technique to transform negative to positive. In a regular year, Adar is known as the happiest month. In a Jewish leap year, instead of one month of Adar, there are two! 60 days of Adar! 60 days of happiness.
The Talmud, (Chulin 97a) teaches what you do when a quantity of milk or a slab of soft butter inadvertently fell into a pot of hot meaty soup. The answer is, if the quantity of soup is 60 times the quantity of the milk or butter, the ‘identity’ of milk or butter is lost in the overpowering quantity of soup. Like it never happened.
The Rebbe said the same thing about the double month, 60 days of Adar, and the negative things in our lives. If we make a point of being out of the ordinarily happy for all 60 days, not just in our heads, but in our actions too, all the negative influences will be”H simply disappear, or at least become manageable.
In 1984, when Ascent began, R’ Moshe Wisnefsky, R’ Yerachmiel Tilles and I received a full page letter from the Rebbe, something quite unusual. The defining line in the letter was, “It can be seen tangibly that activities done with happiness and enthusiasm succeed much more!”
The Rebbe closed that he was writing not just for the Ascent founders, but as though he was writing individually to each person connected to Ascent.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe just sent you a message!
May it be a very happy Adar!
Shaul