Lifting 50 Pound Weights and Finding True Joy

0:00איזה טורקלאס is brought to you by Torahanytime.com How can someone be toiling and resting at the same time? And the answer is that hard work on true rest and not contradictions when the work is enjoyable and meaningful. Toiling for something you love doing, something you believe in, something meaningful does not rob you of peace, it creates it. This is saying, working hard for something we don't enjoy is called stress. But working hard for something we love doing is called passion.

1:00If you're stuck in a dead end job, every day feels like an eternity. You come home feeling drained. But if you're making millions of dollars, you can't wait to get your office in the morning and work hard. Yaka o'vino said, Yusacha's role was to sit in the basement and learn Torah. The sit for hours, day after day, is a much more than an offer. Toiling with intensity, pushing yourself to understand the choices, that is way more than that. There's no greater than that. That is the greatest pleasure this world has to offer. Rebneuch Weinberg said, was once giving a lecture in Aisha Torah and he asked the audience, what is the opposite of pleasure? And the answer is pain. And he said wrong. The opposite of pleasure is comfort. And the class was confused. After all, pleasure and comfort are you synonymously? So Rebneuch explained, a person can be an intense pain and simultaneously feel enormous pleasure.

2:02For example, saw a lifting 50 pound weights in a gym and sweating. It looks like they're in great pain. But internally, they're experiencing tremendous satisfaction, tremendous joy. Real pleasure in life comes from hard work and struggle and then achievement. Pain is often the price we pay for real lasting pleasure. Comfort, on the other hand, is when you don't bother getting out of bed in the morning. Yiddish qaid is not about comfort. It's not comfortable to be a Jew, but we understand something deeper. The pleasure is in the effort and the struggle itself. And the opposite is also true. A person can be do something outwardly pleasurable, like eating a big piece of strawberry shortcake. And at the very same time, it feels profoundly sad. We often fill ourselves with pleasures and material possessions and attempt to feel happy. Yet, we see some of the most opulent, some of the most privileged societies are plagued by depression and anxiety.

3:03So what is true happiness? True happiness is when a person reaches inner peace and tranquility, a deep sense of satisfaction and contentment. And that is only achieved when one lives a life of meaning and purpose. The joy of materialism is temporary and fleeting, because the soul craves something deeper, meaningful, spiritual pleasure. Victor Frankel, the renowned derologists and psychiatrists and Holocaust survivor, devoted his life to studying and teaching the power of meaning, and his famous book, Man's Search for Meaning. He describes how he survived the horrors of the Holocaust by finding personal meaning even in the darkest circumstances. And that meaning gave him the will to live. He later developed an entire philosophy of therapy based on one core truth. Man's deepest drive is not pleasure, not comfort, but a will to live a life of meaning, even in the most difficult situations.

4:03And that is the blessing of Isachar. They carry the burden. And in that very burden, find Manuha, to struggle and through that struggle to discover joy. To live a life that's not easy, not comfortable, but deeply meaningful. And that is the kind of life that brings lasting happiness. And now we know. Have a wonderful day.