a few months ago, we hosted a family that had recently made Aliyah for a Shabbat meal. we were discussing with this family their "klita" (absorption) into israeli life and society. for a sundry of reasons, the husband and wife were both suffering from varying levels of cognitive dissonance about their decision to make Aliyah. on one hand, they knew it was the "right" thing to do, while at the same time, just could not be happy.
after discussing several "disadvantages" to the lifestyle that all of us at the table had chosen (being far from family, financial challenges, no sundays off from work), the husband asked me, "in light of these issues, why are you happy here?" i told him in all honesty that simply waking up in the morning and going through my day knowing that i live in the land promised to my nation by the Almighty makes me happy. how could i not be happy when i'm fulfilling the dream that all of my ancestors would have died for? in response, the man said to me, "you've been here for 11 years and you're still singing that tune? doesn't it get old?"
i guess i can see where he's coming from in that if you don't have that "love affair", you can't convince yourself that it's there. what buys me this happiness?
a recent forbes.com article tells us that in general, money DOES buy us happiness since their global survey of the happiest countries results primarily in wealthy countries ranking at the top. a short glance down the list, (make sure to click on the above link to see the table and then to click-through to the full article too), one finds that israel is the 8th happiest place in the world. so, the debate continues of whether money can buy you happiness (i remember learning and reviewing several academic articles to both sides of this argument). one thing is for sure though in this matter. money has not bought me this happiness, nor that of many of the thousands of people polled. i don't know how to answer it, but yes. i am still singing that tune.
2 days ago

.jpg)


