Beyond the Noise: Discovering the Quiet Joy of Adar | WATCH

As we approach the month of Adar, we are taught that it is time to work on happiness. But happiness in Judaism is often misunderstood. It is not partying, not alcohol, not jumping at concerts, and not the thrill of buying something new. Jewish happiness is something far quieter and deeper. It is when a person feels calm, settled, and at peace, when life feels fundamentally good. Could things be better? Perhaps. But even as they are, everything is okay.

This understanding of happiness is emphasized by the Chazon Ish, who defines true joy as inner calm. The question we must ask ourselves is simple but challenging: are we calm? Do we feel that our lives, as they are right now, are the best lives we could be living?

The Orchot Tzadikim explains that happiness rests on four pillars: faith in God, trust in God, common sense, and contentment.

For many years, my personal goal was to be happy, but it was not easy. By nature, I am pessimistic. I tend to take things personally, magnify problems, and view challenges as permanent. The key question, then, becomes: am I content?

At the end of the Ten Commandments, within which the entire Torah is contained, lies the commandment not to covet. The Vilna Gaon explains that this mitzvah is foundational. Can a person truly accept what they have without longing for what belongs to someone else?

This idea helps explain why Parashat Mishpatim begins with the laws of a Jewish thief who is sold into servitude. The Torah teaches that theft does not begin with action, it begins with dissatisfaction. When a person is unhappy with what they have, jealousy develops, and from jealousy comes theft.

When a person is calm with what they have, happiness follows. When a person can say, “What I have is right for me,” peace enters their life.

There is a difficult question raised regarding the Jewish servant. If he is already married, how can the Torah allow his master to give him a non-Jewish maidservant to bear children? How is that fair to his wife? The commentators explain something deeply uncomfortable: if the household had been content with what it had, the pressure to live beyond their means would not have existed, and the theft would never have happened. These ideas are difficult and far from our emotional intuition, but they highlight a powerful truth, lack of contentment creates spiritual and moral breakdown.

True contentment is not temporary acceptance. It is not saying, “I’ll tolerate this for now because things will improve later.” Real contentment means saying, “If this is my life, then this is exactly how it is meant to be.”

We refer to ourselves as an eved Hashem, a servant of God. This does not mean performing labor for God, He needs nothing from us. The word eved can be understood as an acronym: anavah (humility), bitachon (trust), and dibur (connection through speech and prayer). When a person truly trusts God and lives with humility, they can say, “Even though this life feels hard, it is still the best life possible.”

That is contentment. And that is Jewish happiness.