According to halakha (Jewish
law), when a person experiences a joyous event – such as buying a new piece of
clothing, or meeting a long-lost friend – he is enjoined to say the shehecheyanu
blessing thanking God who has “granted us life,
sustained us, and brought us to this
moment in time.” When the joy is not merely individual but is shared with
others, the blessing is a different one. As stated in the Talmud
(Brachot 59b): “For his own [joyous occasion] he says: ‘Baruch...shehecheyanu
ve-kiymanu’; [but] for his own and someone else’s, he says: ‘Barukh ha-tov
ve-hametiv’ (...Who is good [to me] and bestows good [upon others]).”
To understand why I feel the
need tonight to recite the blessing of hatov ve-hametiv, we must
understand the meaning of joy. Here I wish to mention the notion of “flow,” a
term coined by one of the outstanding scholars of happiness in recent decades,
Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In our happiest moments, he suggests, we
experience flow. But what is flow? He describes it as
being completely involved in an activity
for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and
thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole
being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost.
Yesterday I spent an entire day with the Academic Advisory
Committee of the Mandel Leadership Institute,
discussing the Institute’s role in Israeli society. One of the Committee
members, Dr. Meir Buzaglo, suggested that we ask ourselves not only what the
problems are in this society, and what we have to offer, but also a different
question: To what extent are we making use of the opportunities that we have?
And this is the reason for my joy: All of us who are sitting
here, and working and learning here, have the tremendous privilege of living
and exemplifying coexistence – of building here at the Mandel Leadership Institute a beit midrash where a sincere "argument for
the sake of heaven" about our
common future can take place.
While "street corner gossipers" preach division and
hatred, we who are sitting in this place of learning are choosing a different
path, in accordance with our weekly portion – a path in which we “do not side
with the majority to do wrong.”
Yes, we are a minority. But we are a minority that is slowly
changing the face of Israeli society.
I am happy, then, not because we have succeeded or because
we have realized our vision, but because we are totally focused on doing what
we do for its own sake, and on using our skills to the utmost.
I wish us all an enlightening evening, and I say the
blessing along with you: Barukh ha-tov ve-hametiv.
From the opening
remarks by Dr. Eli Gottlieb at the Bimat Mandel forum on Israel’s emergent Haredi
social leadership.