I was going to post something else today, another installment of The Daniel Amos Chronicles, but happened to see this piece from Rabbi Marc Gellman, Worry. Don’t Be Happy, and just had to post this instead.
This is the 2nd time I’ve linked to a Gellman article; I am not necessarily a Gellman “fan” and don’t read him “religiously.” However, I do often appreciate his perspective; there seems to be something about Jewish philosophy – obviously based on God as revealed in the O.T. – that Christians lack, at least American Christians. We seem to have misplaced our roots along the way, more or less adopting our various western philosophies and then applying a Christian overlay. But, I’m no expert on Jewish philosophy, so perhaps similar problems exist – in any event, I do appreciate this perspective on occasion.
So, I’ll sign off with this snippet from the Rabbi:
Happiness for our culture is pleasure, and pleasure is selfish. Happiness for Judaism is goodness, and goodness is transcending.
