The Talmud's SHOCKING statement about JOY

we're getting to a point where we're getting closer and closer to the messiah's arrival and as we get closer to messiah's arrival we have to think about Joy differently Joy has a new role in Judaism okay friends The Story begins we are starting the next passage in tal mod we are going to explore the role of joy in Judaism and believe it or not the permissiveness of joy in Judaism we start with a passage from the Tom in br 31a in the link that we have sent should be probably three paragraphs in um I don't have the same exact English text is you because I'm using a hard copy so the translation is going to be slightly um not congruent with yours but raban said in the name of RAB Shimon you guys see it it's prohibited for a person to fill their mouth with laughter in this world a seemingly extreme statement it's prohibited for a person to fill their mouth with laughter in this world as the verse states that then our mouths will be fold filled with laughter and our tongues with singing then meaning the future era right when Messiah comes in the future era we're going to sing we're going to be glad we're going to be laughing implying that now is not the time for laughter now is not the time for that when during the time that the Nations will say that God is great with all of these things they said concerning Rees again this was a statement stated by raban so concerning R who was a study partner with raban and almost like a student raban they said that in his days he never filled his mouth with laughter in this world as soon as he heard this statement from RAB he took it really seriously and never left okay this is a wild statement the Tom's telling us don't fill yourself with laughter don't be joyous be all serious and this is gonna put kabad out of business what are we gonna do man um this this raises all sorts of philosophical or theological questions about Judaism how are we supposed to understand uh the role of joy in Judaism based on this talmudic statement to put things um in context especially since the the way the cabalists understand the role of Joy I mean it's it's fundamental to Judaism I have here a loose quote from a teaching by he writes in one of his teachings that sadness Melancholy is not from a place of Holiness is not godly that's not a Godly thing it's not a holy thing it's not a happy thing in fact that is the pathway or the doorstep as it were to kipa but kipa is what we refer to in cabalistic lingo as the negative energy that makes us see life superficially as opposed to kadua opposed to Holiness which gives us the lenses of what life truly is the life of God and truth and Hol and joy is going to be holy it's going to be Godly sadness is the gateway to kipa is the gateway to a life that is superficial a life that is fake in fact the famed Reon of Carlin once said that it doesn't say anywhere explicitly in the Torah Thou shalt not be sad right it's not an explicit sin he says however it is worse than any sin it could take you down further down than any sin can ever take because when we have sadness and we have Melancholy we don't mean being sad over a specific situation me Melancholy is really a better a better translation when we experience negativity especially when that negativity disguises itself as something holy and Justified it takes us towards all sorts to dark scary places it's a bad thing um all this to highlight the role of joy in Judaism what do the talud say what is this statement the prohibition of filling our mouths with joy our mouths with laughter now I I just want to give some more context over here to this statement this is part of the a of the talud right there's two parts of the talud the a which means the more philosophical parts of talud the the law of tal this statement happens to be both because this statement in the talud appears in the in the code of Jewish law and the commentaries on the trace this back to the tal and site the application well when is it prohibited to be um to fill our mouths with laughter in this world when the T says that what is it referring to there's two opinions amongst the commentaries some say it's referring to Exile basas has been destroyed how could we possibly Rejoice which means during the second temple ERA this would no longer this would be a moot point right this the prohibition of laughter is based on a verse that we had cited from the book of Psalms by King David which was prior to the second temple era during the first temple era or prophesizing that during the second temple area the Temple's rebuilt maybe you should be able to be happy some say it has nothing to do with the temple it has to do with the Yates or har up apparently too much laughter can lead to fraly and fraly being frivolous invites the at har invites the evil impulse invites sin invites negativity so the tal as well as the code of Jewish law warn us don't laugh don't fill your mouth with laughter again that leads us back to the question well what is the role of joy in Judaism both the cabalists explain the important of Jud of Joy even in Hal talks about the importance of Joy when doing Mitzvah even in the Book of Psalms King David says serve god with joy so I'm going to share with you a few answers answer number one is kind of a technical answer and it's not going to do justice but it is going to help a little bit answer number one look at the text of the tal because every single word is Meaningful the text says I'm going to read it in Hebrew then I'll translate it says the name of I read in Hebrew and then I'll translate it's prohibited for a person to fill laughter in his mouth in this world don't be full of laughter have laughter just don't overdo it don't be full of laughter in other words everything in moderation laughter joy that that those are good things the moment we overdo it it becomes excessive then there's the concern that it leads to fraly inviting thear up inviting the evil impulse okay again that is an approach I would not say that's that necessarily my Approach just hold on here don't shut off the vi if you're not watching this live don't shut this off yet another commentary points out again let's look at the words persons shouldn't fill their mouths with laughter implying that there is something else that should be filled with laughter just not your mouth and that's your heart and apparently based on the Zohar there's this importance of having deep inner joy in our relationship with God our relationship with the soul our relationship with Judaism our relationship with each other but if it's in the mouth but not in the heart if it's external not internal we're missing something and that's why it says don't fill your mouth with laughter doesn't say don't laugh doesn't say don't be joyous it doesn't say don't celebrate just shouldn't be filled in your mouth to the exclusion of your heart it should be deep should be real should be something we feel in our guts it should come from a deeper Source it should come from our soul it shouldn't just be an outer Behavior otherwise it seems like it's prohibited seems like this is a real problem there's another explanation and I think this is very in line with one of the talks of the LA that I was reading again let's look at the words a person shouldn't fill their mouths with laughter which means in this world well where could you laugh or in the next World so there's another translation the prefix B Be prefix be or B in Hebrew can mean in so in this world it could also mean with with this world a person shouldn't fill their mouths with laughter with worldly matters when it comes to being worldly when it comes to worldly pleasures when it comes to things that our animal Soul draws us toward or our Yahara draws us toward that's not where we should be experiencing laughter and joy with this world in the world yes with the world no our joy has to be toward uh um Mitzvah and and in one of his talks I was reading a talk from the in 1953 where he explained he quoted this talud and he says that a person should have um joy in this world when it comes to serving God because when it comes to serving God that Joy is actually going to help when it comes to serving God that Joy is going to enable the relationship to be complete in other words one of the things that Joy does and other words Joy is necessary just not with worldly things but when it comes to a relationship with God when we have joy it turns the relationship into being from being behavioral to complete to being holistic from something that we do to something who we are that's a complete intimate relationship without Joy there's no intimacy because without Joy there's simply just behaviors there's just actions the moment we Infuse our service with joy there's a holistic connection an internal connection very important um one of the things that does it does does two things number one it motivates Us number two creates a holistic relationship the the previous used to talk about this a lot he used to say that when soldiers go out to war they sing they have a March because that Joy creates energy creates passion creates motivation and he says as Jew we're on a March because we're out to war right to fight Darkness to fight negativity to bring light and truth and meaning to ourselves to the world and like soldiers we have to have a March we have to have joy we have to have SIM and one of the things that's going to do is that's going to carry us up that's going to lift us up number of decades ago there was a rabbi named Alman scherson related to the he was a rabbi in France he was visiting kabad world headquarters for the high holidays he was there for he was there for and prior to the hakas the dancing of with the toras they had a little for praying in s him get together they say they get in the mood they Inspire each other they encourage each other lalman was not in a healthy condition at this point he was not ambulatory he was in a wheelchair couldn't walk and you know they're for bringing he requests that one of the student oh by the way he couldn't have alcohol either right so it's a bit of a dry for bringing no alcohol and he can't even walk so it's like what's this going to look like right he asks one of the Yesa students to please get him a Tanya he opens the Tanya to chapter 33 and he begins to read where the AL the author of The Tanya addresses what to do when somebody needs more Soul Joy needs a soul charge needs a spark of joy in their service to God and he reads like those one or two lines and he was just so inspired by it he literally popped out of his chair and started dancing without even realizing it people were shocked because the moment we have joy in our relationship with God however heavy it's going to feel it's it's going to be lifted up we're going to lift up we're going to take flight Joy makes things lighter makes the relationship lighter because it makes the relationship more intimate because it transforms the relationship from just Behavior to being holistic and intimate so when the talud says it's prohibited to have um to fill our mouths with laughter in this world that actually means with this world our joy shouldn't be focused on the world our joy should be focused in the world but with God I was recently reading a powerful talk from the in 1988 and you'll soon see how you know in general one thing you see about the rebis talks you know there's reoccurring themes whether it's about the Messiah whether it's about Joy whether it's about the soul connection or whatever it may be but starting from like 1987 maybe 1988 the reevis talks took like a new shape a lot more powerful a lot more I say this respectfully but radical the Reit Shar sh a radical approach to Joy very different than he had been sharing until now the Reb said this in 1988 he said we're getting to a point where we're getting closer and closer to the messiah's arrival and as we get closer to messiah's arrival he says we have to think about Joy differently Joy has now taken a new um has a new role in Judaism this is what he said there's a new role that Joy has in Judaism we used to think of joy as a mechanism I have to do what I need to do I have to do Mitzvah I have to study Torah I have to connect to God I have to do whatever I got to do and joy is a mechanism to make it more pleasant to make it more intimate to make it more meaningful to make it more to make it easier it's a mechanism in other words technically you don't need you know it's a means to an end in 1988 the Reb said we no longer we have to stop thinking about joy as a mechanism as a means to an end we have to see Joy itself as a service to God Joy itself is what brings msia not just doing a Mitzvah with joy but the joy itself is Godly The Joy itself is divine and here's the reason why what is joy joy is true Joy the truest pure there's different types of Joy right even spiritually but the purest form of joy is experiencing the truth of God in its purest form not just how I like to experience God the way I like to feel inspired right which is subjective right there's you ask every single one of us what it feels like to experience God you might have a different experience different emotional right it's subjective but if I can experience the truth of God which is what's going to happen in the Messianic era I'm going to have true Joy I'm gonna have the purest form of Joy um in the mess when mhia comes as Isaiah prophesies that the world will be full of the knowledge of God we're literally going to get to know God in a deep intimate meaningful way and this is going to be true with the experienced in the Bas of Mikes the third Bas of mkes and by the way just to illustrate how pure This Joy is going to be the talwood says that the it's it's in toward the end of tractate tius it says that the construction of the B mikash was done with joy well here's the thing it didn't last which means the joy wasn't so complete the revelation of God it represented wasn't so complete the first Bas of M this last 410 years the second 420 years there was an incomplete joy we know that the third Bas of mius is going to last eternally which means it's a complete revelation of God a pure revelation of God there's going to be this pure meaningful Joy not a worldly Joy a Godly joy and the Reb said when we start experiencing that Joy now and when we try to activate that Joy now not just do a Mitzvah with joy but literally just celebrate being Jewish celebrate the soul celebrate our relationship with God celebrate truth we're starting to live the reality of what's going to take place when mhia comes and start and we Usher it in closer we bring it closer literally just having pure Soul Joy brings mhia closer because that's what that era is going to look like and we start living it now we start bringing it in closer through Joy the re that same talk points out that the Hebrew word mashia and Sim share the same root word the same three-letter root sh or because there's an intrinsic connection between joy and mhia and through joy we bring mhia through joy we bring Redemption to the world through joy we bring God to the world we tell God hey we're starting to dance with you without you you better get here we're ready we're ready like going back to the statement in the tal says in the name of it's prohibited for a person to fill their mouth with joy in this world not in this world with the world our joy shouldn't be focused on the world should be focused on God in other words you have the capacity for for Joy whether you like it or not where are you going to direct it are you going to direct it toward God or are you going to direct it toward our own you know self-serving toward our purpose or self-serving and that's why the T says that in his days never filled his mouth with laughter in with this world as a worldly matter of course he was Joy you have to be joyous but not as a worldly thing as a Godly thing which is a big statement for R lakish because R lakish has his history he's known to have had his past he's a balua he was a thief he was inspired by RAB Yan to come back to his Judaism and he embraced the true Joy embraced the true Joy of Judaism okay that's my story sticking to it