I’m not usually the type to obsess about my financial situation, or to think too much about the things I don’t have. Israelis seem a little less materialistic than people in other Western countries and I am blessed to have a full-time job in high-tech, an apartment in Modi’in, a car, etc.
But I must admit that my recent trip to visit my family and friends in Boston (near Boston, technically) shook me up a little bit.
Part of the happiness of Hanukkah (beyond the delicious latkes and sufganiyot, of course) is knowing our purpose, which is a crucial ingredient for experiencing simcha (Jewish joy).
In his amazing book Man’s Search for Meaning, Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl (z’l) details his life philosophy. A man who suffered through the worst life has to offer realized:
Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a ‘secondary rationalization’ of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning (page 121 in the paperback edition).
How does this relate to Hanukkah?
I am starting this blog in October 2014 in a state of sadness.
There are so many blessings in my life and don’t get me wrong, I experience many moments of great happiness. And yet I’m all too often unhappy. I have been binge eating in secret to dull my feelings, although I’m not sure how much of a secret it is, because I’m overweight and out of shape (I’m on blood pressure medication at the age of 38).
