Happiness and Worry

The Orchot Tzaddikim speaks of parallel positive and negative character traits. The chapters of the book, reflect this idea.

There is a chapter on arrogance, followed by one on humility. There is love and hate, miserliness and generosity, and other similar parallel traits.

It is most fascinating that the opposite of happiness in this book is not sadness, but worry. The simple explanation is that one’s worries deny him the ability to be happy.

Two of the greatest worriers in the Torah were the butler and the baker. Yosef seems them one morning and notices that they had a forlorn expression on their faces. They explained to him that they were both troubled by their dreams of the previous night.

The Rabbis have discussed the subject of worry, known as דאגה. There is bad worry that takes away joy, but there is also good worry.

There is a story of a rabbi who noticed a Jew looking very worried. He said to him, “ If you are worried about matters of this world, stop worrying. But if you are worried about spiritual matters and your serving Hashem, worry more!”

This is a very important idea. We must know what is important and what is not. And we must know what is temporary and what is permanent.

Material worry removes our happiness. Spiritual worry adds to our joy.