The Mishnah says in Pirkei Avot, “Eizehu Gibor, who is the strong person? Hakovesh et yitzro.” Someone who kovesh—it means, like, he captures—is Yetzer Hara (evil inclination). It means someone who has some self-discipline.
The question is, the Baal Shem Tov asks, Eizehu Gibor means you’re asking a question. It’s as if there are two strong people in front of you, and the question is, which one is the strong one? He says, “What does it mean? What do you mean, there are two strong people?” The Baal Shem Tov says this, and this is critical to understanding this whole concept. He says that when the Yetzer Hara comes—when the evil inclination comes—there are two ways to approach it. One way is to push it away. The Yetzer Hara says, “Eat that,” and you say, “No, I’m not supposed to eat that.” “Eat that.” “No, I’m not.” “No, eat that.” “No, I’m not going to eat that.” Another way to approach the Yetzer Hara is to take it and channel it.
He says, “Let me give you a little mashal (parable). Let’s say there’s a man who had a store. He has a jewelry store, and there’s a thief who comes to his store and steals the jewelry. One night the thief comes, the next week he comes another night, and another night he comes again. What do you do? There are two approaches. One person stands in the store one night and says, ‘I’m going to wait for this guy to come.’ Once he sees the thief start approaching, he turns on the alarm and starts screaming, and the thief runs away. Very nice. He succeeded. Then there’s another guy. He says, ‘The thief is coming. I’m going to wait in the store.’ He sees the thief approaching and says, ‘I’m going to stay quiet. I’m going to stay quiet. I’m going to stay quiet.’ The thief comes to the store. The thief opens the door and comes inside, all the way inside, to get whatever treasure, to get the jewelry. He comes all the way inside. Then the man comes from behind his hiding place and captures the thief. He holds him and puts him away. The first guy got rid of the thief, but the thief is going to come back tomorrow night, or the next night. He’s going to keep coming back. The second person held the thief, and now the thief isn’t going anywhere.”
He says it’s the same thing with the Yetzer Hara. There are some people who just push away the Yetzer Hara and say, “Get out of here, get out of here, get out of here,” and the Yetzer Hara just keeps coming. You know what happens if you don’t want to eat a piece of cake and you say, “No, get out of here”? He comes back the next day: “Eat this cake, eat that cake.” And each night he comes with a different reason why tonight you’re allowed to eat the cake. But there’s another thing you could do: capture the Yetzer Hara, capture that inclination, and channel it.
Eizehu Gibor—who is the wise person who’s doing it right? It’s not the person who pushes away the Yetzer Hara; it’s the person who channels the Yetzer Hara. Maybe they have a passion. Maybe they have a desire, and they use that desire for something great. Maybe they like to meet people, so they meet people in the Beit Midrash (study hall). They’re using something they like, and instead of squashing it, they’re using it. That is the role that happiness plays in a Jewish life.
In the United States of America, when they wrote the Declaration of Independence, they wrote that this country is about liberty, life, liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. That means the goal of this country is to pursue happiness. I just gave you a whole class about fun and happiness, but I do not agree with the Declaration of Independence. The goal of our life is not to pursue happiness. The goal of our life is to capture happiness and use happiness to pursue our Torah and Mitzvot (commandments) and pursue our goals. To just chase happiness is not why we’re here. We’re here to have happiness and have fun, channel the happiness, and use that to give you more energy and more life to be able to do more. That’s the role that happiness plays.
I’m not saying just sit there in your bed and be happy all day, or sit there on your couch and say, “I have to have more and more fun.” No, have little snippets of fun times, so that life is fun and gives you the energy to wake up tomorrow morning and get to work. Because we’re not here to pursue happiness. We’re here to use happiness to pursue purpose. And there’s a very big difference.
Everyone in the world wants to be happy. But the way the rest of the world wants to be happy is just to do whatever it takes to be happy. My goal is happiness. If I’m happy, I’m accomplishing my goal. If I’m not happy, my life is wrong. That is not the case with us. Just because you’re happy doesn’t mean you’re doing life right. But if you’re using happiness to accomplish more, to work harder, to pursue more, to do more Torah, more Mitzvot, more helping, more giving, more channeling—if you have fun and use it for something else, then that’s the point.
Because if all you’re doing is running after fun, then that becomes a drag. You’re just running after fun: “I’m not having enough fun. I have to have more fun. I have to pursue fun.” No, the goal isn’t fun. You just need moments of fun, periods of fun, so that you can do what you need to do.