Q&A: Do Not Stray, and Laughter in This World
Do Not Stray, and Laughter in This World
Question
Hello Rabbi, I have two questions.
1. If a person believes in God and in the Torah (not on the basis of rational inquiry), but has doubts about the form that serving God should take—the whole idea that one has no free time and that every act has to be for the sake of serving God—and he is interested in self-fulfillment and so on, is that arrogance? In such a situation, is inquiry forbidden under "do not stray," because the person is trying to seek from other spiritual movements in the world a truth / an answer to his need to live for himself? (Of course, we are talking about a real and honest inquiry, and if it becomes clear rationally and so on that the Torah is true, then of course he will observe it.)
2. I saw in the Talmud that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says that a person is forbidden to fill his mouth with laughter in this world. Does that mean it is forbidden to laugh? To go to stand-up? To tell jokes??
Answer
- What does it have to do with the question of how that person came to faith? If that person is interested in self-fulfillment, that is excellent. It is natural and very appropriate. The Holy One, blessed be He, probably also wants you to fulfill yourself. It is not for nothing that He created your abilities and talents. I have written here more than once that "do not stray" does not apply when you are searching, learning, and examining. You can search here on the site.
- The question is what counts as filling one’s mouth with laughter. That probably depends on accepted norms, and one should maintain reasonable moderation.
Discussion on Answer
Rabbi Michi,
You wrote: "…The Holy One, blessed be He, probably also wants you to fulfill yourself. It is not for nothing that He created your abilities and talents."
It seems to me that in your view, the Holy One, blessed be He, did not create his ability, but rather set laws of nature in advance according to which some people have these abilities and others have different abilities, without intending that a particular person would have particular abilities.
Did I get that right?
If so, do you mean that in general the Holy One, blessed be He, expects every person to make use of his abilities? (And not that the Holy One, blessed be He, created someone intentionally in order for him to do something intentional.)
Robert,
I asked what connection there is to the way a person arrives at faith. I did not ask what connection there is to his being a believer.
Self-fulfillment is the fulfillment of God’s will. It is possible and desirable to do that itself as a fulfillment of God’s will, but even if you did not do it that way, it is like anything good that is done not for its own sake.
Meir,
Clearly. He created the nature that produced different human beings with different abilities. But everyone has intellect and will.
Maybe it is connected, because if a person already believes, perhaps there is room to tell him not to inquire so that he does not get himself into trouble. In any case, regarding self-fulfillment, is there really no contradiction? After all, self-fulfillment is something a person does for himself (by realizing his desires and talents); it is not necessarily connected to God, and therefore maybe it conflicts with "all your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven" and "this is the whole of man."