The question is an ethical one:
is it good to enjoy life or not? I’m confused…
Of course I’m not talking about chasing pleasures, only about reasonable pleasures. Is there positive value in enjoying the world? I have a feeling that “Judaism” looks at pleasures unfavorably. Am I mistaken?

Suppose you’re a fan of some sports activity in which you’ve become somewhat skilled. Does that mean you’re pursuing the pleasure itself, or is what really interests you the achievement, the goal, or the athletic ability itself, and then after a successful performance, the pleasure of professional fulfillment comes on its own?

Most people I know, most of the time, are not pursuing pleasures, but some sort of success, at the peak of whose fulfillment pleasure usually also appears, even though it is not entirely identical with the end they desired.

I don’t know what’s wrong with enjoying life, as long as the enjoyment is permitted. I think that in a reasonable measure there’s no problem with it at all (not even one of neglecting Torah study). It’s not a matter of there being positive value in enjoying the world. There is no such value; rather, there is simply no problem with doing so. It’s permitted, not a value.

Just to clarify: there is certainly an advantage to someone who devotes all his time to pursuits of value. But that is an existential virtue. Someone who does that is worthy of great admiration. But it is not a positive value (as distinct from an existential one), meaning that someone who does not do so is not a transgressor. He chooses to be an ordinary person and not a person of higher virtue. That is completely legitimate.
And of course one has to be careful not to go crazy and to conduct oneself in a way one can’t sustain and that isn’t mentally or physically healthy. Most people need some breathing room.

As far as I’m concerned, I have to enjoy life in order to be able to serve God.
When I enjoy life, I can awaken gratitude, and I succeed in being stirred to fulfill His will, may He be blessed. For me, that is a starting point that makes a relationship with the Holy One, blessed be He, possible.
When my life is devoid of pleasures, it’s hard to find an initial motivation to serve God.
I don’t necessarily think this way on the intellectual level; there is obligation beyond the fact that one enjoys oneself (the service of a servant). But practically speaking, enjoyment contributes to my service of God.

In such a situation, can one say that there is value in pleasures? (And perhaps this is the intention of the Jerusalem Talmud, that in the future a person will be called to account for whatever he could have enjoyed in life but did not enjoy?)

With God’s help, 11 Elul 5778

To Anonymous — greetings,

If we don’t start learning how to enjoy life, what will we do in the world to come, where we will sit for all eternity with our crowns on our heads and enjoy the radiance of the Divine Presence?

If we don’t enjoy life, how will we be able to bless and thank God for every olive-sized piece that we taste? And how will we do kindness for our fellow and care for his welfare if every material good that we do for him is mere vanity? And there is the well-known story of the rabbi who heard from his wealthy follower that he was content with “bread with salt and water in small measure,” and said that one should not behave that way, for if for himself he is content with bread and salt, then he will think that for the poor, gravel is enough 🙂

One should enjoy the material good that our Creator, in His goodness, has bestowed upon us, but do so in moderation, and know how to translate the energies we receive from the material good that makes our lives pleasant into creating for ourselves spiritual enjoyments as well, for only they will accompany us after a hundred and twenty years.

Did we eat and enjoy? Did we go on a trip and enjoy? Now let us take the strength we received and use it for Torah and good deeds that will also bring us genuine spiritual satisfaction. The “world to come” is not only in the future, but a world that is coming into being—it begins now and continues forever. And when we know how to find spiritual enjoyments for ourselves as well, our material lives too will receive added taste and meaning.

With blessings, S.Z. Levinger

In the spirit of “Judah and moreover” to S.Z.L. and our teacher Rabbi Rabbi Michi: Anonymous, study Rabbi Kook. His whole mission was to sanctify the mundane and enjoy life. In his view this is even a value (contrary to Rabbi Michi’s opinion). Start with Yosef Ben-Shlomo’s booklet The Song of Life. And start singing in your life. (I’m not even talking about a pantheistic conception, in which case you can really celebrate, as held by that eccentric and intriguing rabbi who has many followers signing his name—Az [that is, Abraham Haim Zagdoun]—in graffiti on the streets of Jerusalem: “The main thing on Sabbath is the eating, and that is, as it were, to give God to eat and delight in Himself” (!) Be’erot Avraham Haim, p. 75.) This is a long delirium and many people err in it, but without studying enough Rabbi Kook there’s no way to begin the discussion. The same dispute also exists regarding marital relations, and when I have time I can point to an article about it in Tzohar. The moment one understands that this is a dispute and doesn’t try to harmonize all the approaches, it becomes easiest simply to choose a side.

An important and early source for enjoyment is the Kuzari, third section, which explains the matter of blessings over enjoyment: “That which increases his pleasure, roots it more deeply, and adds pleasure upon pleasure, is his taking upon himself to recite blessings over everything he receives from this world and over everything that happens to him in it… Preparing oneself for pleasure, feeling it, and imagining its absence beforehand, all double the pleasure derived from it…” Kuzari, translated by Michael Schwartz, p. 152.

Whoever really succeeds in explaining in depth what pleasure is, is Aristotle, in the Ethics, chapter 10.

With God’s help, 11 Elul 5778

To Gil — eternal joy!

The idea of enjoying the world in order to elevate it appears in Ramchal at the peak stage of “holiness,” when before a person reaches it he passes through the stages of “abstinence,” in which he distances himself from material desires and directs his will toward “purity” and “piety”—bringing satisfaction to his Creator. It seems that when a person’s life is directed toward an exalted goal, then one can speak of “sanctifying the material.” The question is what stage the person is at.

In any case, it was testified about Rav Tzvi Yehuda that when he ate, he would not bend his head toward the food but would raise the spoon to his mouth, an act that requires no simple maneuvering. I later saw this same practice in the grandfather of my son-in-law, a Jew now more than a hundred years old, may he have long life and good years, one of the Beta Israel who came from Ethiopia, who when eating sits upright as a ruler and raises the spoon to his mouth rather than inclining his head toward the food.

With blessings, S.Z. Levinger.

There is a dispute in the Talmud whether one who fasts is called a sinner or is called holy (the Kuzari and Rabbi Kook are of course not the source for anything). Even if we say that in the conclusion he is called holy (it’s not clear from the Talmud, if I’m not mistaken), it is certainly not an obligation.

D,
you meant to say, “Even if we say that in the conclusion he is called a sinner…”
Otherwise your argument doesn’t make sense.
The Kuzari and Rabbi Kook were wise people, and it’s worth hearing their reasoning even if there is no Jewish law here.

Anonymous, the problem with your conception is that it revolves around you and your pleasures. How do we maximize my total pleasure? Is it preferable to enjoy in this world or wait and receive reward by enjoying in the world to come? In short, a classic petty egoistic outlook, which has nothing to do with reality.

And back to reality: in reality, your pleasures are vanity and they are a means. The results of your actions are what matter.