The National Geographic’s recent article, “High Science,” about the new science of marijuana, features Israeli scientist, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, who was the first to identify marijuana’s psychedelic properties. He named the neurotransmitter that binds to the same receptor in the brain as THC, Anandamide, after the Sanskrit word for supreme joy, ananda. When asked by National Geographic why he didn’t choose a Hebrew word for joy instead, he replied, “In Hebrew there are not so many words for happiness. Jews don’t like being happy.”
The good doctor could not have been more wrong.
You can learn a lot about a culture by its language. In Eskimo dialect there are numerous words for different types of snow. They are surrounded by snow and understand all the different subtle nuances between the different types of precipitation.
Classical Hebrew actually has over a dozen different words for happiness. The Talmudic sources list ten different Hebrew words for joy – there’s ecstatic joy, songful joy, surprising joy and so on (Avos d’Rebbe Nossan 34). In fact, there are so many different words for joy that it can be said that Judaism is centered around joy, as the Eskimos’ lives are centered on snow. Whether it’s celebrating life events, from births and circumcisions to bar mitzvahs and weddings, to the Sabbath and holidays, to blessings of gratitude on mundane daily activities like eating a piece of fruit or even going to the bathroom, attaining happiness is a priority in Jewish life.
Jewish Joy
The Talmud teaches that the Divine Presence only rests upon someone in a state of joy (Shabbos, 30b). “Serve God with gladness,” the Psalmist enjoins us, "come before Him with joyful song" (Psalms, 100:2). “It is a great mitzvah (commandment) to be in a state of joy always,” Rebbe Nachman of Breslav says (Likkutei Maharan, 2:24).
More recently, Professor Tal Ben-Shahar, one of the leaders in the field of Positive Psychology, author of the book “Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment,” and the instructor of the most popular course in the history of Harvard University, explained that “many of the ideas ‘discovered’ by modern psychologists, had actually been present for thousands of years in traditional Jewish sources.”
Getting High
What about Mechoulam’s naming of the brain’s marijuana-like neurotransmitter after a word for joy in the first place? Does marijuana lead to a state of joy? Does getting high lead to happiness?
Every high eventually goes away and is followed by a low. The low is really just a return to your normal state of consciousness, but in contrast to the high, everyday life suddenly feels like a low. This conundrum can propel the infrequent recreational user to want to get high more often to avoid the lows, creating a vicious cycle that can lead to the need for more drugs to reach the same high, laying the seeds for addictive behavior.
According to Judaism a marijuana high might smell like joy, but there’s nothing genuinely joyful about it.
The most commonly used word for joy in Hebrew is simcha. Simcha shares the same linguistic root as the word tzemach - or growth. In Judaism joy and growth are inextricably intertwined. Joy takes work. It’s the feeling that you get when you work hard at something and succeed. It is the pleasure of having reached the top of an arduous peak. You can look back at the long journey and bask in the pleasure of your accomplishment. That is true joy.
We often think that pleasure and pain are opposites, and therefore seek out all sorts of ways to achieve pleasure without pain. In reality pain is the gateway to pleasure. No pain, no gain. The more effort we exert, the more we can enjoy the fruit of our labor. When we look for all sorts of shortcuts to find pleasure without effort or pain, we end up with empty highs that lack true depth and meaning. They may look like joy, but they fade away as quickly as they came and we end up worse off than when we started.
Natural Highs
Life is full of natural highs. We all have moments of inspiration that give us energy and vision to continue along a certain trajectory in life. Natural highs may include milestone life events such as graduations, weddings, births, as well as experiences like climbing a mountain, travelling to an exotic place, meeting an amazing person or watching an incredible sunset. But life isn’t about running after inspiration. Inspiration is free. It comes and goes easily.
One of my friends recently had a brush with death. He was miraculously saved from a head on collision on a major three lane highway, and he was ecstatic to have another day on earth. Suddenly, he experienced joy from every little thing, no matter how small or unpleasant. Seeing his kids fight, taking out the garbage, and watching the wind blow through the trees outside his house made him dance with joy. He was so happy to be alive that everything was amazing. He told me that he hoped his new state of consciousness would last forever.
Unfortunately it didn’t. After a few days, the miracle of life became business as unusual. The only way to hold on to the inspiration is by using it as an impetus to change your life by putting it into an action – no matter how small.
Everyone gets inspired. The key is what you do with the inspiration. If we find ways to integrate the inspiring moments into our very being so that they change us for the better, the high can actually last forever. That’s real growth and leads to true, long-lasting happiness.
My advice: burn off your marijuana high with some hard-earned Jewish joy.
(18) Rabbi Dr. Yosef Glassman, March 8, 2017 4:19 AM
Cannabis was a Talmudic staple
https://www.ou.org/life/news/wonders-creation-deep-roots-cannabis-torah-torah-view-cannabis-thc/
(17) Anonymous, August 31, 2015 1:54 AM
In Genesis
I recall "every seed baring herb". Key word is "every".
(16) Leslie, July 2, 2015 4:41 AM
So sad
It's really sad that you neglected to mention marijuana's proven medicinal qualities, including increase in appetite among cancer and AIDS patients, as well as control of epileptic seizures. It's also sad that you did not mention the parts of the plant that are extracted for these purposes, which exclude the parts that produce a high.
(15) Anita, June 26, 2015 9:15 PM
Please tell us readers the other Hebrew words for joy.
Good article. I'm delighted that you are sharing some of the joys of our heritage. Please tell about the other Hebrew words for joy. Or at least refer to an available English source for that Information. Is their something on the Aish site?
(14) Tara, June 17, 2015 3:53 PM
Life is FULL of natural highs! VERY TRUE!
I love this article! Every word is the absolute truth. I know many people even in my own family that used marijuana their whole lives and they only needed it more and more. It seems to be used more for an escape than anything else! Medical marijuana, I have no problem with. But there is a thin line...one should be very careful to not cross and be dependent on this drug completely! I don't believe that any thing in life is completely easy to attain...we have to work at everything, the best things in life...even moreso! Thank you for this...truly a good read! Aish is AWESOME! :)
(13) Rachel, June 17, 2015 11:33 AM
Alcohol at Kiddush
Seems to me there's a lot of wine and schnapps at Kiddush, and sometimes beer. "And wine that gladdens man's heart..." Psalm 104:15. Two questions. 1- Why is this alcohol needed after davening; shouldn't worshippers already feel high or happy from having communed with God? 2- What makes marijuana "bad" if wine and schnapps is "good"?
(12) Ruth, June 17, 2015 8:11 AM
Wisdom
Excellent Excellent, Excellent, the article is full of wisdom.
(11) Bracha Goetz, June 17, 2015 1:25 AM
Wonderful!
(10) Karen Adler, June 17, 2015 12:01 AM
Good article
Thank you - sensitive, subtle truths told in a digestible way. I dont find anything ambiguous - the article clearly states that drugs are simply NOT a true pathway to joy. But one does not need to ROAR about it - maybe some of one's joy would evaporate in the process :)
(9) maish, June 16, 2015 4:27 PM
My kind of Rav
Excellent,
logical and true ,optimistic without the kind of fervo rwhich turns me off some Rabbis
(8) Anonymous, June 16, 2015 3:29 PM
Sonia's info
Sonia; I am very interested in your comments. Are they based on research/articles? If so can you contact me?
sonia, June 25, 2015 1:42 AM
I am a biochemist
Dear Anonymous, Since you did not put a contact info, my mail is acudir@infovia.com.ar
I am a clinical biochemist and I do volunteer work to prevent drug abuse, empty sex, and STDs.
Leah Fisher, June 25, 2015 6:40 PM
What Do We Really Know About It?
Yes joy is a real emmotion and marijuana is considered a drug. What if marijuana isn't a drug and the man in the photograph whose choice he made has an implied decision to keep us from knowing if marijuana is deliterious while the kind and intelligent author gives us a chance to find the answers in peace, we are blessed with the chance at knowledge to give us the chance to know.
(7) helen porath, June 16, 2015 3:24 PM
You Call This Happiness?
How joyful would Dr. Mechoulam be if he knew that the driver of the bus carrying his kids to school was ingesting Marijuana?
What joy is there in knowing that the surgeon operating on you uses marijuana? If this drug was legalized, how could these situations be avoided? At any party your children go to, a plate of marijuana cookies could be placed on the table, and they wouldn't know. I'm sorry that academics are pro-drug.
M. Wolf Segal, June 16, 2015 6:01 PM
Inaccuracies in your comment, implicit but obvious.
Your first statement is ludicrous. No one wants their children on a schoo lbus whose driver is impaired by anything. The psychoactive effects of cannabis last less than three hours. The metabolites which are what you find in a positive UA are NOT psychoactive. Do you have the same objection to someone who used alcohol responsibly the previous night?
Anonymous, June 16, 2015 6:09 PM
More
Any parent that would be so irresponsible as to let their child be at a party when cannabis cookies are being served without taking preventative measures is criminally negligent, which is no more true of those who consume cannabis than any other portion of the population.
Whether you are aware of it or not you are, by your attitude, complicit in a class of people who have made a conscious choice as to what medicine and/or social intoxicant they prefer, being treated in a manner which is extremely similar to how Germany's Jews were treated in the early days of Hitler's reign. Doors kicked in, dogs shot, children terrified by their parents being dragged away at gunpoint in the middle of the night This is what you want to continue. It hasn't worked in 78 years. What do you think has changed that will suddenly be effective?
Anonymous, June 25, 2015 6:53 PM
It Is Rightful To Know What...
The children's future depends on caring and thinking by way of the telling where, with whom and, what is there by friendly investigation on parents shoulders. Dogs are a meat source to Nazis, I don't care about the dogs, the importance of lives, holy human lives makes a difference to the future. As to what has changed; If in any way is there evidence of long term and long range use of subliminal, outward and hypnotic suggestion to users and/or those effected by cannabis marijuana? The reason the cause has come up to know; some trees in Ohio USA have been altered in the shapes of their leaves as in reference the ginko tree's leaves, one of them resembles cannabis with very many leaf extentions.
rachel, June 16, 2015 7:44 PM
the same way society avoids drunk drivers and surgeons
It is called self control. I drink at kiddush and social occasions but would never do so if I had to drive or work afterward.
(6) Anonymous, June 16, 2015 3:22 PM
Marujana leads to other drugs - the article was not forceful enough in saying "say no to drugs"
Marujana leads to other drugs - the article was not forceful enough in saying "say no to drugs". I have a son who is one of significant minority who has a permanent psychosis from taking cannabis or skunk. There are some pubs in Yerushalayim that give the stuff away to get the yeshiva students hooked. Be Aware of the risks. The article did not say that forcefully enough
Anonymous, June 16, 2015 6:17 PM
Cannabis does NOT lead to harder drugs.
There is a smaller percentage of cannabis users who go on to use "harder drugs" (Tobacco is widely recognized as the single hardest drug to quit and stay off of.) than there is of murderers who have not previously consumed milk. Does this mean that milk or the lack thereof is the cause of the murders? This comparison is less ridiculous than it may seem. There is anandamide, the THC that the body makes, in mother's milk. Anything which floods the brain's pleasure center--the nucleus accumbens--with dopamine sets up the desire to experience more.
(5) Nasif Nahle Sabag, June 16, 2015 2:53 PM
Happiness
Very good article. It's clear that the Jewish soul creates its own happiness. Happiness is born from inside and nothing external can give us happiness, which is a very private spiritual construction.
(4) Anonymous, June 16, 2015 3:17 AM
Great Reminder
I'm from an ultra-orthodox family, and have recently been having a hard time remembering the beauty in Judaism. It just became a habit with little meaning. I was looking to change that when I read this article. Thanks for reminding me what makes being Jewish different and special.
(3) Al Hoffman, June 15, 2015 8:43 PM
Pax Shalom Chem Caveat
The use of substance for lift needs reminder of ,"Not for Kings Lemuel to drink and forget Torah v'Adoni". And read warning of the drinker who falls too, by too much ,to only get up to get some more. More wounds and more drink. It applies.
David wrote to getting his lift from HaShem.
(2) sonia, June 15, 2015 8:13 PM
Just the opposite: pot vs happiness
I tell my patients: Marihuana gives you problems of memory, of neuromuscular coordination, and it makes you lose the ability of being happy. Unless you take another chemical high. We have all seen too many people ruin their lives through chemical ersatz happiness. About medical... there are lots of medical drugs with side effects. Nobody would march for chemotherapy or antiretrovirals just for fun. So please dont put medicine as an excuse for a drug that poisons life.
(1) Anonymous, June 14, 2015 12:34 PM
What about medical Marijuana?
I agree with your contention but what of the many People who I know have to take the marijuana for medical reasons. Also why a few months back when Rabbi Salmon mentioned his disapproval of pot didn't you mention marijuana used for medical reasons?
maish, June 16, 2015 4:34 PM
conflictual
the medical community is in conflict re even medical use of MJ as over the years research was not allowed.and knowledge re even metabolism ,long term effects,is sparse.
trying to catch up,but may be a long time before all is known and understood.
At this point it is an issue that has been politisized