Is Life a Struggle or a Joy?

Is life a struggle? Or is life a joy?

Some religions and philosophies highlight the struggle. The Hebrew word Israel can be understood as meaning "one who struggles with God."

It appears in the Bible immediately after Jacob spends an entire evening struggling with an angel. The angel may represent Jacob himself.

Or the angel may be a messenger of God teaching us the human condition is one of struggle, faith, and survival.

Whatever the case, the notion of life as a struggle resonates with many of us because we all struggle. Every life contains difficulty, tragedy, loss, pain.

Some have it much worse than others, but as the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us, "time and chance befall us all." (9:11)

The Joy Side

But there is a counter-voice. It is captured in a verse from the Book of Psalms. "This is the day God has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." (118:24)

These words may sound like a biblical version of the famous Latin saying, "Carpe diem, seize the day." But it strikes a deeper chord.

In Judaism, this day is not ours to seize. Rather, it is a gift from God. If someone gives you a gift, do you seize it? No.

You express gratitude for it, unwrap it, experiment with it, grow with it. A gift does not exist in a vacuum. It is part of the relationship between you and the giver.

We have a relationship with God, who makes each. Each of them is a gift we can unwrap.

The Struggle Side

Now sometimes we struggle with a gift. Have you ever gotten a present you didn't really want? Similarly, not every day will be what we wished for. But every day can be one we are grateful for.

Often that takes faith. Faith, by definition, is not always logical. And it takes more than logic and effort to sustain it. It takes a loving heart.

The Mystical Bridge

We see this truth in a rabbinic teaching. This teaching, found in the Talmud, relates to several verses found in the section of the Torah read in synagogues around the world this week.

These verses constitute what's known as the priestly blessing. In biblical times, it was recited by the Israelite priests with their hands raised in front of the entire community. We still say them in synagogues (and some churches) today.

You have probably heard them before: "May God bless you and keep you. May God deal kindly and graciously with you. May God bestow favor upon you and give you peace."

What you may not have heard before is a rabbinic teaching about what the priests were supposed to say right before they recited the blessing.

According to the Talmud, the priests recited a blessing asking God to help them bless God's people with love. They could not just say mouth the words of the priestly blessing. They needed to feel them in their hearts.

One Jewish mystic expanded on this Talmudic teaching when he said, "No priest who does not love the people, or whom the people do not love, should spread his hands to bless the people."

So is life a struggle or a joy? Well, perhaps the two are not opposites. Struggle is a part of the ultimate joy of living in relationship with God.