It’s one who is satisfied with his lot, is it not?
But Chazal teach us that if a person has one hundred he wants two hundred. And in another place they tell us that a person doesn’t leave this world with half his desires fulfilled.
So who then is really samayach b’chelko?
Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg z”l, explains that when Pirkei Avos asks, Who is Rich, it is a major mistake to translate it as one who is satisfied with his lot, because he says that one who is satisfied with his lot is dead.
Who is Rich more correctly refers to someone who takes pleasure and joy in his life. He would like a little bit more to be sure, but he’s not suffering without it. He is samayach b’chelko because he is joyous over his lot in life, though not necessarily satisfied with it. His focus is qualitative, not quantitative for his thoughts are permeated with what he’s blessed with as opposed to the raw calculation of what he’s got, which might lead one to pine for what he’s missing.
Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg z”l, asks: So how does one achieve the character trait of joyousness anyway?
We create it.
And with this we part company with the nations of the world, who look to outside stimuli to forge their happiness, because joyousness is not something external to ourselves. It’s not to be found hither and yon in what comes to us from the outside world. It is rather in how we deal internally with life’s externalities that will define the parameters of our joyousness.
Rabbi Weinberg is telling us here that the essential ingredient of our happiness is not what happens to us but rather what happens within us.
It’s all about whom and what we are, and we write our own ticket. And if we write it in indelible ink, then our sense of joy will be such that even when we suffer pain in any of its manifestations, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, etc., we will not lose sight of the essential goodness of our lives.
One who is samayach b’chelko may well be dissatisfied with the pain in his life, but he doesn’t allow that pain to take over and become the center of his life. The pain can be pain, but it doesn’t take way from the joyousness inherent in a life in which everyday blessings are counted like pearls.
