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Joy and Community Are Essential to Jewish Fulfillment — Even in the Darkest of Times
In his evocative 1964 book, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis used a series of fictional letters to a friend to explore various aspects of prayer and religious life. By using this intimate literary device, Lewis made his profound insights more accessible to a broad audience.
“Joy is the serious business of Heaven,” Lewis wrote to Malcolm, suggesting that our deepest longings point us toward something beyond the earthly. “All joy … emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.”
Although Lewis didn’t quote the famous verse about joy in Ki Tavo (Deut. 28:47) — which warns of potential consequences “because you did not serve God with joy and a glad heart when you had an abundance of everything” — it is clear that, like many others who have deeply reflected on faith, Lewis understood that without joy as a constant companion, and without recognizing that joy is not an add-on but a necessity, the life God gives us is squandered and pointless.
Shawn Achor, author of the bestselling book The Happiness Advantage, is a leading expert in positive psychology. According to Achor, “Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change; it is the realization that we can.” Rather than seeing happiness as the result of success, Achor’s research shows that happiness and positivity are actually the fuel for it.
When we cultivate a positive outlook and engage in meaningful activities, we not only enhance our mood, but also improve our performance in nearly every aspect of life. Achor’s studies demonstrate that happier individuals tend to be more productive, creative, and resilient. This is because a positive mindset opens us up to new possibilities, allows us to think more broadly, and equips us to tackle challenges with greater energy and enthusiasm.
Achor’s findings have profound implications for how we understand the role of joy in religious life. If happiness is a precursor to success, then joy in serving God isn’t just a pleasant byproduct of religious practice; it is a critical component of spiritual fulfillment and effectiveness. When approached with joy, the performance of any religious act as directed by Jewish ritual law is not just a duty but a source of strength and spirituality.
Modern neuroscience has also increased our understanding of how joy and happiness are wired into our biology. Research on the brain’s reward system reveals that acts aligned with our values — like altruism or community service — release chemicals such as oxytocin and dopamine, enhancing our well-being.
This creates a positive cycle — because the more we engage in value-based actions, the more joy we experience, which encourages us to continue. Studies from Harvard and Berkeley confirm that individuals who regularly participate in community service report higher levels of life satisfaction, much like those who perform mitzvot with genuine intention and enthusiasm.
The scientific data aligns beautifully with the Torah’s perspective. The verse in Ki Tavo warns us that the absence of joy in serving God can lead to negative consequences, and neuroscience supports this wisdom. without the neurochemical benefits of joy and fulfillment, our spiritual practices can feel hollow, and our efforts become burdensome.
It’s not enough to merely go through the motions; deep-seated joy must drive our actions. When mitzvot are performed with joy, they engage both our minds and our bodies, transforming religious practice from mere obligation into an experience that elevates and fulfills our spiritual potential.
But how do we make this happen? How can we ensure that joy truly infuses our lives? Everyone faces moments of grief and disappointment — those are inevitable parts of the human experience. The challenge for all of us is to cultivate and nurture a default setting of joy, so that we have a natural inclination to embrace it daily. How do we do it?
Viktor Frankl, the renowned Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, offers a profound insight. Even in the direst of circumstances, he said, we have the power to choose our attitude.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way,” Frankl wrote. For him, joy wasn’t just a fleeting feeling; it was intertwined with meaning. Finding purpose, even in hardship, can transform our experiences into something worth celebrating.
Another powerful way to cultivate joy is through gratitude, which can fundamentally shift how we see challenges in our lives. Dr. Robert Emmons, a leading researcher in positive psychology, has demonstrated via his research that gratitude helps us move our focus from what we lack to what we have, creating a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity. This shift in perspective not only increases happiness but also helps us approach life’s obstacles with a more optimistic outlook.
Gratitude, in essence, reframes challenges as opportunities for growth and learning. When we consistently focus on what’s going well in our lives, setbacks appear more temporary than permanent. This aligns with the concept of “learned optimism,” introduced by psychologist Martin Seligman, which suggests that we can train ourselves to respond to adversity with resilience and hope. By embracing gratitude and optimism, we will reinforce a sense of joy that will sustain us even in the toughest times.
Most importantly, the company we keep is critical. The people we spend time with and the environments we choose shape our emotional and spiritual state. Surrounding ourselves with positive, joyful, and supportive people helps create an atmosphere where joy becomes automatic. Community—whether it’s a synagogue, a group of friends, or a supportive family—is vital for sustaining a joyful life.
President Ronald Reagan was famous for his optimism and infectious humor, even when things looked bleak. After he was shot in 1981 during an assassination attempt, Reagan was rushed to the hospital in serious condition.
As he was being wheeled into surgery, Reagan looked up at the doctors and, with that signature twinkle in his eye, said, “I hope you’re all Republicans.” The room burst into laughter — a moment of joy even in that life-or-death situation.
When questioned about it later, Reagan said there’s no better way to help people—and yourself—than making everyone smile. Because joy isn’t just something to feel, it’s something to give. And maybe that’s the answer to all of life’s challenges: keep joy as your default setting and share it with others, even when things get tough. Everything else will follow from that.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post Joy and Community Are Essential to Jewish Fulfillment — Even in the Darkest of Times first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australian Police Arrest Alleged Perpetrator Behind 4 Antisemitic Attacks, Including Child-Care Center Torching
Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah, Australia, was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti on Jan. 10, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
Australian authorities have charged a 27-year-old man who they say directed multiple acts of vandalism and antisemitic arson attacks against Sydney’s Jewish population.
Police on Wednesday named the suspect as Tarek Zahabe, who was arrested in July but only publicly revealed this week as the alleged organizer of four crimes in January. Investigators say he orchestrated the attacks and instructed Kye Pickering, his alleged 26-year-old accomplice.
The alleged crimes occurred in less than a month. On Jan. 10, swastikas were sprayed across the Allawah Synagogue in southern Sydney. A week later, on Jan. 17, vandals attacked the former home of Alex Ryvchin, co-executive chief officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. They splashed red paint and torched four cars on the street, scrawling “f**k Jews” on one of the vehicles. On Jan. 21, a child-care center near the Maroubra Synagogue was set on fire and vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. Finally, on Jan. 30, a Jewish school in Maroubra was also targeted with spray-painted slurs.
Police allege Zahabe directed and coordinated each of these actions, while Pickering executed much of the damage.
Zahabe faces two counts of participating in a criminal group and one count of knowingly or recklessly directing such a group. Pickering has been charged with destroying property, participating in the conspiracy, and displaying Nazi symbols in public. Both are scheduled to appear before the Downing Centre Local Court on Oct. 30.
In Australia, the public display of swastikas and other Nazi iconography carries penalties as high as 12 months’ imprisonment or a fine of $11,000.
Some Australian states enforce stiffer penalties for those intent on promoting the Third Reich, such as Victoria with fines reaching $23,000 and 12 months in jail. In Western Australia, Nazi advocates face fines of $24,000 with as much as five years behind bars.
The arrests resulted from the efforts of Strike Force Pearl, a counterterrorism investigation launched after a wave of incidents targeting Sydney’s Jewish community. Authorities have linked Zahabe’s alleged actions to a broader set of more than a dozen attacks across the summer, including one case in which a caravan filled with explosives was discovered on the city’s outskirts.
“We thank the NSW [New South Wales] Police for their efforts and determination in bringing these alleged offenders to justice,” David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said in a statement. “Many in the community will sleep more soundly in the knowledge that at least some of these attackers are no longer a threat but big questions remain about the role of Iran in these events.”
At the time of the January attacks, political leaders condemned the criminals with Chris Minns, the New South Wales premier, calling the attackers “bastards … with hate in their hearts.” He would later describe the spate of firebombings and graffiti as Sydney’s “summer of racism.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also denounced the attacks targeting Jewish sites and leaders.
Authorities have so far chosen to prosecute Zahabe as a domestic criminal conspiracy. However, Australian leaders have recently announced the involvement of Iran in other antisemitic crimes in the country, charges prompting diplomatic divisions resulting in the mutual expulsion of ambassadors.
In August, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) said it had credible evidence that Iran directed two crimes — a firebombing of Lewis’s Continental Kitchen, a kosher deli in Bondi, and an arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue.
Albanese described the incidents as “extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil.” His government responded by expelling Iran’s ambassador, suspending operations at Australia’s embassy in Tehran, and pledging to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denied the allegations, calling them “ridiculous and baseless” while accusing Australia of manufacturing claims to justify an anti-Iran policy. Tehran responded by downgrading relations, sending the Australian ambassador home, and insisting that antisemitism was a “Western and European” problem with no place in Iran’s own cultural history.
“If you look at history, persecution of Jews because of their religion is rooted in Europe, and it is they who must be held accountable for their past,” Baghaei said.
The Guardian reported that police have not linked Zahabe’s case directly to Iran or to the organized crime networks mentioned earlier in the investigation.
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Faculty Driving US Campus Antisemitism Crisis, New Survey Finds
Students, faculty, and others at Georgetown University on March 23, 2025. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect.
A new survey conducted by two leading research nonprofits found that staff and faculty accelerated the antisemitism crisis on US college campuses by politicizing the classroom, promoting anti-Israel bias, and even discriminating against Jewish colleagues.
The actions by faculty provided an academic pretext for the relentless wave of antisemitic incidents of discrimination and harassment which pro-Hamas activists have perpetrated against Jewish and Israeli members of campus communities since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, according to the survey.
Released on Wednesday as the result of a joint partnership by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), the survey of “Jewish-identifying US-based faculty members” found that 73 percent of Jewish faculty witnessed their colleagues engaging in antisemitic activity, and a significant percentage named the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) group as the force driving it.
Of those aware of an FSJP chapter on their campus, the vast majority of respondents reported that the chapter engaged in anti-Israel programming (77.2 percent), organized anti-Israel protests and demonstrations (79.4 percent), and endorsed anti-Israel divestment campaigns (84.8 percent).
Additionally, 50 percent of respondents said that anti-Zionist faculty have established de facto, or “shadow,” boycotts of Israel on campus even in the absence of formal declaration or recognition of one by the administration. Among those who reported the presence of such a boycott, 55 percent noted that departments avoid co-sponsoring events with Jewish or pro-Israel groups and 29.5 percent said this policy is also subtly enacted by sabotaging negotiations for partnerships with Israeli institutions. All the while, such faculty fostered an environment in which Jewish professors were “maligned, professionally isolated, and in severe cases, doxxed or harassed” as they assumed the right to determine for their Jewish colleagues what constitutes antisemitism.
Administrative officials responded inconsistently to antisemitic hatred, affording additional rationale to the downstream of hatred. More than half (53.1 percent) of respondents described their university’s response to incidents involving antisemitism or anti-Israel bias as “very” or “somewhat” unhelpful, and a striking 77.3 percent thought the same of their professional academic associations.
In total, alleged faculty misconduct and administrative dereliction combined to degrade the professional experiences of Jewish professors, as many reported “worsening mental and physical health, increased self-censorship, fear for personal safety,” and a sense that the destruction of their careers and reputations was imminent.
“Colleges and universities are meant to be open, safe, learning environments where faculty and students alike feel comfortable sharing ideas and having open discourse,” AEN executive director Miriam Elman said in a statement. “It’s disturbing, but perhaps unsurprising, that Jewish and Zionist faculty on campuses across the country are experiencing antisemitic hostility and retaliation for their beliefs.”
She continued, “Administrators must address these issues head-on and take meaningful action to protect the flow of free ideas and open inquiry on their campuses, or their institutions will suffer for generations to come.”
ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt added, “What we’re seeing is a betrayal of the fundamental principles of academic freedom and collegiality. Jewish faculty are being forced to hide their identities, excluded from professional opportunities, and told by their own colleagues what constitutes antisemitism — even as they experience it firsthand. This hostile environment is driving talented educators and researchers away from careers they’ve dedicated their lives to building.”
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, FSJP is a spinoff of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group with links to Islamist terrorist organizations. FSJP chapters have been cropping up at colleges since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, and throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, its members, which include faculty employed by the most elite US colleges, fostered campus unrest, circulated antisemitic cartoons, and advocated severing ties with Israeli companies and institutions of higher education.
The group’s contribution to antisemitism has drawn scrutiny from education watchdogs before.
In September 2024, AMCHA Initiative published a groundbreaking new study which showed that FSJP is fueling antisemitic hate crimes, efforts to impose divestment on endowments, and the collapse of discipline and order on college campuses. Using data analysis, AMCHA researchers said they were able to establish a correlation between a school’s hosting an FSJP chapter and anti-Zionist and antisemitic activity. For example, the researchers found that the presence of FSJP on a college campuses increased by seven times “the likelihood of physical assaults and Jewish students” and increased by three times the chance that a Jewish student would be subject to threats of violence and death.
FSJP, AMCHA’s researchers added, also “prolonged” the duration of “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” protests on college campuses, in which students occupied a section of campus illegally and refused to leave unless administrators capitulated to demands for a boycott of Israel. They said that such demonstrations lasted over four and a half times longer where FSJP faculty — who, they noted, spent 9.5 more days protesting than those at non-FSJP schools — were free to influence and provide logistic and material support to students.
Additionally, FSJP facilitated the proposing and adopting of student government resolutions demanding acceptance of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — which aims to isolate Israel culturally, financially, and diplomatically as the first step toward its destruction. Wherever FSJP was, the researchers said, BDS was “4.9 times likely to pass” and “nearly 11 times more likely to be included in student demands,” evincing, they continued, that FSJP plays an outsized role in radicalizing university students at the more than 100 schools — including Harvard University, Brown University, Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and Yale University — where it is active.
“One of the important functions of these groups is to give academic legitimacy to the notion that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, and that’s a hugely important trope being trafficked on campuses right now,” AMCHA Initiative executive director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin told The Algemeiner following the release of the study. “So when scholars say that ‘anti-Zionism is not antisemitism,’ how could it be otherwise? When faculty, [anti-Zionist] Jewish faculty say that ‘Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism,’ who is anyone to say otherwise?’ When faculty are the ones to say that Jews who report being subject to antisemitism that is motivated by anti-Zionism are in reality bad actors attempting to quell free speech of pro-Palestinian activists, who can argue with that? If a faculty member or organization claims that, it seems true to someone whose knowledge of the issue is only surface level.”
She added, “Essentially, what they are doing is giving academic legitimacy to gaslighting.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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NYPD to Increase Police Presence Ahead of Jewish High Holidays, 9/11 Anniversary, UN General Assembly
Pro-Palestinian protesters are detained by NYPD after taking part in a demonstration at Butler Library on the Columbia University campus in New York, US, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dana Edwards
The New York City Police Department will increase its presence at “critical” locations around the city ahead of the upcoming Jewish high holidays, 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the United Nations General Assembly, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced on Tuesday.
Tisch said at a news conference that reports of threats “typically increase” during this time surrounding the 9/11 anniversary, the UN General Assembly, and major Jewish holidays. She noted that authorities are monitoring threats against New York City’s “critical infrastructure,” including bridges and tunnels connecting Queens and Manhattan.
“As always, we take all threats seriously and we are working with our federal partners through our Joint Terrorism Task Force while we investigate,” Tisch said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are surging resources and you can expect to see an increase in police presence at critical infrastructure locations.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams added in a post on X: “As we do every year around this time, we’re closely monitoring for any potential threats to NYC infrastructure. The NYPD, in coordination with federal partners, is taking all threats seriously and has enhanced security at key locations. You can be confident that New York City remains safe and well protected.”
The 80th session of the UN General Assembly opens on Sept. 9 and will end on the 28th. The holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year begins on the evening of Sept. 22, followed by Yom Kippur and Sukkot, other major Jewish holidays, which are both in early October.