Have A Great Day!

We all wish each other to have a great day!

But is it possible to have a great day EVERY day of our lives?

Can we ALWAYS be happy?

What about those turbulent days?

In fact according to this week's parsha we learn the greatest lesson in making every day a "great day" a happy day.

(א) וַיִּהְיוּ֙ חַיֵּ֣י שָׂרָ֔ה מֵאָ֥ה שָׁנָ֛ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְשֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֑ים שְׁנֵ֖י חַיֵּ֥י שָׂרָֽה׃
(1) And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
שני חיי שרה. כלן שוין לטובה:
The years of the life of Sarah: All of them equally good.

IS it possible that Every day of her life was equally good, equally happy?

for example is it possible to compare the days when she was held hostage by Pharao or by Avimelech to the day the she gave birth to Yitzchak? Is it possible to caompare the days that she was barren to the day that she celebrated yitzchaks's Bar Mitzvah?

Is it possible that Every day of her life was equally good ?

for example is it possible to compare the days when she was held hostage by Pharao or by Avimelech to the day the she gave birth to Yitzchak? Is it possible to compare the days that she was barren to the day that she celebrated yitzchaks's Bar Mitzvah?

(ג) תָּא חֲזֵי, אָתַת חַוָּה לְעַלְמָא אִתְדַּבְּקַת בְּהַאי חִוְּיָא וְאַטִּיל בָהּ זוּהֲמָא. וְגָרְמָא מוֹתָא לְעַלְמָא וּלְבַעֲלָהּ. אָתַת שָׂרָה וְנָחֲתַת וְסָלְקַת וְלָא אִתְדַּבְּקַת בֵּיהּ כְּמָא דְאַתְּ אָמֵר, (בראשית יג) וַיַּעַל אַבְרָם מִמִּצְרַיִם הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְכָל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ. אֲתָא נֹחַ לְעַלְמָא מַה כְּתִיב (בראשית ט) וַיֵּשְׁתְּ מִן הַיַּיִן וַיִּשְׁכָּר וַיִּתְגָּל וְגו'.

...

Eve came to the world. She became wrapped up with a snake.

Noah came to the world. What happened to him? "He drank from the wine and was drunk."

Sarah came to the world. She descended and she came back up, as it is said, "And Abramcame up from Egypt, he and his wife with him."

For this, Sarah earned transcendental life . . . that life belonged to her.

It’s a passage from the Zohar, and—as to be expected from the Zohar—very enigmatic. What is the sequence? What does the story of Eve and the snake have to do with Noah and his wine? What does either story have to do with Sarah and her descent to Egypt?

The solution to the puzzle, in short, is that the Zohar is telling us a history of happiness. There are three approaches to happiness in the human repertoire. Two fail. One succeeds.

1.Chavah

Chavah came to believe that happiness could be found only by experiencing the garden from within, as in I am experiencing this pleasure. That is the primordial snake—that sense of I am here... ME!. And that is the voice of the snake: “Am I happy yet?” That is where all confusion begins.

Once experience became wrapped up with ego, then pleasure became wrapped up with pain, good with evil, beauty with ugliness, and all of life became as we know it today

2.No'ach

Then came Noah. He stepped off his ark after the flood and saw a new world. He saw the opportunity to start again, to abandon Eve’s error and to rebuild with a new strategy for happiness. The solution seemed straightforward and obvious: He drank wine, forgot himself, and was happy.

Problem is, once the ego has appeared, it cannot be forgotten. That is how memory works—as an arrow let loose, never to be reversed without being countered head-on. As for Noah, all he accomplished was to introduce confusion back into a freshly-laundered world.

3.Sarah

Then came Sarah. She encountered the snake/ego head-on, face-to-face, on its own territory, in the darkness of its own chamber.

The primordial snake this time around was Pharaoh, a mortal being wholly obsessed with ego and power. As did the snake, he offered Sarah the opportunity to share in that power. But Sarah remained bound up with Abraham and with the One G‑d. Even as she was in Pharaoh’s palace, she transcended it, ruled over it, and ruled over Pharaoh as well.

Its All In The Perception
(ח) שִׁוִּ֬יתִי יְהוָ֣ה לְנֶגְדִּ֣י תָמִ֑יד כִּ֥י מִֽ֝ימִינִ֗י בַּל־אֶמּֽוֹט׃
(8) I have set the LORD always before me; Surely He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Ba'al Shem Tov Tsivas HaRiba"sh 1:1

The word Shiviti is related to the word Hishtavut - equality.

Everything that may come upon a person should be perceived in the same manner... For for Hashem placed it there.

Every Moment Is purposeful

(ג) רבי עקיבא היה יושב ודורש, והצבור מתנמנם. בקש לעוררן, אמר: מה ראתה אסתר שתמלוך על שבע ועשרים ומאה מדינה? אלא תבא אסתר שהיתה בת בתה של שרה, שחיתה מאה ועשרים ושבע, ותמלוך על מאה ועשרים ושבע מדינות:

...One day when he was addressing a large gathering, he noticed that some people in his audience were falling asleep. In order to arouse their curiosity and interest, he resolved to say something startling, and this is what he said to them: "How come that Esther was privileged to rule over 127 provinces?" And his answer was, "Let Esther whose great-grandmother lived 127 years come and rule over 127 provinces"

Every second, every experience, every interaction we can find an opportunity to fulfill our G-d given purpose, not only in relations to our lives but quite frankly the entire world.

Story 1 - The Rabbi who nver leaned on his Shoe factory before the holocaust

The Nature of Happiness

הנהו תרי מיני חד שמיה ששון וחד שמיה שמחה א"ל ששון לשמחה אנא עדיפנא מינך דכתיב (ישעיהו לה, י) ששון ושמחה ישיגו וגו' א"ל שמחה לששון אנא עדיפנא מינך דכתיב (אסתר ח, יז) שמחה וששון ליהודים א"ל ששון לשמחה חד יומא שבקוך ושויוך פרוונקא דכתיב (ישעיהו נה, יב) כי בשמחה תצאו א"ל שמחה לששון חד יומא שבקוך ומלו בך מיא דכתיב ושאבתם מים בששון א"ל ההוא מינא דשמיה ששון לר' אבהו עתידיתו דתמלו לי מים לעלמא דאתי דכתיב ושאבתם מים בששון א"ל אי הוה כתיב לששון כדקאמרת השתא דכתיב בששון משכיה דההוא גברא משוינן ליה גודא ומלינן ביה מיא

There were once two minim one was called Sason and the other Simha. Sason said to Simha: ‘I am better than you, since it is written, “They shall obtain Sason and Simha” (Isaiah 35:10). Simha said to Sason, “I am better than you, since it is written, “The Jews had Simha and Sason.” Sason said to Simha: One day they will take you out and make you a messenger, since it is written, “For with Simha shall they go forth.” Simha said to Sason: One day they will take you out and draw with you water, for it is written, “Therefore with Sason shall you draw water.” A certain min whose name was Sason once said to R. Abbahu: You are destined to draw water for me in the world to come, for it is written, “Therefore be-Sason shall you draw water.” He said back to him: If it had been written, “le-sason” it would be as you say, but as it is written “be-sason” the meaning must be that a water-skin will be made of your skin, and water will be drawn with it’.

Nature of Joy
(קסב) שָׂ֣שׂ אָ֭נֹכִֽי עַל־אִמְרָתֶ֑ךָ כְּ֝מוֹצֵ֗א שָׁלָ֥ל רָֽב׃

(162) I rejoice at Thy word, As one who finds great treasure.

Joy - a burst of intense pleasure due to a sudden (unexpected) exciting event.

Is characterized by wine

Nature of happiness

Happiness is experiencing and processing life functionally.

characterized by being a pitcher for water -

living and celebrating EVERY moment of life.

Comes from the ability to perceive everything as being equal.

Story 2 - Reb Zusha and Reb Elimelech and the prison toilet

Story 3 - The Rebbe Telling the boy who told him that he was going to marry a none Jewish girl "I'm Jealous of you!"