Purpose of life, what is it?

myfriends715

Thu, Jul 26 2007, 8:42 pm

I had a teacher in high school (Mrs. Galinsky for all u Bloppy and drav meir girls) who used to tell us all the time that if someone woke u up in middle of the night and asked u what ur purpose in life is... you should be able to answer to do ratzon Hashem.... I actually knew a couple ppl who in camp would wake up their friends to see if thats what they would answer Smile

Tefila

Thu, Jul 26 2007, 10:55 pm

Amother it is the 'Will of Hashem'

Practically by doing kind deeds which acumulate since one mitzvah leads to another to ask oneself what mitzvah did they do that day.

To realize that since one can pass at any momment did they try to be the best that they could be with the tools that Hashem gave them?!

To forgive someone of wrong doing since one might not have that chance again.

EsaEinai

Thu, Jul 26 2007, 11:19 pm

In Mesillas Yesharim ("The Path of the Just "by the Ramchal) it says that we are here in this world "to take pleasure in Hashem". Hashem is the epitome of goodness and therefore only wants to bestow good. Therefore, our mission is to take pleasure in all of Hashem's goodness. How we take pleasure is another question. There's a great book called "What the angel taught you" by Rabbi Noach Weinberg, dean of Aish HaTorah. In it, he discusses purpose in life and he goes into depth about what it means to take pleasure in G-d.

In Mesillas Yesharim it also says that in this world we are meant to toil (literally: "adam l'amal yulad"). this might seem a bit contradictory, since above I just mentioned that the same book says we are here to take pleasure in this world.

Maybe the two can be reconciled... we are here to accept G-d's goodness and take pleasure from Him. This can be done by trying to emulate G-d, so to speak. To be "like G-d", who is perfect in every way, we must perfect our character traits. We must learn to be as giving, as kind, as forgiving, etc. as G-d is (or as close as one can become to that). Working on one's character (middos) can only be described as toiling. So, we're here to do both. In order to have the most pleasure in this world, we need to work on ourselves and perfect ourselves. This will hopefully enable us to create a closer and deeper relationship with G-d, and what greater pleasure can one ask for than that?

OP, you asked such a deep question, a question that more of us should be asking ourselves. There are a lot of famous Jewish philosophers you could research, including Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler whose works have been translated into english in a series of books called "Strive for Truth", for example. If you end up delving into this topic a bit more and coming up with some additional answers, I'd love to hear them!

amother

Thu, Jul 26 2007, 11:51 pm

Tefila, I know the translation of ratzon Hashem...I meant to ask, What is the ratzon of Hashem..." I can see why me question appeared as it did to you, as it can be read two ways...But thanks for responding...

Here's the thing: I understand that my purpose is to do the will of Hashem, to adhere to and carry out the mitzvos. So I do the mitzvos, for example, today I made the bracha 'l'hafrish challa', it's a mitzva, right? Yet there is such an absence of 'soul' in that mitzva, it's like I'm just doing it externally, there isn't that soul-to-soul connection...and as such the mitzvos become boring....

There's gotta be another way of doing mitzvos, a way that makes me feel alive...connected on a very deep level...my soul to the soul of the mitzva...the essence of the mitzva....

Still searching....

Motek

Tue, Aug 07 2007, 9:08 pm

EsaEinai wrote:

In Mesillas Yesharim ("The Path of the Just "by the Ramchal) it says that we are here in this world "to take pleasure in Hashem".

The same paragraph that says that, says, "The place where this joy may truly be derived is the World to Come, which was expressly created to provide for it.

amother - I revived an old Purpose of Creation thread for you

gryp

Tue, Aug 07 2007, 11:12 pm

Quote:

Here's the thing: I understand that my purpose is to do the will of Hashem, to adhere to and carry out the mitzvos. So I do the mitzvos, for example, today I made the bracha 'l'hafrish challa', it's a mitzva, right? Yet there is such an absence of 'soul' in that mitzva, it's like I'm just doing it externally, there isn't that soul-to-soul connection...and as such the mitzvos become boring....

There's gotta be another way of doing mitzvos, a way that makes me feel alive...connected on a very deep level...my soul to the soul of the mitzva...the essence of the mitzva....

Still searching....

Amother, it's amazing that you say that because that is exactly what Chassidus accomplished in the world. Chassidus added energy and Chayus into Yiddishkeit, back in the early days Yiddishkeit was very somber. They stood straight as a stick when they davened, afraid that if they moved a bit it would be disrespectful to Hashem. They didn't clap or sing during davening, they were afraid it was disrespectful. Even Simchas Torah they barely danced, it was in a mournful manner! They thought that too was disrespectful.
Imagine if you would discover a whole new deeper level of Yiddishkeit that you never knew existed. People who learn Chassidus discover an added deeper meaningful dimension to everything in Yiddishkeit from the stories in Tanach to the Mitzvos that we do and our connection to Hashem.