The Torah of Pleasure

I’ve never heard a rabbi give a sermon on pleasure. I’m sure it’s happened; I just haven’t come across any such sermons. The hundreds of rabbinic lectures I’ve attended, and the thousands of spiritual essays I’ve read, usually deal with weightier matters such as ethics, values, tradition, community, family, repairing the world and, of course, adding meaning to our lives.

But simple, mindless pleasure? That’s too far down the food chain of meaningful priorities.

And yet, pleasure has been a lot on my mind lately.

Some people get pleasure from their work and their everyday lives and hobbies. That’s not the pleasure I’m referring to. I’m referring to the mindless, easy pleasure that serves as a clear break from our everyday lives.

For most of us, those lives can get pretty heavy. From the stress of work to maintaining our health to family issues to the anxiety of the daily news, we spend much of our days swimming in serious, sober stuff.

Because I’m in the news business, and my daily fare includes things like the turmoil in Israel, mass shootings and our deep political divisions, I especially feel that seriousness.

Which brings me to my addiction to “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

The show is pure, mindless pleasure. There’s not one breadcrumb of pretense that it will add meaning to my life, make me a better person or help me repair the world. It requires zero exertion on my part except to sit back and enjoy it.

Because it’s so blatantly entertaining, it doesn’t have the status in my life that, say, a great sermon or a great book might have. Those are blatantly meaningful. They have the optics of seriousness.

A show like “Curb” has the opposite optics. It seems designed to root out the meaningful and replace it with the trivial. That’s why we tend to compartmentalize our moments of trivial pleasures and our moments of meaningful endeavors. Mindless pleasure here, deep meaning there, and never the two shall meet.

Lately, though, I’ve noticed something incredibly meaningful about those trivial pleasures: They boost my love of life. The many hours I’ve spent cracking up at Larry David’s antics on “Curb,” just like the hours anyone spends consuming great entertainment, transform the very meaning of time. If I have a free hour in front of me after a long day of work, I know I can instantly access guaranteed pleasure from any episode of the show.

Imagine that: instant, guaranteed love of life for at least one episode!

Imagine that: instant, guaranteed love of life for at least one episode!

In the Jewish tradition, “saving a life” is considered the highest ideal. You can violate any law for the sake of a human life. Life, in other words, must be preciously nurtured and cared for. It follows that the more we love life, the better we will care for it.

There are many ways to boost this love of life. If one is going through depression or mental health challenges, therapy and perhaps medication are effective ways to cope. If one is going through loneliness, there is community. If one is searching for meaning, there is the joy of giving and helping others. If one is searching for creativity, there are hobbies. And so on.

But let us not overlook the love of life that comes from pure entertainment. It may look like just a distraction or a “break” from the heavy stuff, but if that entertainment makes us happy and grateful to be alive, it’s just as meaningful as any rabbinic sermon.

And I’m sure any rabbi who loves to laugh would agree.