What does Jewish happiness mean? episode - "Promised Land"

What is Jewish happiness? Laughter through tears. When you sit by the remains of your broken “trough,” cut, maimed, and smile: “Thank you for not killing me.”

Jewish happiness, ours, our dear one, is the Pale of Settlement, pogroms, yes. This is a revolution. This is the Cheka and the first Soviet Politburo, a murderous power over people. And radioactive ash from this power. The fight against cosmopolitans and the work of doctors. Solomon Mikhoels, crushed near Minsk. Refuseniks. Permission to travel for a good fee. Chess players, comedians, Composers' Union.

Jewish happiness is the Great Combinator, spinning the president and his entire Family around his finger. He ended badly... Jewish happiness is to be the head of Chukotka, the head of Chelsea, the head of the Yacht, the largest yacht in the world; boss of Dasha Zhukova. This means singing all your life “And Lenin is so young...”, being considered a big mafioso, in the process saving a woman with three children from deadly gas in “Nord-Ost” and ending up, of course, in “United Russia”. This means working in an ambulance, singing “Gop-stop, we’ve come around the corner...” to the whole country, and then, of course, ending up in United Russia. This is being “on duty in a country” where “yesterday crayfish were 5 rubles, and today they were 3.” And “The main thing is that the suit fits” - bright Jewish happiness. Jews for Putin (Soloviev, Eskin, Satanovsky, Zhirinovsky) see their happiness in this. Jews against Putin (and you can’t count them!) are unhappy, each in their own way. But this is also Jewish happiness.

Give up a million (Perelman) or take a million, which is bad. To be Vladimir Vladimirovich’s judo coach, and then “suddenly” turn out to be a billionaire - and this is Jewish happiness. Being the son of this coach and receiving tribute from truck drivers is also Jewish happiness.

In general, one could start with Jesus Christ. And they should finish it. But let us not take His name in vain.

My Jewish happiness is to do interviews in "MK" and write these columns. “Jewish Happiness” by Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant - film it and show it on Channel One.

Before Israel, our “pilgrims” had already passed through America, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and now found themselves in the Promised Land. Or maybe they had the wrong address? Friends feel clearly out of place in their historical homeland. Here in Ostankino they are real apostles, very successfully preaching their religion, professing a multi-million army of their own adherents and confessing themselves live, each to the extent of their depravity.

Why did fate bring them to Israel? The devil forced Vladimir Pozner to be born with intelligence and talent, but not in Russia, but in France. He is French, American, Russian, but he doesn’t feel like a Jew. Although who asks him...

The same devil pulled Ivan Urgant to be born with intelligence and talent in Leningrad, this city on the Neva. Every time Vanya emphasizes, laughing and joking, his Jewishness. But is this enough to feel so strongly about the homeland of our ancestors?

In the first episode, Posner is not interested in Jerusalem. At all. He speaks in a broken word, without mockery or affectation: “I don’t feel anything, this is an ugly city, although it may be magnificent. In my own way." So the series didn't work out. At all. Posner is honest with his viewer, he does not want to please him, pat him on the head, or lisp. Well, I didn’t get it - that’s all! Even from the Western Wall - zero feelings, zero.

“What blasphemy!” - I thought at first. And then I remembered my feelings. I, too, still can’t get into Jerusalem, even if you kill me. But the Western Wall is sacred to me. The only sacred thing in this city. “What a great guy Posner!” - I immediately changed my mind. What is his strength, brother? In truth.

Urgant here is a contender for an Oscar, but only for a supporting role. He visits his historical homeland in fits and starts. Well, yes, you can get far from “Evening Urgant”, from this everyday broadcast. He participates in episodes, dilutes the seriousness, pathos, entertains, and ironizes. He does what he does best in the world. Such a rose on the cake.

And the cake is Posner himself. In general, this is his own film. His questions, his surprise, misunderstanding, admiration. His farewells are at the end of each episode.

Jerusalem is just the first pancake. All the other pancakes in the “Jewish Happiness” series turned out to be quite kosher. Posner fell in love with Tel Aviv, and it was immediately felt. The warmth of this city, openness, freedom, friendliness. And the kibbutzim (our collective farms, only much better and more productive) generally opened the author’s eyes to the world. He learned a lot here for the first time and again, so the series was a feast for the eyes.

I think many Jews will be offended by Posner for such a film. Orthodox, militant, and the simplest ones too. Because our Vladimir Vladimirovich began to write against the wind in the most problematic stories about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Ask uncomfortable, politically incorrect questions. Listen not only to the Israeli truth, but also to the Palestinian one.

His ill-wishers and enemies will say: he’s a propagandist, what can one take from him? Yes, work at Foreign Broadcasting makes itself felt, and if a person has been repeating tales about the “Israeli military” like the “Our Father” for decades, then how can he change so instantly, betray himself?

But we are also a country of myths. Previously, the Vremya program only talked about aggressors, about “crucified boys.” The Soviet Union collapsed - and suddenly Israel turned from an enemy into a dear friend, a country of three seas, a fabulous resort (from rags to riches). Best friend, where “a quarter of the former is our people.” Well, let’s say, not a quarter - Vladimir Semenovich got carried away, but there are still a lot of ours. And now it’s quite scary to sympathize with the Palestinians on our television.

But Posner sympathizes. Both: ours and yours. And this is not his old propaganda atavism, but true reporting work. A journalist must always doubt, without looking at anyone, not take anything for granted, but examine (by tooth, taste, eye), check.

There is no clear answer here. Well, yes, two Jews (Posner, Urgant) - three opinions. Posner is awkward, but very professional. He tore Israel down to the cogs, to the molecules. And he wants to collect, but only as he, Vladimir Pozner, sees it. Yes, he admires Israel, its people who built this oasis of brotherhood in the desert, this miracle of technology, but such feelings do not cancel his sympathies for the innocent, peaceful Palestinians. No, after such a film Posner will not be accepted as a Jew. Maybe even expelled from them.

But that is precisely why “Jewish Happiness” turned out to be unusually touching and smart. The camera work is magnificent, and the music of Ekaterina Chemberdzhi, Posner’s daughter, absolutely fits the mood of the pope, some of the deepest heartfelt responsiveness of the State of Israel.

Posner and Urgant have done their job, now they can leave. That is, to return back to Russia, to Moscow, to their First Channel, to their own personalized programs. They're great. But... As another “our guy” said: everything is relative. And he showed his tongue to the whole world. Maybe this is also Jewish happiness?

On Channel One, the project of Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant “Jewish Happiness”. Contents of the series.

On January 4, Channel One viewers went on an exciting journey to Israel with Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant.

What is modern Israel? Who was the father of Zionism and who revived Hebrew? How was the State of Israel created? How are Israelis different from other Jews? How did the Holocaust change Jews? How does the Jewish mind work and what rules should a devout Jew follow?

"It cannot be said that there is any logic in this, although ... there is a kind of connection between Israel and Germany. I understand that this may sound strange, but if you remember the history of the Second World War - the horror that experienced the entire Jewish people... After all, the decision to create the state of Israel, made by the UN, is one hundred percent connected precisely with the Holocaust. Although I did not proceed from this when we decided to make a film about Israel. Israel is a country in which many of our former citizens live. Moreover, thanks to these citizens, Israel became the country it has become - advanced, economically extremely developed, with more start-ups than any other country. This is thanks to about a million people who came from the Soviet Union and then from Russia. So, it seemed to us that there were two very interesting things: firstly, a very ancient country with a very ancient people who somehow survived unlike many other ancient peoples, and on the other hand, a country that is largely composed of former citizens of the Soviet Union.

About what Jewish happiness is like:“Jewish happiness is a purely Russian expression, by the way. It is not in English or French, maybe it is in some other languages ​​that are unfamiliar to me. Jewish happiness is actually misfortune. This means that everything went well , and a brick fell on someone’s head. And this, of course, was a Jew. If someone is unlucky or something doesn’t work out, that’s Jewish happiness. But Israel, which we discovered for ourselves, is just real Jewish "happiness. This happiness is to have your own country and not experience anything that Jews have experienced for many centuries. That is, what is somehow united by the word anti-Semitism. This is real Jewish happiness - when there is no anti-Semitism."

About what he discovered in Israel:“If you come to a country as a tourist or just to see friends, then you won’t get to know the country in any detail. You won’t even get to know your own country in detail. Because, as a rule, you have your own social circle, outside of which you don’t go, there are places where where do you travel all the time? When you make a film about a country, and not a tourist film, but a film in which you try to figure out what kind of country it is, what kind of people live in it... Then you learn something that you never I wouldn't know. Because you're talking to people you'd never talk to, and going to places you'd never go on your own, and asking questions you'd never ask. Yes, I've been in Israel several times before we made this film, but of course I discovered this country during filming. The idea that I had was superficial. In Israel, everyone argues with each other. If three people get together , then you will hear three different points of view, but in one thing they are all absolutely united - in their incredible love for their country. It is still a miracle for them that they have their own country. If other peoples have become accustomed to this over the centuries, for them it is natural and does not evoke any special feelings, but for the Israelis it is still a miracle, just a miracle. And this incredible love for the country unites them all and it is felt as strongly as anywhere else."

About where he went and who he met:"We visited many cities. Naturally, in Jerusalem, which is the heart of this country, in Tel Aviv - the first purely Israeli city, which was built by the Israelis themselves in 1909. Of course, we filmed in Haifa, but also in Safed, Nazareth, Netanya , Ashdod, Ashkelon, we were in settlements in the so-called occupied territories, we were in kibbutzim. We filmed in the incredibly ancient Jaffa and went around a lot of young cities built after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, with modern architecture. We also visited several cities in the Palestinian territory - in Ramallah, for example. When you make such a film, you must communicate with the most ordinary people - with taxi drivers, with traders in the market, just with people on the street, in a cafe or, say, with peasants on kibbutzim With journalists, with doctors in hospitals, of course, with soldiers and officers of the Israeli army, which plays a special role here. We also talked, of course, with rabbis, because they also play a special role in Israel. Well, with members of the Israeli government, including the Prime Minister. That is, we have such a pretty decent cut."

About the most amazing meeting:“Perhaps the most powerful impressions, although there were many, came from an interview I took with an Israeli woman who lives in one of the settlements. Her son was killed by Palestinian terrorists. Then I talked with a Palestinian woman whose son was killed by an Israeli sniper. And then During the editing, we contrasted what one said and what the other said - this makes a very strong impression, you understand how complex, confused, emotional and almost irresistible it all is. And there were a lot of interesting meetings."

On whether he could live in Israel:“Yes, I probably could, but I wouldn’t want to. I can tell you many countries where I wouldn’t want to live, but if necessary I could. After all, Israel is the East for me, and I’m not an Eastern person. Everything is here something else. And this terrible unbearable heat in the summer is just physically difficult. I could live in Israel for some time... But if they told me: but forever? I, of course, would not agree."

"Jewish Happiness" - episode contents

Episode 1 - "The Promised Land"

Israel is a paradoxical phenomenon. On the one hand, this is a young country, not yet seventy years old. At the same time, the Israelis bear the heavy burden of centuries of history, based largely on mythology. All this - truth and fiction, history and modernity - is intertwined in the space of one city. Throughout history, Jerusalem has been a symbol of the “national home” for Jews. But meanwhile, this is a city of three religions, a religious shrine for both Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Temple of Jerusalem was built here, Christ was crucified here, and from here Muhammad ascended to heaven. This one of the oldest cities in the world is a kind of key to understanding the driving forces of human history. And to an understanding of what modern Israel is. The presenters will follow in the footsteps of King David and will go down the ancient tsinor to the place of the city's founding - to the Gihon spring, evaluate the work of the Old City Video Surveillance Center, taste sweets in an Arabic restaurant, which is located in the former Crusader temple, visit Jewish and Christian shrines and even send letters to yourself Lord God.

Episode 2 - “Tel Aviv, or what do they eat it with?”

What kind of city is Tel Aviv? Why is it called an imaginary city, a city from books? Who was the father of Zionism and who revived Hebrew? How was the State of Israel created? How are Israelis different from other Jews? How did repatriation from the former Soviet Union save Israel?
Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant will be told about this by playwright Roi Hen, local historian Zeev Volk, taxi driver Steve Goldschmit, journalist and TV presenter Gil Hovav, artist Mikhail Grobman and his wife Irina Vrubel - founder of the magazine "Mirror", chief director of the Gesher Theater Evgeniy Arie and actors Svetlana and Alexander Demidov.

Episode 3 - “The Kibbutz is a voluntary matter”

Would Israel exist without the kibbutz movement? Probably not. Because the spirit of rebellion gave birth to the kibbutz, and the kibbutz gave birth to such legendary builders and defenders of the Jewish state as Moshe Dayan, Golda Meyer, Shimon Peres and many, many others. The first kibbutz was founded in 1910 in the valley of Lake Kinneret on land purchased by the Jewish National Fund from the Arabs of the village of Um-Juni. There were malarial swamps all around. Parched land. Bare, sun-scorched mountains. The pioneers who came to build a new world - a homeland for the Jews - were not afraid of any difficulties. Neither hard work, nor horrific living conditions and climate. Today there are about 220 kibbutzim in Israel. They have changed in many ways. What is communism in Israeli style today? Why, having failed all over the world, does this experiment still continue here in Israel? What kind of people live in this isolated world? What is their secret? Vladimir Pozner will fulfill his long-time dream of visiting a kibbutz and communicating with those who live there and who, despite everything, keep the socialist dream alive. Vladimir Vladimirovich will visit two communities. The first kibbutz Dgania, as well as one of the most prosperous kibbutzim in Israel, is Magan Michael.

Episode 4 - "A Knock on the Door"

According to some experts, today the Israeli army is one of the best in the world. To verify this, the presenters will visit the Tselim military training base, which is an accurate imitation of an Arab settlement. Here, soldiers from different units practice various combat missions and go through all possible scenarios of military operations. Ivan Urgant will try on the military uniform of the Israeli Army, and will also take part in one of the training tasks. Having visited the Golani military base, the presenters learn that in the Israeli army they do not march in formation, they do not learn to march, raising their legs correctly, because this will not be useful in battle. Unlike weapons, which a soldier receives on the very first day and does not part with it until the end of his service. Soldiers and officers of the Israeli Army will talk about serving in the army and why there is a very high competition for enlistment in combat troops. And why for every Israeli mother there is no more terrifying concept than the concept of “a knock on the door.”

Episode 5 - "David and Goliath"
According to biblical legend, the shepherd David fought the giant Goliath, killed him and became king of the kingdom of Israel. After a while, it was destroyed to the ground. And the Israelis turned into Jews, since Israel no longer existed. They were scattered all over the world and found peace nowhere, were not assimilated anywhere, but in spite of everything they survived and after more than two thousand years they found the Promised Land again. A fairy tale with a good ending? Ostensibly. But the end hasn't been written yet. Having found his home, the persecuted David became Goliath. He became powerful and influential, he became a magnet for attracting bright minds and skilled warriors. What happens to David when he becomes Goliath? Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant will have to find the answer to this question. This series of films is about the history of the development of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The characters of the film will express their point of view on this matter: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Saeb Erekat, political figures Avigdor Lieberman, Yuli Edelstein, Natan Sharansky, Zeev Elkin, Faina Kirshenbaum, Hanin Zuabi, journalist Ksenia Svetlova, writers Meir Shalev and David Grossman and others.
Episode 6 - "War and Peace"
This episode continues the conversation about the Arab-Israeli conflict. This time we will talk about attempts to peacefully resolve the problem and what the decision to withdraw troops from the Gaza Strip and liquidate all Jewish settlements, made unilaterally by former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, led to. Vladimir Pozner will inspect the Israeli Security Barrier - a multi-kilometer wall separating Israel from the West Bank. He will visit the border town of Sderot and learn about what life is like under the constant threat of war. The culmination of the film will be a correspondence dialogue between two mothers - Israeli and Arab - who lost their sons as a result of the conflict. Taking part in the film: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Saeb Erekat.
Episode 7 - "Never Again"
The Holocaust, that is, the deliberate, planned extermination of all Jews, became a powerful emotional factor that led to the creation of the Israeli state. But the behavior of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe still remains a mystery, who obediently, at the first request of their executioners, registered, put on and sewed on the Star of David, and came with their belongings to the designated collection points for departure to concentration camps. How did the Holocaust change Jews? How to avoid a repetition of the tragedy? In this episode, the hosts will try to answer these questions. Together with Vladimir Pozner, viewers will visit the Holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem. The name is translated from Hebrew as “Name and Memory”. And this is not just a Holocaust museum, not just an archive, it is a repository of memory. Memory of what happened. Only memory guarantees that this will never happen again...
Episode 8 - “What is a Jew”
In the final episode of the film there will be a conversation about what Judaism is and who the Jews are. How the Jewish mind, known for its paradoxical nature, works and what rules a devout Jew must follow. Vladimir Pozner and Ivan Urgant will get acquainted with ancient Jewish traditions. They will tell viewers what kashrut and Shabbat are and who can be considered a real Jew. The hosts will attend a religious wedding. Ivan Urgant will learn how to cook kosher fish. And Vladimir Pozner will visit one of the main spiritual centers of Israel - the city of Safed. He will also find out why some Israelis consider it crazy to adhere to traditions dating back thousands of years, and how modern religious Jews are deceiving God by learning to circumvent these traditions.

“Jewish happiness” is an expression that I first heard in Moscow from my mother-in-law, a pillar Muscovite. Nina Mikhailovna was a cartographer in her Stalinist youth. At the age of 16, she already worked in the Gidroproekt department, subordinate to the chief of the NKVD, Comrade L.P. Beria. But she drew on the maps not only where a hydroelectric power station is located, or what territory will go under water. Throughout the war, she and the same girls quickly mapped the situation they saw in the Kremlin on the maps of the General Staff! - another colonel general dictated.

1)
The Colonel General dictated, and the Lieutenant Generals, having taken off their boots and remaining in woolen socks, crawled among the girls on a seven-by-eight map spread out on the floor, specifying where to draw which icon. The girl draftsmen were led by a forty-year-old person of Jewish nationality named Zhuk.

Somehow the girls finished another map, marked Paulus and Guderian, and are waiting - in 10 minutes either the marshal of the military branch or someone else will come for the map... it doesn’t matter!
Comrade Zhuk once again ran his gaze across the canvas: well done, girls, they all deserve a chocolate bar. And then one of the draftsmen notices: “Oh, look! – STALIN GAD!»

Everyone rushed towards what was supposed to be "Stalingrad". Exactly: there is no letter "R". A trifle, but... unpleasant! Comrade M.S. Zhuk, turning pale, fell unconscious, sir. This is understandable: men already live shorter lives than women, but here is this... catalyst.

Half the girls rushed to the body of the authorities, bothering me and assuring that they didn’t do it on purpose and there was nothing wrong with it, now they would fix everything. My future mother-in-law and the other half of her friends, passing erasers, razors and pencils to each other, once again, cleaned everything up in seven minutes, stretched it out - and here you have the correct “Stalingrad”. And there are no erasures visible.

The door opened and, creaking with chrome, breeches with stripes entered:
- Well? Ready??
- Yes, drag general!
- What is this... with yours?
- Oh, nothing, he works a lot, he just gets overwhelmed.
- Well... come on, come on!

About five minutes later the Beetle opened his eyes:
- Where I am…
- You’re still in the Kremlin, Moisei Solomonovich, you’ve already taken away the map, everything will be fine...
From the ominous uncertainty, Monya passed out again. But, as you can see, everything worked out, everyone remained alive, everyone grew up - with all the ensuing consequences.
In short, Jewish happiness does not just happen. First, as I understand it, a dramatic prelude is needed, after which a person (even a non-Jew) perceives any consequences as a gift from above and offers fervent praise to heaven for them.

The sea is the sea! It can be removed endlessly, even something as modest as ours. Maybe the heat will still arrive from Moscow, and then all of our Latvia, together with the Muscovites who have arrived in large numbers, will climb into the water, gawking at Maslyakov, Galkin, Krutoy and the new Petrosyan grandmothers splashing nearby (all of them will live without illnesses for up to a hundred years and crawl on all fours for another twenty! )

And this is the notorious “rags” - horn - cape, near which the famous fish market Raga-tsiems is located. I don’t post the bazaar because I’ve done it more than once before. And the posts of other friends are full of such overseas exoticism that we stand modestly on the sidelines.

After frolicking near the water, we climbed up, where we could shelter from the wind in the pine trees and set up a bivouac.

Since the departure was spontaneous, I did not have a cape or cutlery with me. As they walked, they sat down “as is.” But then they cleaned everything up after themselves - just be trustworthy. For Salaga-Erik, the discipline of behavior in nature needs to be drilled into his head from childhood, and by personal example. So you swear to yourself, but crawl around the clearing and collect. And next to this growing Tom Sawyer crawls and pokes his finger: here’s another piece of paper!

For Eric, these gatherings on the ground under the pine trees were a novelty. By the way, he chose the cucumbers at the market himself, and now he is thoughtfully mastering the products. Our lightly salted cucumbers went with smoked herring and mackerel. Eat, comrade, the time will come - I’ll tell you how “cucumbers” from the fucking “Eugen” flew over this very place to your grandfather.

We are mastering the difficult man’s task of “pour and drink.” From this perspective, Eric is the spitting image of my brother Sanechka (in childhood).

The road back to Jurmala. The sea is on the left. Tukums (with that pharmacy) is on the right.

But those who did not give up their principles. There are real heroes among the Soviet police officers who, despite any historical upheavals, even in NATO continue their hard service as Comrade Shchelokov ordered. Truly Latvia is a country of contrasts.

11)
That's it, the guy is tired, collecting sticks in the forest. He won't be four years old until the end of October. The fly spread to the second half. Soon all our Muscovites will traditionally come to Latvia. This is the most pleasant thing - knowing that there is less and less time left before meeting friends. We will listen to the latest gossip from the capital, we will trand for life, we will introduce the younger generation to people who are new to them. Life goes on. Have a good rest everyone!

P.S. I completely forgot: what does Jewish happiness have to do with it? And despite the fact that the described events took place on a day that, due to the protracted Ligo festivities in Latvia, I considered to be Sunday. And on the way back from the picnic, he complained to the passengers that he had to go to work tomorrow, and that in such and such weather it was simply a waste. And then Anna, who never loses her mind on any holiday, says to me: tomorrow is Sunday!

Oops! The nightingales sang in my soul, and I praised Heaven.

Do you know what “Jewish happiness” is? No, you don’t know, you never knew and you never will know what it is: “Jewish happiness”!

... Tell me, hand on heart, where were my parents’ brains when they chose a name for their newborn baby, that is, for me? Where?! That's right, Klavdia Sergeevna, exactly in the place you thought about. Well, how could you give a child born in the USSR the name Sarah! To the Russian ear it’s just a curse word. The worst thing is that in combination with our last name, my name became incompatible with life.

- And now Sarah Pizengolts will go to the board!
- Pizengolts! Have you been tested? No?
- Sarah! Tomorrow we are leaving for the pioneer camp!
- Sarah! Sarah!!! Buy two more bottles of kefir!
-Can you hear me, Sarah?!

I lower my crimson face down and run to the store, cursing my parents, this street with passers-by, the policeman, the janitor and everyone, everyone... and, of course, myself!

I had to become an excellent student, the champion of Moscow in shot put. I learned five foreign languages ​​(including Hebrew and Japanese). I read the originals of classics of world literature. But where is your personal life? Where is the only one, the one who won’t jump away from me when he finds out my first and last name? Thus many years passed in suffering unimaginable.

But there is God in the world, and a miracle happened! It was a real miracle.

He came up to me late at night and asked for 2 kopecks. to the phone. The night was illuminated by the light of his fiery red head. The two-meter tall man, who looked like Van Gogh’s sunflower, was smiling from the top of his gangster face.
“Abram,” he introduced himself and extended his hand to me.
“Sarah,” I answered and, squeezing his palm so that he turned pale, I added, looking into his eyes: “Sarah Pizenholtz.”
...Then we often remembered how we laughed after Abram said his last name...
“Abram Ashpizd,” he said...
Klavdia Sergeevna! We're getting married soon. What to do with last names?

- Shalom Rav! Happy New Year to you! What does it mean? And what is happiness anyway?
– Shalom Arie, and the same to you! Well, Reb Aryeh, you always want a lot of everything, beautiful and at once.

- But of course! So Mayakovsky advised, if you are looking for a big and clean one, wash the elephant.
– So you are asking a global question again, more than an African elephant. Let's approach it gradually. Let's start with the fact that we are not talking about some kind of “international happiness”, “worldwide”, interplanetary and so on - we are talking about Jewish happiness. For some, happiness is eating something special. For some, it’s to climb the peak of a high mountain or find yourself in the Bermuda Triangle and not get lost in it. For some, it means becoming president. But we are talking about the Jewish New Year, not the Chinese one, and about the Jewish Sukkot, not the Papuan one - which means we are talking specifically about “Jewish happiness”, with the fifth column in any passport.
“I’ve never heard of passports being issued to abstract concepts.” Why not though? The “struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom” brings not only passports, but even state emblems, seats in the UN and other documentary amenities. And what is written there on the first four lines in the passport of “Jewish happiness”?
– Reb Aryeh, do not be distracted by your favorite politics and philosophy. Jewish happiness is not an abstraction, it has a very concrete existence. In these days that have passed and that are yet to come - the Days of Awe from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the Days of Joy on the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) culminating in Simchat Torah, the "Joys of the Torah" - we gain a real, living understanding and sense of joy . These days bind us with joy and trepidation.

- How? How can a day in itself connect a person with anything? And if I go to the beach on Yom Kippur, drink champagne, and go on a cruise to the Caribbean on Sukkot...
– Reb Aryeh, I don’t like your mood. Some kind of Caribbean... Is this the blue dream of your childhood, like Rio de Janeiro, half a million and everyone in the white pants of Ostap Bender, a Turkish citizen? Although, if you put a sukkah on the ship, and don’t forget to take with you not only white pants, but also a lulav with etrog - go to your Caribbean! But I believe that our reading public, intelligent and knowing a lot about Jewry, will not understand you - all this champagne on the beach on the holiest day of our year...

– Rav, but you’re talking about Jewish happiness. I remember the daughter of General Moshe Dayan, when she was younger and more glamorous, every Yom Kippur she went with reporters to the beach and ate ice cream in front of the cameras - naturally, in the required beach attire. This was her “Jewish happiness.” I suspect, Rav, that you mean something else by this?
– Unfortunately, Arie, what you say is true, but I, of course, am talking about something completely different. There is a popular expression in Yiddish: “a yidishe nakhas - dos es abyssele glick and abyssele mazal.” “Jewish happiness is a little joy and a little luck.” But in any case, these are rather abstract things. Let's analyze specifically what “Jewish happiness” is.
- Rav, are you serious? I started talking about happiness “for fun”, is it even possible to define this for everyone at once? Even if only for Jews?
– Reb Aryeh, I always suspected that many of your questions were only “for fun”, now at least you admitted it. However, the Jewish understanding of happiness is quite definable. And we will try to do this, of course, with the help of our readers.

- Well, the readers are still far away, but I have to take the rap for everyone. But it is generally accepted that happiness is a purely individual thing; in the same situation, one person is happy, while another suffers from depression. Do you want to propose a formula for Jewish happiness?
- Yes, but what’s so unprecedented about this?

– I remember it was said: “Who is happy? “Happy with my lot.” We all have different shares!
- Yes and no. But don’t rush, let’s finally get things in order. We can understand Jewish happiness only in the light of the relationship of the Jewish people and each Jew individually with his Creator. For a deeper understanding, I will use, with your permission, several quotes from the famous book “Tomar Dvora”, written by the great Torah scholar and kabbalist of the 16th century, one of the lights of the Safed school, the sage Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, blessed be the memory of the holy righteous man!

– Rav, don’t you think that in our conversations we meet all Moshes?
– Reb Aryeh, in my opinion, your happiness is to be distracted from the topic. On the contrary, I would like to plunge into the book “Zohar”, of which Rav Moshe Cordovero, in particular, was an expert. He describes the relationship between the Jews and the Creator as “sheerit nahalato.” It is not enough to translate this concept into Russian; it must be explained. This is what Rav Cordovero writes: “And this is how the Creator behaves towards the people of Israel. The Creator says: “What will I do with Israel, and they are my loved ones? They are My relatives, we are like a married couple.” According to the book “Zohar”, the Almighty uses various epithets to denote his connection with our people - spouse, bride, daughter...

– Why only female roles?
– This is obvious - we accept God’s blessing, all benefits come from our Creator - He has an active, giving, male function in these relationships. In addition, the Creator often calls us “His children”, “sons” - thereby emphasizing our male responsibility. Commentators say that "the people of Israel, the Torah and the Creator are one."

– This somehow sounds too vague, and at the same time terribly self-confident! And when the people of Israel had not yet arisen - what, there was no G-d?! And on the star Alpha Centauri - there is no G-d there?!
– Reb Aryeh, on issues of astronomy, the characters and appearance of aliens, this is not for me.

- Why not to you, Rav? You just announced that the Jewish people and the Creator are one and the same.
– Reb Aryeh, firstly, is not “one and the same,” but “one whole.” And this quite clearly explains the existence of the Jewish people throughout its most complex history - in spite of everything. And this, you know very well, is one of the foundations of our faith. At least, when one of the Spanish monarchs was asked what confirms the existence of the Creator, he instantly replied: “The Jewish people!” And, according to witnesses, he pointed out the window at a Jew passing in front of the palace. It’s one thing to say, as our fellow citizens love, that “a Jew must keep the 10 commandments” (naturally, forgetting about the fourth: “Keep the Sabbath day”). Another is to really try to be at the level that our special relationship with the Almighty requires. From all that has been said, we can at least understand that the mercy of the Creator is guaranteed to us. We are close to the Creator.

– Rav, and you are saying this after Khmelnitsky, Stalin and Hitler?! And in today's almost universal anti-Semitic screaming?! Nice proximity! As one of the correspondents about the Holocaust told me: it’s as if a father, in order to return his son on a spree, set a crowd of hooligans on him, who beat him half to death and left him unconscious in a dirty ditch.
- Of course, “cal vahomer”, even more so! This clearly shows that, no matter what, they will not wait for our death! This is what the Torah says - both Written and Oral.

– And all these “worst friends” of ours, murderers, haters and slanderers - are they not under the authority of the Creator? It turns out that God gave them the right to commit atrocities and incite them?
– No, they made this choice themselves - God always gives a person the right to choose. We have already talked about this more than once.

- Well, Rav, the sages give well-known advice: “Whoever is destined to be punished will be, but do not be the instrument of punishment!” But why did these horrors fall on our people, on our united soul?
– Reb Aryeh, along the way, it is impossible to answer all your global questions, as is usual with you, especially on such a painful topic. If our readers would like, we can talk directly about the Holocaust from the point of view of the Jewish Tradition. But this is not our main topic now. The fact that we are “sheerit nahalato”, on the one hand, means that we are “sheerit”, and this can be translated as “what remains”; but on the other hand, “nahalato” is possession, “the territory of the Creator.” And He will not give up His “possession” to anyone. It is written in the book of the prophet Ishai (Isaiah): “In all their troubles He suffers” (63, 9). When we feel bad, the Almighty suffers. The Book of Zohar emphasizes: “It is difficult for Him to see the shame and misfortune of Israel, because Israel is close to Him.” “That is why Jews are responsible for each other - because their souls are one and in the soul of each there is a share from the soul of every other Jew. And when one sins, he hurts not only himself, but also those shares of the souls of each of the people of Israel that are connected with him.”
It is reported that the Vilna Gaon responded to the proposal to rest more: “If I study less than at least 18 hours a day, other rabbis will study less than 12 hours, and then some Jew in Paris will be baptized.” In fact, the Gaon studied almost 22 hours a day and slept 4 times for half an hour.
Or another statement, we seem to have already mentioned it, in the words of Rabbi Israel Salanter, “when in Slobodka they talk during prayer, in Germany they become reformists.”
What does it mean that we are spiritually connected? This means, in particular, that our thoughts, feelings, desires have a huge influence on each other... After all, we are one soul! The Chazon Ish says: just as the whole human body is divided into different organs, so the whole world is one body, but people, as organs of the body, are divided in it. And each person must fulfill his role. “And so when people who study Torah do so with complete dedication, it influences the thoughts of all the Jews of the world - and saves many from the desire for sin and vice.”

– So the Chazon Ish wants to emphasize that our relationship with the Torah of the Creator is not deep and sincere enough? And is there any doubt that since those recent times the situation has worsened rather than improved? But is it easy for only a small part of the people of Israel, only about one fifth of them - people who keep the commandments of our holy Torah - to bear the common burden?!
Tell me, Rav, is it not possible that the main cause of our misfortunes - separation, the opposition of our thoughts and desires - then weakens, in internal conflict, our common soul, sinfulness and lack of spirituality grow uncontrollably, the scales of the Supreme Court fall and... By analogy with a person’s internal conflict, leading him to neurosis and other unpleasant consequences.
- Maybe. It very well may. But you want, Reb Aryeh, for me to answer on behalf of the Creator himself - what exactly, when, how and why was decided at His absolutely precise Judgment? Are you asking too much from me? Let's return to earth for now.

I want to quote the historian Felix Kandel again from his “Book of Times and Events.” “The introduction of Jews into the cultural and social life of Russia caused concern among the Russian intelligentsia and controversy on this topic. The writer and critic K. Chukovsky believed that the departure of Jews into Russian culture would harm their national culture: “They become compilers, translators, reviewers, reporters, interviewers, chroniclers... Sing the Song of Songs to the whole world and then become someone else’s choristers.” , semi-wild literature, to pick up other people's motives and sing along in inaudible voices to someone else's notes - isn't this spiritual slavery, not humiliation?.. I affirm that a Jew is not able to understand Dostoevsky, just as an Englishman, a Frenchman, an Italian are not able to understand him. Otherwise, either Dostoevsky is not Dostoevsky, or a Jew is not a Jew.” And the writer A. Bely opposed the internationalization of culture and was indignant at “the invasion of those who did not understand the depth of the people’s spirit... You look at the lists of employees of magazines and newspapers in Russia - who are the musical and literary critics of these (publications)?.. The general mass of Jewish critics is completely alien to the Russian art, writes in Esperanto jargon and terrorizes any attempt to deepen and enrich the Russian language.” Philosopher, literary critic M. Gershenzon, author of works on Pushkin, Griboyedov, Herzen and Aksakov (he was called “Slavophile in Tales”) wrote on this topic in a private letter: “I feel my psyche is completely Jewish, I completely share the point of view of Chukovsky, A. Bely, etc., I am sure that I am not able to intimately understand Russians.” In those same years, Pasternak and Mandelstam published their first poems...

The famous Protestant writer with the peculiar name Andre Gide wrote the same thing about Jews and French culture.
– Rav, sorry, this was probably the case at the beginning of the 20th century, when Jewish enlighteners jumped leaps and bounds to the Russian language from Yiddish, to “Paris-a-la-Russe” from the town near Berdichev. And now it is Jews, and often foreign Jews, who preserve the purity and depth of the Russian language from its transformation into English-like slang. As a result, it is possible, a mass exodus of our fellow tribesmen from Russia, this is still happening there. This is not my thought. Things have come to the point that UNESCO is even going to declare the Russian language a “dead language”! Since “it has practically no word formation of its own, the language is clogged with crude tracings from English and, less commonly, German.” And the culture has long been from the “poskonno-Russian” (which, in truth, never existed; foreign influences have been very active in Russia for many centuries now - the Khazars and Varangians, the Tatars and Livonians, the Poles, the Italians, the Dutch, French, Chinese in the East, British...) - became international, through the “Soviet”. As a Russian-speaking poet, today’s situation seems completely different to me. Which, however, does not mean at all that a Jew needs to scrounge into it from his endless, even in terms of the number of names, incommensurable wealth - it’s good if in Russian, counting all the rubbish, there is at least a tenth of that number of book titles - that that, after all the pogroms and expulsions, remained with the Jews...
– With your permission, big greetings to UNESCO.
I want to say something completely different. I want to say that there are Jews who have taken up Russian or American literature with all their might, or who think in terms of baseball (very much like you, a chess player, understand, an intellectual game)... Once I had to give a speech in Detroit, in the community of American Jews. I thought - how can I speak to the American public? I found out what baseball teams there were, who played for whom and how - and that’s where I started my speech. The people were very impressed; they listened to the continuation of the topic of the Torah itself with great attention, with exclamations: “What a rabai!”