If It Makes You Happy - Rosh HaShanah Opening 5786

Rabbi Sam Cohon, Congregation Beit Simcha, Tucson AZ

So, my friends, just how happy are you?

There is a study published annually called the World Happiness Report, put together by Gallup and researched by academics at Oxford University and other top institutions.  The World Happiness Report is created by using something called The Cantril Self-Anchoring Scale, a measuring device developed by pioneering social psychology researcher Dr. Hadley Cantril of Princeton University in the 1960s.  The Cantril Ladder, as it’s known, consists of the following:

• Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top.

• The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you.

• On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?

• On which step do you think you will stand about five years from now?

This single, carefully calibrated inquiry is how the World Happiness Report ranks every country in the world on professed happiness. Around 1,000 people from each country, across a spread of representative demographics, by phone or in person, contribute to the study each year. And lately, each year, there is the same result.

In 2025, while the U.S. slid to an all-time low of 24th out of all the world’s nations in life satisfaction, Finland again reigned supreme. Finland has held the top spot for the past eight years running. Finns were happier during the peak COVID years, even, than Americans have ever been.  Wow.

Mind you, there are many surprises to be found in this report, besides the fact that a country that is dark and very, very cold for six months of the year—or more—is the real live happiest place on earth.  For example, you would think that with everything Israelis have been going through since, well, forever, Israel would be an unhappy place.  Yet Israel ranked eighth happiest in the world—eighth!—this year, in the midst of a long war with Gaza, a brief war with Iran, terrorism, international censure, political and social division, and all kinds of well-reported tzoris.  In 2022 and 2023, before October 7th, Israel was fourth and fifth in the world in happiness, behind only Finland, Denmark, Iceland and then Sweden, wealthy Scandinavian countries with great social services and no wars at all.  That’s pretty stunning.

On the other hand, the US has been slowly sinking on the Global Happiness scale, from 11th fifteen years ago all the way down to 24th now.  That’s in spite of the fact that we are ranked 4th in GDP per capita, that is, how much money people make on average, and have been rising over the last few years. 

Apparently, happiness has a lot more to do with just how much we participate in community, how much we help others and are helped by them, whether we believe our society is equitable and fair, how supported we feel in our needs and how much trust we have in the future than it has to do with wealth or material possessions.  Frankly, we Americans aren’t doing so well for a country that prides itself on the pursuit of happiness.

So, Finland, a nation of just 5.6 million people and 168,000 lakes, where health care and education are free and excellent, and access to nature is everywhere, is a very happy place.  And we here in the United States, the richest, most powerful nation on earth?  Not so happy.  How can that be?

In Jewish tradition, at this sacred time of year, we are instructed to perform a Cheshbon haNefesh, an accounting of our souls, over these Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, these Ten Days of Return and Repentance. If you will, this is a sort of Cantril’s ladder about where we are in our own lives.  Now, we must note that in Judaism the principal goal is not happiness, or even satisfaction or contentment.  The purpose of life is to be good.  Happiness will likely follow, but the ideal is a good life, not simply a happy one. 

Now, interestingly, that World Happiness Index has discovered that what makes people happy, beyond meeting their basic needs for secure food, clothing, and shelter, is how much they participate in community, how much they give to others and how often they have helped strangers, along with how little corruption they feel there is in their society, and how fair and just they believe their nation is. 

In other words, what really makes people happy is the kinds of things that Judaism always insists matter the most: justice, equity, helping the poor, stranger and immigrant, and being integrally part of a giving community. Exactly what our tradition has always said are the most important things. 

What Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur offer is the chance to judge where you stand on that ladder of happiness—or, rather, where you stand on a slightly different ladder, what we might call Jacob’s ladder of goodness.  Not just how pleasant or diverting is your life right now, and do you expect it to be in five years. But instead, how good a person are you right now?  How much have you participated in community?  How much do you give to others? 

What we are beginning tonight is an evaluation and a challenge: can you, personally, find a way to ascend that ladder to a higher rung?  Can you, personally, become a more giving, more participating member of your congregation and community?  Can you grow in ways this year that increase your Goodness Index.

Because Judaism, and the World Happiness Index, teach the same lesson. If you can become a better person, you will also be a happier one.

May this be God’s will in this new year.  And may this be our will, too.