What does “This is the day Hashem made” teach about worry?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau teaches that the verse zeh hayom asah Hashem, nagilah v'nismechah vo is an answer to worry: “This is the day, rejoice in it. Not tomorrow. Not when things get better. This one.”
Worry, he explains, always needs another time to live in: “Every fear you carry is either a memory or an imagination.” The verse points you to the one place it can't reach. “The present moment is the only place anxiety cannot follow you. Go there.”
In A Soul at Peace, he notes the verse's last words: rejoice “in it.” Not about it, not because of it, but in it. Joy is not found in waiting for what will come or looking back at what has passed; it is found inside the day itself.
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In A Soul at Peace: The Day Hashem Made
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
The verse directs joy to today, not to a better future.
Deepest human truth
How can I use this verse when worry comes?
In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau suggests asking, “Is this happening now?” If not, it is imagination, and you can come back to the day Hashem made.
More questions from this teaching
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