Life in Israel since October 7, 2023, has been filled with conflict, danger, and above all, uncertainty. Soldiers are sent into battle, while their family and friends worry incessantly about them.
People throughout the country are having to be mindful of their proximity to their safe rooms at home or the shelters in their neighborhoods. It would seem, in short, to be a time of rampant insecurity and anxiety.
All of these conditions notwithstanding, Israel still manages to rank among the very happiest nations in the world, placing eighth in the most recent World Happiness Report.
On its face, this standing seems completely counterintuitive. And perhaps it is, but it might also be very indicative of a deeper understanding of what animates, propels, and sustains Israel as the unique country it is.
The ranking of the happiest countries tends to remain fairly constant each year and overwhelmingly leans toward the Scandinavian and other northern and western European countries. These, led by Finland, account for eight of the top 10 positions. The only other besides Israel is Costa Rica, a first for them or any Central or South American country.
Wealth, life expectancy, social and community support, freedom of choice, generosity, and absence of corruption are the criteria used for determining happiness. These criteria would, of course, favor wealthy, welfare-intensive, and socially supportive nations, all of which define much of northern and western Europe.
But the criteria do not really delve into an assessment of the attitudes and proclivities of individuals. Interestingly, two of what I would regard as key indicia of personal happiness – birth rates and suicide rates – are not included.
If one were to factor these in, Israel might very well rank number one. That is because its birth rate was almost double that of the other leading countries, and its suicide rate was easily the lowest of the top 10.
Perhaps the most revealing aspect of the study was happiness according to age. Here, among those 25 and younger, Israel ranked number three worldwide. At first glance, this would seem to be incomprehensible, since this is the cohort that is putting itself into harm’s way by going off to war.
However, this was the highest-ranked age cohort among Israelis, and, other than Lithuania and Finland, the highest-ranked under-25 cohort in the world.
This is an amazing state of affairs. In addition, after one stops shaking their head about it, it is deserving of some deeper speculation.
Young Israelis are protecting their country
Basically, our young people are doing something that many of their elders had doubted that they were capable of: they have embraced the mission of protecting the country they love. They have internalized the importance of Israel and the need for Israel for their defense, protection, and nurturing of it.
In other words, they have made the country their own, and themselves the personification of the country.
While their 18-year-old peers elsewhere are learning about safe spaces or acceptable pronouns in colleges and universities, or creating false identities for themselves on social media, young Israelis are learning that it’s not about me, but about us.
They are being impelled to step outside of themselves and to take responsibility for their fellow soldiers and, by extension, their nation. They are learning to push and to challenge themselves, not for their own aggrandizement, but for the sake of the mission.
I am not trying to romanticize the rigors of military service, nor Heaven forbid, of war. Bur there is a nexus here that is fascinating, and that runs completely counter to the assumed way elsewhere that young people should be maturing.
What young Israelis both discover and then demonstrate as part of their military or national service is perhaps a more intense variation of feelings that their elders also evoke.
Israelis, regular citizens, implicitly understand that life in Israel is still an adventure. An adventure in the sense that there continues to be a tenuousness, an uncertainty, a work-in-progress sensibility to the place.
Along with that, Israelis understand that they, we, each of us, can have an impact. Whether it is in our communities or on a larger stage, there is room for initiative and making a difference.
Ultimately, these are the timeless contributors to happiness. The sense of being part of something, a productive part of something, a something worth sacrificing for, all of this is what gives us purpose and connection.
At the end of the day, happiness is the antithesis of self-obsession. Happiness means stepping away from one’s own needs and focusing on the needs of others and of that which is larger than ourselves.
Soldiers who have discovered that there are indeed no atheists in a foxhole, and have sought to put on tefillin or to pray, have experienced the elevating power of connecting with something much larger than themselves.
How deliciously ironic is it that the path to greater joy, equanimity, and yes, happiness, runs through everything that a fat and yet not so happy West has taught us to eschew and to avoid.
The same age cohort of under-25-year-olds in the United States is ranked as 60th in the world, and adolescents everywhere are demonstrating, thanks to social media, greater despondence than has ever been measured.
For all of its tribulations, in fact, perhaps because of many of its tribulations, Israel is replete with happy people, including and especially among its young people.
This is something to remember and to celebrate.
The author is the chairman of the board of Im Tirtzu and a Director of the Israel Independence Fund.