In the 2025 World Happiness Report, Israel ranked as the eighth-happiest country on earth, down from fifth the year before and fourth the year before that. In other words, even during years of war, trauma and global antisemitism, Israel still placed in the top 2.5% to 5% of the happiest countries in the world, according to the Gallup and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Should that surprise us? Yes. But not really.
This is the same Jewish people who carry a history of expulsion, persecution, pogrom and genocide; who live in the world’s only Jewish state, surrounded by enemies; who send children into the army; who have learned to differentiate between “distant boom” and “near boom” without looking up from their coffee. On paper, that doesn’t sound like a recipe for happiness.
And yet, again and again, the data says otherwise. Israelis report some of the highest levels of life satisfaction on the planet.
Jews are commanded to be happy.
You may have learned this on a bumper sticker seen around Israel: מִצְוָה גְּדוֹלָה לִהְיוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה תָּמִיד: “It’s a commandment to be happy always.” These famous words come from Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, whose followers are known for dancing down Israeli streets with speakers and huge smiles on their faces.
Hebrew doesn’t even have just one word for happiness. In fact, it has a whole family of them!
Here’s the bigger point: Judaism doesn’t see happiness as the result of life going well. Judaism sees happiness as something you must actively work on.
In 48 Ways to Wisdom, the late Rabbi Noach Weinberg, the founder of Aish, put it simply: Joy doesn’t come from “good things happening to you.” If it did, it would disappear the minute something went seemingly wrong.
So, where does this happiness come from? Is joy just a part of Jewish DNA carried down involuntarily, is it learned behavior, or something that is preached before it is practiced?
It is partly from behavior, as Judaism says that action shapes emotion: “the external awakens the internal.” Or as Sefer HaChinuch says, “the heart follows the actions.”
Meaning: Don’t wait until you feel happy to live like a happy person. Do things like smile, get dressed up, dance at someone’s wedding, say thank you, help someone ... and your inner life will slowly line up with your outer life. Fake it till you make it.
Happiness also comes from perspective.
Jewish people live with a very long timeline. Their story doesn’t begin the day they were born, so when your story stretches from Egypt to exile to returning to the homeland, it’s hard to see any one moment as the whole picture. That doesn’t erase pain. It just stops pain from taking over the microphone.
There’s also anticipation. Jews are wired to think forward, constantly looking forward to and praying for redemption, rebuilding—“next year in Jerusalem.” The idea that tomorrow can be better is already a form of happiness.
And then there’s wisdom. On Tisha B’Av, one of the saddest days on the Jewish calendar, we don’t learn Torah because Torah brings joy. The Arizal says that “joy opens the doors to great heights of wisdom.” Learning adds meaning, and meaning changes the emotional experience of life, even when nothing externally has changed.
None of this means Israelis are walking around in a permanent good mood. Go to any supermarket line—or worse, a municipality office, and you will discover very quickly that they are not.
When you order coffee, there’s no fake, overly cheery, “Hi, how are you today?” from the person taking your order. But if you see someone smiling, you can be sure it’s genuine.
Because being happy is a skill set. It’s practiced. It’s talked about. It’s commanded.
So, yes, Israel being the eighth-happiest country in the world might sound unlikely. But for a people who literally have a phrase that says “it’s a mitzvah to always be happy,” it may be the most Jewish statistic out there.
