What Determines Satisfaction in Life?

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the higher a person's level of religiosity, the more satisfied they are with their life (Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel’s Population by Religion and Self-definition of Religious Level: Selected Data from Society Report No. 10, 14 Tammuz 5778, June 27, 2018).

98% of Haredim are satisfied with their lives, about 10% above the national average(!). This is an unusual figure on an international scale. A survey of over 100 countries found the highest satisfaction in Denmark, Switzerland, and Sweden—96% ("Quality of Life of Populations in Israeli Society", Nitza (Kliner) Kasir and Dr. Dimitri Romanov, p. 71).

Why is this so?

The First Reason: A Life with Meaning

The well-known psychologist Viktor Frankl, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, shares his experience during the Holocaust. When the Nazis sent him to a concentration camp because he was Jewish, he lost all his body fat until he was literally skin and bones. As someone who deeply understood human psychology, he described what that kind of suffering did to the soul.

In their living quarters, the prisoners would look at one another and silently know whose turn it was to die next. Each one thought, “First him… then him… then me…” That’s how deep the despair was.

But Frankl noticed something powerful: the people who managed to survive—despite the horrifying conditions—were the ones who felt their lives still had meaning.

(Frankl disagreed with Freud, who believed people are driven mainly by desire, and with Adler, who believed people are driven by the need for social status. Frankl believed the true motivator in life is meaning.)

He explained that what kept him alive was the thought: “I have to survive so I can write down the insights I’ve discovered here.” He couldn’t do research or publish from the camp, and he didn’t want all those ideas to die with him.

Happiness comes from living a meaningful life—from knowing your life has purpose and direction.

Think about someone who wakes up, goes to work, eats, sleeps, and repeats the cycle until the day they die. That kind of life can feel empty if there's no deeper reason behind it.

A person who lives with intention—like keeping mitzvot (commandments), following Torah values, and feeling connected to something bigger—feels that their life matters. That person is more likely to feel joy and fulfillment, even in this world.

Something simple, like starting a community lending project or helping neighbors- within weeks, the person doing it can start to feel happier and more satisfied with life.

They didn’t make money, or even earn recognition. So where’s the joy coming from? From knowing that what they’re doing matters.

How much more so if a person lives their life guided by the belief that they’re following G-d's will. They trust that they were created for a purpose, and they follow the path laid out in the Torah—both in how they treat others and in their relationship with Hashem. That sense of purpose adds depth and meaning to their life, and with it comes greater happiness.

On the flip side, someone who chases happiness only through material things usually ends up disappointed. The more they expect to find happiness in materialism, the more let down they feel when it doesn’t deliver. Modern research finds that people who try to squeeze the most pleasure out of life rarely end up truly happy.

As Rabbi Zamir Cohen explains in his class on the book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), the pursuit of pleasure alone doesn't bring lasting joy. But a life with meaning? That’s where real happiness begins.

In the next chapter, the second reason: The Secret of Balance