I think I read this somewhere many years ago but it cropped up again in my mind the other day. I was thinking of a way to sum up one’s life  – not the material things like wealth and toys but the deep-down feelings of the heart. How would one measure such a thing?

So I thought one could solve this question by stretching the meaning of two Yiddish words: Naches (pronounced NACH—us) and Tsiris (pronounced SIR-us). Naches can be the nice warm feelings you get from your kids and other human relationships while tsiris can be the misery and pain you get from your kids and other human relationships.

So just think of all the good times and the happy feelings and put that to one side as the naches pile. Then think of all the bad times and the misery and put that to the other side as the tsiris pile.

Then you just compare the two piles. If the good is bigger than the bad, if the naches is bigger than the tsiris then you’ve won the game!    GG