Rabbi Noach Weinberg’s Five Levels of Pleasure: A Jewish Guide to Real Happiness

Rabbi Israel Noach Weinberg, founder and longtime head of Aish HaTorah, devoted fifty years of his life to helping countless Jews around the world reconnect to the beauty and wisdom of their heritage.

One of his most fascinating insights is his framework of five levels of pleasure, a concept he developed based on the teachings of Chazal. In his view, God is like a loving Father: He wants His children to enjoy life, but to mature into the kind of joy that builds meaning, character, and connection.

“Mothers and fathers want their children to enjoy life,” Rabbi Noach would say. “Good food, fun vacations, basketball, music. Wonderful. But if a child reaches twenty five and still prefers lying on the beach all day instead of working, parents start to worry. It is nice to enjoy a game and a vacation now and then, but life is intended for much more than random fun. Parents want their children to build something meaningful, to marry, to have children.

According to Rabbi Noach, all pleasures are not equal. Some are shallow and quick, while others require effort and growth. The deeper the pleasure, the more it asks of us. Life’s pleasures, he taught, can be understood as five distinct levels.

Level Five: Pleasure of the Senses

Level five is the most basic form of pleasure. It is accessible, physical, and sensory: good food, beautiful clothing, a comfortable home, enjoyable music, and breathtaking views. In short, anything experienced through one of the five senses.

“God created the physical world so we could enjoy it,” Rabbi Noach explained. The Talmud teaches that if a person had the opportunity to taste a particular fruit and never did, he will need to give an account for it in the World to Come.

God could have created one bland bowl of porridge with every vitamin and mineral we need. Instead, He created fruit as dessert, prepared with love. If someone you cared about made you a beautiful meal, would you refuse to taste it?

At the same time, Rabbi Noach emphasized a crucial distinction between tasting and overeating. Overindulgence is a counterfeit version of level five pleasure. It happens when there is too much of something good, and we consume it without awareness. Wine can be wonderful in moderation, but drinking a whole bottle greedily can end in sickness. The same is true when we overload ourselves with food, and feel weaker instead of stronger.

The difference between real and fake pleasure, is awareness. When we are conscious, we do not lose control or let appetite and desire dominate.

Rabbi Noach insisted that Judaism is not promoting asceticism. Physical pleasure is not the enemy. In fact, marital intimacy is a mitzvah and is described as one of the holiest acts. Jewish marriage is called kiddushin, a term rooted in holiness. Shabbat, the holiest day of the week, is described in the Talmud as a fitting time for a married couple to be together.

Enjoy the physical world, but enjoy it with awareness. That is how level five becomes healthy and uplifting rather than addictive and empty.

Level Four: Pleasure of Love

Level four pleasures are deeper than sensory pleasures. No amount of level five pleasure can purchase even a drop of level four.

“What is worth more than all the money in the world?” Rabbi Noach asked. “Love. And here is the proof.”

He would describe a man named Sharoni, an investment advisor working tirelessly toward a dream of ten million dollars. He has a wife and three children. One day, a wealthy philanthropist offers him a deal: “Here is ten million dollars right now, if you give me one of your children to adopt. Your child will have the best of everything, but you will never see or hear from that child again.”

Would Sharoni accept? Of course not. Giving away a child is unthinkable.

“Ten million dollars is an overwhelming amount of level five pleasure,” Rabbi Noach would say. “And still you would not trade your child for it. Love is not something you exchange for money. But then ask yourself: how much time does Sharoni actually spend with his children? If they are so precious, why does he pass up the happiness of loving them?”

Love requires skill, not only sentiment. The first step is defining love. The Talmud describes love as the emotional pleasure we experience when we focus on the virtues of another person.

If we train ourselves to focus on the good, we can still love our children even when the kitchen is chaotic, while also educating them and setting boundaries. If we do not understand what love is, we will focus on the effort and strain, and we will conclude that love is simply exhausting.

This explains a painful truth: children can be the greatest joy and the greatest challenge in a parent’s life. The greater the pleasure, the greater the effort required to fully experience it.

Real success is not avoiding all pain, which is impossible. Real success is learning to focus on the joy we receive in return for the effort we invest.

Infatuation: The Counterfeit of Love

A common imitation of level four pleasure is infatuation, the belief that love requires no work and simply happens. If love is random, then you cannot build it. And if you can fall into love, you can just as easily fall out of it.

Rabbi Noach illustrated it vividly: a couple walks under a full moon, Cupid shoots an arrow, and suddenly they are in love. They marry, have children, buy a home, and take on the weight of life. The husband works late, and one night Cupid shoots again, and now he claims he is “in love” with his secretary. He returns home and says, “I fell in love. What can I do? It just happened.”

The flaw is obvious. His love was never built on knowledge, commitment, and effort. Tanach says that Adam “knew” Chava. Love is rooted in knowing. The more real and intimate the knowledge, the deeper the love can become.

Western culture often treats people as victims of love, as if they have no choice. If that is true, marriage depends on luck and on hoping Cupid never shoots again. Rabbi Noach argued that this mindset helps explain why so many couples fall apart.

“A love that is blind is not love,” he insisted. “It is desire, physical attraction, an imitation. Real love is lasting.”

How can you tell the difference? Listen to your own language. If your words sound like “He is perfect” or “She is perfect,” that may be a sign of blind love. Real love demands investment, and real love includes the desire to invest.

Level Three: Pleasure of Purpose

“What can make a person give up the things they love most?” Rabbi Noach asked. “Purpose.”

Purpose is the drive to leave a positive mark on the world. It is the longing for meaning, and the hunger to do what is right.

He offered a stark example: imagine terrorists hijack a plane and tell a hostage, “Kill the other passengers, or we will kill you and your children.”

Would you do it? Most people could not murder innocent strangers, even to save themselves. Many would rather die than do it.

Judaism teaches a powerful idea: if you do not know what you would be willing to die for, you have not yet begun to live. Without meaning, even a life filled with comfort can feel hollow.

Becoming truly good takes effort. Most people never aim for it, settling instead for being “not bad.” Being good however, is far more than avoiding evil.

Why do people avoid it? Because responsibility often feels like a burden instead of a pleasure.

The Pleasure of Doing the Right Thing

Rabbi Noach told a story: you are on a slow boat ride, calm and relaxed, when someone falls into the river and begins drowning. You jump into filthy water, fight to keep him alive, and struggle until you drag him to shore. You return home, shower repeatedly, and think, “That was horrible.”

Decades later, after countless vacations and ordinary days, the memory you cherish most is the day you saved a life. That moment becomes your deepest source of satisfaction.

If doing good becomes the greatest pleasure in hindsight, why not seek it actively, and focus on the best within yourself while doing it?

Counterfeit Purpose: Foolish Heroics and Money Worship

There are counterfeit versions of purpose. Some people chase reckless “heroics” that are really foolish and dangerous.

Another imitation is money. Society pressures people to believe that financial success equals human worth. Even if you are a devoted spouse, loyal friend, and thoughtful person, you are treated as irrelevant if you did not make money.

Rabbi Noach told a story about an armored truck that dropped bags of cash and money flew through the air. People grabbed what they could. One man returned fifty thousand dollars. His father called him a fool, and his coworkers mocked him for returning a “gift from Heaven.”

That story exposes how easily people confuse being good with looking good, and confuse value with profit.

He also pointed to Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and a major producer of explosives. When Nobel’s brother died, a newspaper mistakenly published Nobel’s obituary instead. Nobel read a summary of his life described mainly as destruction and death and was shaken. “Is this my life?” That moment helped push him to establish the Nobel Prize to honor people who contribute positively to the world.

Level Two: Pleasure of Power

The clearest way to define level two pleasure is by looking at its counterfeit.

What makes people sacrifice innocent lives? The pursuit of power. History has known tyrants who murdered millions to gain control. That is destructive power, not real power.

Real level two pleasure is creative power. An artist controls hands, eyes, and materials to translate ideas into reality. A leader can plan, guide, persuade, and build. This is not domination, but creation.

How do we know whether we are creating or controlling? Look at the result. Creativity produces benefit. Control for its own sake produces destruction.

One of the most beautiful expressions of creative power is building a family: bringing children into the world, giving them values, shaping them into healthy, caring, productive people.

Creativity brings deep pleasure because it touches something Divine. God’s creation of the world is the ultimate expression of creative power, bringing something into existence from nothing. When we create in healthy ways, we taste a trace of that greatness.

Level One: Pleasure of an Encounter With God

Imagine someone achieves the earlier levels: comfort, love, meaning, and creative power. Yet something still feels missing.

A person is fully satisfied only when he is connected to what is beyond the finite. Every human being longs to transcend limits and connect to the Infinite.

Rabbi Noach would challenge listeners: if someone told you there was a room where you could sit and speak to God face to face for an hour, would you not run to it? Would that not be the ultimate experience?

We all know moments where the breath is taken from us: the birth of a baby, a sky full of stars, a thunderstorm. We feel awe. Awe happens when the small self touches something far greater. It is a breaking of inner limits and a connection to the Divine.

No finite pleasure can compare to God. Everything in this world is limited. God is infinite.

The Price of Level One: Gratitude

How do you reach this highest pleasure? By paying the highest price: gratitude.

Gratitude means letting go of the illusion that we alone are responsible for everything we have. The path to God opens when we recognize how much good He has given us. Life itself is a gift. Just as every brushstroke carries the signature of the artist, every part of the world carries the imprint of the Creator. We must learn to notice and appreciate it.

As a person works to develop gratitude, awareness of God’s presence becomes clearer and stronger. You begin to feel that everything you do is accompanied by His love and involvement. This fills a person beyond any other pleasure.

This is the ultimate purpose of human life: to move past the world’s illusions, use free will, and build a real relationship with God. The Creator could have made robots, but that is not what He wants. He wants a relationship, which means we must choose Him.

A common counterfeit of level one pleasure is relying on people or things as if they are the true source of security: career, spouse, parents, children. However, all of those can change or disappear. Only God is absolute and eternal.

The Rocket to the Moon: A Picture of the Five Levels

Rabbi Noach compared life to launching a rocket to the moon.

Level five is liftoff, food, comfort, and material pleasure that gives energy to rise.

Level four is love, marriage, family, and the warmth that sustains the journey.

Level three is orbit, meaning and contribution, the purpose that holds your direction.

Level two is thrust, the power to create and move toward a goal.

Level one is the landing: living with God.

“Know why you are alive,” Rabbi Noach urged. “God created us to enjoy. You work hard to become a champion runner, and you work even harder to become a champion human being. We were not born simply to rest. We were born to enjoy. So it is time to decide to live in first class.”