The Meaning of Action

The Meaning of Action

In applied behavior analysis, there is a principle known as the relevance of behavior. It teaches that we should teach only those behaviors that are likely to be reinforced in the person’s natural environment. In simple terms, this means we don’t just teach for the sake of teaching — we teach what will be meaningful, sustainable, and useful in real life.

In Jewish philosophy, this idea finds a deep parallel. Every action a person performs is like a vessel (a kli). Not every vessel is ready to receive light. And not every action brings about inner or outer change. Kabbalistic tradition teaches us that when an action is disconnected from the soul, from divine intention, it remains empty. It does not attract light. It does not grow. It does not live.

The great thinker Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto writes in Path of the Just that a person must choose a path that brings the soul closer to its Source. In other words: don’t waste time on behaviors that don’t nourish the soul. In behaviorist terms, this is called natural reinforcement. In Jewish language, it is devekut — closeness to the Divine.

If we teach a child to ask for forgiveness after hurting a friend, we are not just teaching a polite phrase. We are helping him touch the light of chesed — kindness — and return to harmony. That behavior will be reinforced not only by others, but by his own heart. And that is the ultimate form of relevance: something that is meaningful both in the world of people and in the world of the soul.

The principle of relevance in behavioral science, and the idea of inner wholeness in Jewish wisdom, tell us the same thing: a behavior that is alive, that continues, that is met with light — that is a behavior worth choosing. All else is noise.