The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness

Partly a reprisal of old Jewish biblical stories, American author Joel ben Izzy’s memoir, The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness: A True Story (2005), relates the life of its author to the story of King Solomon: both refused advice given by others for their best interest and suffered life-changing consequences. From a young age, Izzy is known as a great storyteller; but, after neglecting his health for years, he develops thyroid cancer imperiling his ability to do what he loves. Izzy’s act of writing his memoir, a text that is both sad and humorous, aspires to reach catharsis in the understanding that other people have made similar mistakes and gone on to lead happy lives.

The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness begins with an outline of the story of King Solomon. Before he was crowned king, Solomon’s father, King David, gave him a ring inscribed with the name of God, instructing him never to remove it, lest he be made vulnerable to the hostile spirits of the world. Meanwhile, Solomon imprisoned the king of the demons, Ashmodai, in one of his prisons to prevent him from ruining his plans to build the Temple in Jerusalem. After the Temple’s construction was complete, King Solomon offered Ashmodai an opportunity to be freed if he would tell him how to distinguish truth from illusion. Ashmodai accepted, on the condition that Solomon remove him from his chains and take off his ring. Solomon freed him and handed over the ring. As soon as he did so, Ashmodai hurled the ring towards the horizon, where it was swallowed by the sea. He took hold of the king and threw him far across the land, then impersonated him until his return years later.

Izzy equates his main life tragedy to the fall from power of King Solomon: both individuals began their lives in privileged positions but squandered them. Throughout his adulthood, he never went to the doctor for routine checkups. He compares his wife to King David, since she often admonished him for neglecting his health, trying to convince him that he risked developing cancer without being able to sense it. In response, he would mock her for acting like a hypochondriac. Her words were prophetic: ultimately, he developed thyroid cancer. A series of operations removed the tumors, leading to the loss of his voice.



Interspersed between the Biblical allegory and the cancer diagnosis, Izzy considers the stretch of time from his early life through his marriage to his wife, Taly. He recalls his father being mostly aloof, focused on supporting his family financially even as his health declined. His father’s health issues, ironically, were what first kindled his love for storytelling. Once, while at the grocery store, he noticed that his mother seemed to be sadder than usual. Almost instinctively, he ran to the produce section and compared the eggplants to President Nixon, watching her face light up. From that moment on, he decided to learn more jokes and use them as his instruments for spreading joy. He pitched jokes to his father when he visited him in the hospital, and helped the family stave off feelings of dread about the terminal illness.

Long after the death of his father, Izzy met the woman who would become his wife. Ironically, in his first conversation with Taly, she disparaged his goal of becoming a professional storyteller. She later became his most fervent supporter. They left the suburbs and started a family in a pleasant home. Though Izzy recalls making fun of Taly for griping about his health, down to the slightest toe injury, he characterizes their marriage as overwhelmingly happy. In retrospect, he realizes that Taly took on double the emotional labor necessary, caring for him as well as for herself, since he was too stubborn to recognize his mortality.

At the end of his autobiography, Izzy reflects that losing his voice was a blessing rather than a curse. Though he can no longer communicate orally, he has discovered the magic of written literature. Though his identity originated in a legacy of suffering, he makes a case for the virtues of resilience and persistence, which can transmute the direst of situations into instruments for happiness and meaning-making.