joy and exclusion

Is it a human law that joy occurs in small, exclusive groups?

I was complaining to my friend Yuri that Jews are too intellectual. At Sukkot, the most joyous of the Jewish holidays, there is a lot of discussion about why we must be joyous on this occasion. All that discussion kills the joy for me. Join the Hasidim, Yuri told me. They are continually joyful.

How strange. The Hasidim seem dour. I once saw two Hasidic men walking down the street in Miami Beach. Despite the heat they wore full black robes and large black hats. They walked in opposite directions, on opposite sides of the street. When they came abreast, they stopped and stared at each other silently for a several seconds, and then walked on. They must have been from different sects, and the street wasn't big enough for both of them. Did these men hate each other, and also know the secret of joy?

Those American pioneers, living miles from civilization, who stare stonefaced down through time at us in old photographs, did they know the secret of joy?