In this week’s portion the Torah tells us of personal and national tragedies that will befall the Jewish people if they do not uphold and observe the Torah.
Surprisingly, in the middle of the rebuke the verse states, “These calamities will come upon you because in the midst of your plenty you did not serve G-d your Lord with happiness and a glad heart.”
The question raised is, does lack of joy and gladness in our observance warrant the awful punishments that are described in the Torah?
Commentators explain that the verse can be understood as follows. Since while you were rejecting G-d, you didn’t feel bad about it; rather, you did it accompanied by joy and a gladness of heart. This will cause G-d to get upset and bring the curses upon you.
G-d is quite aware of our personal struggles and that we all have faults which at times prevent us from fulfilling our religious responsibilities. What G-d wants to see is if we have remorse for our sins, or if our rejection of G-d’s laws is done with happiness and joy thus loathing Him and His Torah.
G-d provides us with the special days of the month of Elul to take stock, reflect and review our position. By taking stock, we can enter the Day of Judgment and Day of Atonement in a state of repentance and willingness to rectify that which we have neglected in the past and to renew our commitment to be loyal to G-d, His Torah and Mitzvos, for this is what G-d yearns from us.
There is a story of a Chasidic Rebbe who was teaching his young son how to play chess. He explained how each piece is moved and what the goal of the game is.
His son then asked, “After I make my move, and I change my mind can I take it back?”
His father responded, “No.”
The son then said that he couldn’t play the game because it is not based on Jewish principles.
His father asked, “What do you mean?”
“We are taught that anything we do, if we then recognize that it is wrong, we can ‘take it back’ and erase it with Teshuvah – repentance. I cannot participate in something that goes against our basic principles!
Teshuva is one of G-d’s almost magical gifts to us that retroactively erases our errors.
Other commentators explain the aforementioned verse in a straightforward way. The lack of joy during our performance of a Mitzvah actually evokes G-d to be upset with us.
Let’s face it; it is very distasteful when you ask a child to do a task and he does it begrudgingly and with a long face. Similarly, G-d looks at how His children are performing His Mitzvos.
A joyful disposition and spirit is a key element to be successful, not only in our approach to our observances, but in everything we are involved with. I recall someone telling me that his father was a school teacher in the New York public school system and that he hated every day he went to work. The stress affected him personally, and sadly, he passed away at a relatively young age.
One of the major deterrents of feelings of happiness is worry and fear.
If you notice, young children are, generally speaking, happy go lucky. One of the reasons is that all their needs and worries are taken care of by their parents, alleviating them from worries.
One who places his trust in the Almighty has a sense of security. He believes that G-d is with him, protecting him, guiding him and providing him with his unique needs. This makes him comfortable with his lot in life.
One who believes and trusts in the Almighty is able to attain a level of inner happiness, which enables him to exude happiness in performing life’s responsibilities, tasks and functions.
King David in the book of Psalms writes, “Chesed – kindness – surrounds the one who believes in G-d.” Commentators point out that, in truth, there is Chesed that surrounds everyone. Just, the one who believes in G-d recognizes and can pinpoint the Chesed of G-d that surrounds him. Then he is able to offer his appreciation to G-d.
The Medrash tells us that G-d pays back one who performs Mitzvos with joy by adding extra measures of things that bring Simcha – joy to his life!
