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We plan on relating
to three aspects of this topic --
- Joy in Judaism (this unit);
- Joy in Chasidut
- Joy and Marriage;
- How to become joyous
The first unit
shows how central and indispensable joy is to
normal healthy Jewish life and how high of a priority
it is in character development. In the second
we see the special place joy has in the Chasidic
world. The third dealing with the crucial role
joy plays in marriage. The last unit both relates
to different paths to attaining joy and will help
us get a more precise idea of what it is.
The following
sources clearly place joy at the core of a number
of crucial areas of Judaism. Perhaps this first
unit’s main contribution is collecting them and
enabling us to confront them all at once.
The
Sources:
Joy and Avodat
(Service of) Hashem
Serve G-d with joy, come before Him with song
(Tehillim 100:2)
Serve G-d with fear and rejoice in trembling (Tehillim
2:11)
Be joyous in Hashem, and rejoice righteous ones,
and sing out all those who are upright of heart.
(Tehillim 32:11)
Because you did not serve Hashem your G-d with
joy and goodness of heart . . . (Devarim 28:47).
Context: the reason given by the Torah for the
long list of troubles and sufferings that are
part of the tokheicha (rebuke) of Parshat Ki Tavo.
The Rambam
on Simcha
A person’s joy in doing the mitzvot and the
love of Hashem who commanded them is a great avoda
(service). Anyone who avoids this is deserving
of reproof, as it says, “Because you did not serve
Hashem your G-d with joy and goodness of heart.”
Anyone who is arrogant and ascribes to himself
honor in these situations [and thereby refrains
from expressing joy in service of Hashem] is a
sinner and and an idiot. This is what Shlomo warned
-- “Do not aggrandize yourself before the King.”
This is also what David the King of Israel said,
“I would even lighten myself more and be lowly
in my own eyes.” The only greatness and honor
is to be joyous before G-d, as it says, “King
David was ecstatically dancing before Hashem.”
(Rambam Mishneh Torah – end of the Laws of Sukkah
and Lulav)
Simcha, Torah,
Prophecy, & Good Dreams
“The Torah is acquired in 48 ways: . . . with
humility, with joy, with purity, . . . “ (Baraita
Kinyan Torah -- Avot 6:6)
“With joy: Because
one who learns with joy can learn more in one
hour than what he can learn in many hours when
he is sad. Also, the Torah is the plaything of
the Holy One, Blessed be He, and one must be joyous
about such a great thing. (Ruach Chaim on Avot
6:6 -- Rabbi Chaim Volozhin)
To teach you
that the Divine Presence does not rest on a person
through sadness, nor through laughing or lightheadness,
or conversation or idle talk -- only through joy
of a mitzva, for it says [with regards to the
prophet Elisha], “Take for me a musician. And
it was when the musician played, the Hand of G-d
was on him.” Rav Yehuda says, This is also the
case for a Halakhic teaching. Rava said this is
also the case for a good dream. (Talmud Bavli
Shabbat 30b)
Simcha and
Prayer
A person should not pray when in a state of sadness
or laziness or laughing or conversation or lightheadness
or idle talk, but out of joy of a mitzva. (Talmud
Bavli Berakhot 31a)
It is forbidden
to pray out of sadness, and if one does, his soul
cannot receive the higher light drawn on him during
prayer. Rather, his prayer should be in exceedingly
great joy, as much as possible. This is comparable
to a servant serving his master out of great joy.
. . . (Shaar Hakavanot -- Writings of the Ari,
quoted in Netivot Shalom vol. 1, p. 285)
Why Simcha?
The Maharal on Simcha Shel Mitzva
Why does simcha appear in conjunction with so
many crucial core Jewish issues? Perhaps this
selection from the Maharal’s commentary on the
following aggada:
It says, “I praise
joy,” and yet also says, “Of what use is joy?”
This only seems to be contradictory. “I praise
simcha,” refers to simcha of a mitzva and “Of
what use is simcha,” refers to simcha that is
not connected to a mitzva. (Shabbat 30b)
Maharal’s comment:
. . . When a man is joyous his soul (nefesh) is
complete and whole (beshleimut) . . . Only when
his joy is that of a mitzva it is Divine wholeness
and praiseworthy. . . . Otherwise it is physical
and cannot be considered complete and is therefore
not praiseworthy.
He goes on to
explain why joy is a prerequisite for prophecy
and Torah. The Divine presence rests on something
that is whole, not something that is lacking.
Joy goes together with wholeness, completion and
perfection – and sadness with lack and fragmentation.
G-d is transcendent and will therefore reveal
Himself to one whose joy is transcendent, simcha
shel mitzva. (Based on Chidushei Agadot vol. 1,
p. 14)
Ultimately Jewish life involves
connecting up with the Divine and joy is a necessary
element of connecting up with the Divine. When we
are joyous we are whole and complete – and that
enables the connection with the Divine that prayer
and Torah, as well as prophecy and significant dreams
demand.
This is in line
with what we have seen about the importance of
character in general in Judaism. The more our
character is developed the more we emulate the
Divine and are able to connect with G-d. The more
we are joyous the more we emulate the Divine wholeness
and enable a Divine connection.
Three
Stories about the Vilna Gaon(Rabbi
Eliahu of Vilna, the Gra zt”l)
What makes a man happy?
Once his student, the Gaon Rabbi Chaim of
Volozhin zt”l, came to Vilna on Erev Shabbat.
He didn’t go to visit the Gra on that day. He
went to the bath house in honor of Shabbat, and
before he started to get undressed a messenger
came from the Gra calling for Rav Chaim to come.
He hurried to his rav’s house and found him looking
terrible: sickly, with a scarf wrapped around
his head, and in a terrible mood.
He was shocked
at the Gra’s appearance and stood without saying
anything, afraid to ask what was going on. The
Gra, though, when he saw that his student had
entered, looked up and asked him to explain a
difficult passage in a Yerushalmi he’s unable
to understand. Would Rav Chaim be able to answer
the Gra’s question? The Gaon Rav Chaim looked
at his rav, “Who am I to understand and answer
that which is perplexing in the eyes of the rav?”
Answered the Gra, “’Open your mouth and let your
words illuminate,’ ‘Two are better than one,’
(Kohelet 4:9); and ‘Each man should help his friend’
(Yishaya 41:6).”
Rav Chaim looked
deeply into the difficult Yerushalmi. Hashem illuminated
his eyes until he started to see an opening for
an answer, but he still didn’t fully understand
it. He relied on his holy rav that he would, through
his depth of knowledge, smooth out any wrinkles
in his explanation in order to come up with a
clear and complete understanding of the Yerushalmi.
When he began
to explain the gemara, the Gra’s face was transformed
and he was full of joy. He immediately removed
the scarf from his head and ordered his attendant
to bring him some food to eat.
This was very
surprising to Rav Chaim. He knew that the Gra’s
longstanding custom was not to eat at all on Erev
Shabbat afternoon. He went to the outer room where
the Gra’s family was, and asked, “What is the
reason behind the Gra suddenly eating on a Friday
afternoon?” They explained to Rav Chaim that for
three days the Gra had not eaten anything in the
course of his efforts at trying to unravel the
difficult Yerushalmi. (Shivchei Tzadikim, pp.
97-98)
The Strange
Bargain
One year the students of the Gra were not
able to find him a lulav and etrog for Sukkot.
They finally found a very wealthy man who had
one and offered to buy it from him at a very high
price. He would not sell it for money but offered
to make the following deal. If the Gra would give
away his reward in the World to Come for that
year’s mitzva of taking the lulav and etrog he
would agree. The students deliberated among themselves
about whether they felt it legitimate to agree
to such a bargain on behalf of their rav. They
finally decided to go through with it.
With a certain
amount of trepidation they approached the Gra
with thlulav and etrog and told him of the deal
they had made, giving away his share in the World
to Come for the mitzva.
The Gra was enraptured,
full of great joy. “Finally,” he said, “I will
be able to do a mitzva without any ulterior motive,
even that of gaining a spiritual reward in the
World to Come.”
Simchat Torah
They say that when the aron kodesh was opened
on Simchat Torah and they brought out the Torah
scrolls the Gra burst into wild, joyous dancing,
which did not stop until they put them back.
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