Serve Hashem with joy - it's a mitzva!
What do the commentators say about the Torah reprimanding or punishing us for not performing mitzvot joyfully?
We read in our Parasha (28:45-47):’All these curses will come upon you..because you have not hearkened to the voice of Hashem..to observe His commandments..because you did not serve Hashem בשמחה: with gladness and goodness of heart, when everything was abundant.’
Rabeinu Bahya derives from these psukim, that:’It is known that the שמחה: the gladness in the performance of Mitzvot is a Mitzvah in itself; just as the Mitzvah is עבודה לה׳: a service of Hashem, so too, the gladness in performing Mitzvot is called עבודה: service of Hashem, and it is so written:’because you did not serve Hashem with gladness..’
‘And this is what is written (Ps’ 100:2):’עבדו: serve Hashem with gladness’, as the gladness is the completeness of the service of Hashem’.
The Rambam posits:’The gladness that a person rejoices in the performance of a Mitzvah that Hashem commanded, is עבודה גדולה: a great service in itself; one who precludes himself from this gladness, merits that retribution is taken on him.’
Here we ask:If there is a positive Mitzvah of שמחה: gladness, in performing Mitzvot, why does the Torah only express it in the negative: ‘because you did not..’, and not as a positive Mitzvah?
Answers the Chatam Sofer:’The reason is the teaching of our Sages, that ‘the Mitzvot were not given for our הנאה: ‘pleasure’- on which Rashi comments:’They were not given to Israel for their performance to be pleasurable, but ‘as a yoke on our shoulders’. ‘It was therefore not appropriate to command gladness as a Mitzvah, as a duty, because such a command would render the gladness as a burden, and not as gladness.’
Rav David Hofstedter poses a critical question:’How can there be a Mitzvah of gladness ? Is it not a function of the heart, which has to come from within, and, if so, how can it be commanded?’
He replies:’The answer is found at the beginning of our Parasha, where we read:(26:11 )’And you shall rejoice in all the goodness that Hashem has given to you and your household’.
‘The Torah here directs us to take heed at all the bounty which Hashem has showered on us, and from this introspection, to feel the love and goodness of Hashen, and from the feeling of gratitude that this arouses, to perform His Mitzvot with great joy’.
The Chafetz Chaim offers a different answer to our question, focusing on spiritual rather than material matters, first lamenting that we have become so ‘sunken’ in the affairs of this world, that we have lost the feelings and sensitivity of our souls.
‘Imagine’, he says, ‘that a person merits to meet a mortal king, or other notable dignitary, how he is filled with pride and joy at this; and, how much greater would his joy and pride be, were it to be made known to him that he has found favor in his eyes. In his joy, he would tell all his friends of the great honor and appreciation which befell him.
‘Now, if this is his feeling when the king or dignitary is flesh-and-blood, how incomparably greater should the joy be, on our part, each and every moment that we merit to learn Torah and to perform Mitzvot, to pray, and to pronounce brachot, as we thereby merit to fulfil the Will of the King of Kings, Hashem!
‘More so, when we reflect that, although we are mortal creatures, we merit in our prayers to speak to the Ruler of Heaven and Earth, just as the heavenly creatures do; surely our eyes should shed tears of joy, and, out of gratitude, we should accept on ourselves to keep the Torah and Mitzvot, with all our being.’
And here the Sage turns to us, and asks:’Look into your souls, my brothers, and tell me: has this crossed your minds once a week, or even once a month, or at least once a year, to be so full of joy and goodwill in the performance of your Mitzvot, as that person?
‘This is alluded to by our Passuk:’Because you did not serve Hashem with joy’, which our commentators expound as: it behoves us to feel greater joy in our service of Hashem, than in any other activities or pursuits; learning Torah and performing Mitzvot is more precious, and pleasurable, than any other pleasure of this world.’
This message is sweetened by the insight of Rav Yehuda Halevi, in the Kuzari:’Every Mitzbah that comes before us to perform, is an invitation from Hashem, to come closer to Him.
‘True, the will to perform Mitzvot is in man’s hands, butthe zechut to perform a Mitzvah, is a gift from Above- and for this we are enjoined to be grateful, and obligated to perform the Mitzvah, with Simcha.’
Rav Elya Lopian comments:’The reproach in our Passuk is not directed at those wicked ones, who do no engage at all in the service of Hashem; rather, it is addressed to those whom we might consider as righteous, meaning: who perform the Mitzvot, pray as institued, make all the requisite blessings, BUT do all this without any enjoyment or feeling, merely acting by rote.
‘They continue in the ways of young children who perform Mitzvot as taught, whilst their minds at the same time are elsewhere- thinking of games and pleasures, and only performing Mitzvot to escape punishment, and rushing to complete them, so that they can return to their ‘affairs’.
‘Is this the way of man, the choicest of creatures?! Even animals can be trained by their masters to perform routine tasks by rote- though they do so without their minds.
‘Man alone has the power of choice- to choose between good and bad; is he to be like the animal, ‘serving’ Hashem out of rote- and no further?
‘This very same man, who performs his Mitzvot mindlessly, gives his full attention to every detail of his preferred pursuits, and does so with great desire and pleasure- the very opposite of his performance of Mitzvot.’
Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl adds:’We learn from our Parasha that its curses are not related to those who do not perform Mitzvot, but to those who perform all the Mitzvot in all their particulars, but do so without joy. Since joy is a requirement of the full performance of each and every Mitzvah, the result is that they do not perform a single Mitzvah fully!
‘Here we need to contemplate: How can it be that a person who seemingly has performed all 613 Mitzvot, can be subject to the awesome curses in our Parasha for the sole reason that he has not performed the Mitzvot with gladness- how can this alone bring upon him such a calamity?
‘From here we learn, that the place that שמחה:gladness occupies in the totality of our system of Mitzvot, is not merely whether a particular is lacking, but it will determine ‘the question of questions’: Will this person in the future perform Mitzvot? For, without joy in their performance, it is highly likely that this person - or, if not him, his children sensing how little meaning the Mitzvot have to him - will gradually become laxer in Mitzvah performance, until, alas, he completely ceases to perform them.
‘One who performs Mitzvot with gladness, is certain to increase his level of observance, as the service with joy is testament to his identification with the Mitzvot, and their meaningfulness to him.
‘One who performs the Mitzvot without joy, out of a sense of compulsiom, on the other hand, shows that he does not identify with them, and that he does so primarily because he wants to be free of their yoke; even if now he is careful to perform them- the Torah teaches that his fate is to leave them completely.
‘Thus simcha, or its absence, will determine the crucial question: Will this person be amongst those who observe Mitzvot, or not; will his children, whom he now instructs to perform Mitzvot- which he himself performs them mechanically- continue later in their lives to maintain our traditions, or will the chain be broken, and come to an end’.
A parting thought: Do we truly mean that which we proclaim daily: ‘You have taught us Torah and Mitzvot..Therefore Hashem, when we lie down and when we rise up, we will speak your Decrees, REJOICING in the words of your Torah and Mitzvot for ever, for they are our life and the length of our days’.?
From KiTavo 2022
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