Channeling Joy Into Mitzvos

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.com)

We asked in the previous chapter why Sukkos is called the “Time of Our Happiness,” since all of the chagim are supposed to be times of happiness. We also noted that the Rambam states that in the Beis Hamikdash, there was an extra level of happiness (simcha) during Sukkos. What is the special connection of Sukkos to simcha?

We suggested one approach in the previous chapter, and here, we will discuss the approach of the Sefer Hachinuch. In chapter 189, the Chinuch writes that joy is a human need. A person cannot just work day after day; he needs at least some time for enjoyment and happiness. The chagim come to address this need and to channel it, so that the need for joy be expressed in doing mitzvos. Without this, a Jew might look for happiness in other areas.

On Sukkos there is a special danger. This is the season where joy is in the air; all of mankind is bringing its bountiful harvests home. Amid this heady, festive atmosphere, a Jew is liable to channel his natural sense of happiness into the forms of celebration of the gentiles, meaning frivolity and worse. Sukkos comes to address this extra need, to enable even intense expression of joy in mitzvos, such as the Beis Hasho’eva, about which the sages say that the level of joy there was unparalleled in history (Sukkah 51a). Even the daled minim that we use every day on Sukkos put an extra level of aesthetic beauty and joy into the holiday (Chinuch 324).

In the previous chapter, we cited the Rambam, who speaks of the simcha felt during Sukkos (particularly during the Beis Hasho’eva in the Beis Hamikdash). The Rambam goes on to say (Laws of Lulav 8:16) that we should be happy in doing all of the mitzvos, and if not, we will have to answer for this.

This is cryptic. The Yad Hachazaka of the Rambam is a halachic work, which codifies all of the laws of the Torah, section by section. Here, the Rambam is discussing the laws of the daled minim. Why does he digress and begin speaking about simcha when doing all the mitzvos?

Rather, we see from the Rambam’s connecting the idea of joy in all mitzvos to that of Sukkos that Sukkos is an example for how to live full of joy over mitzvos. The great simcha of Sukkos should serve as a prototype for all of our mitzvah observance.  At the beginning of the year, Hashem gave us an example of joy that can spur us on for the rest of the year.

How do we do this? Even if we reach some level of happiness during Sukkos, still, day to day, how can we keep on doing mitzvos with joy? At some point, things are bound to feel repetitive, become rote or even a burden.

First, we should go out of our way to do things that give importance to the mitzvos. By making a big deal out of the mitzvos, we will feel accomplishment and simcha in doing them. Even if we do mitzvos every day, try to treat them like a special occasion. This way, we’ll feel a sense of joy in doing them.

We find this idea alluded to in Shaarei Teshuva (4:9). Rabbeinu Yonah explains that the seudah we make for a yom tov is in order to help us be happy on yom tov. Rabbeinu Yonah goes on to ask: If so, what happens on Yom Kippur, which is also a yom tov? Where will we get simchas yom tov? Rabbeinu Yonah answers that Yom Kippur has a seuda mafsekes beforehand.  We see from here that making a big seuda on yom tov is a way to give importance to the holidays and derive joy from them.

We should make special efforts to make mitzvos big and important. Make them a project, a “whole production.” They said of the Vilna Gaon that even when he was saying brachos to himself, alone in a room, or even during Shemoneh Esrei, he would use a particularly beautiful nigun. Even Esav Harasha, when engaged in the mitzvah of kibud av v’eim, would put on special clothes. When halacha prescribes wearing a hat and jacket for tefilla, we should surely make sure to do so, but we can think of many examples of enhancing the importance of mitzvos, above and beyond the basic halacha. I know an avreich who goes all out when lighting Chanuka candles, gathering his family together and giving them a chizuk talk before they do this mitzvah. Before Shabbos, it’s certainly worth planning what you will say at the seudos, and try to get each child to prepare and say over a chiddush on the parsha. Try to get everyone together to sing zemiros. By making efforts to give importance to mitzvos, we will feel more simcha in doing them.

Rav Gedalia Shor states that every human being deep inside of him has a desire to come closer to Hashem. We should try to bring this desire more to the fore in our lives. We should do each mitzvah with the intention of getting closer to Hashem and building a relationship with Him. If we do mitzvos this way, we will feel a sense of joy and fulfillment in doing them (see Seforno Devarim 12:7).

Rav Shor would bring as an example the Nisuch Hamayim — water drawn on Sukkos and offered on the mizbe’ach during the Simchas Beis Hasho’eva. Tikunei Zohar (19b) states that Nisuch Hamayim began when, on the second day of Creation, Hashem made a firmament in heaven and placed the higher waters above the firmament and the lower waters under the firmament. The lower waters complained that they would now be further away from Hashem. “We want to be close to Hashem!” claimed the waters, and in reply, Hashem gave the waters the mitzvah of Nisuch Hamayim. If so, concluded Rav Shor, we should certainly try to strengthen the desire within us to serve Hashem and come closer to Him. Each mitzvah should be seen as an opportunity for this.

The Mesilas Yesharim states that when doing mitzvos, we should look at it as a privilege that we can actually serve the Master of all the universe. We should also consider the perfection each mitzvah brings us. All this should help us feel more simcha in doing mitzvos (see Mesilas Yesharim 19).

The Shomer Emunim would advise people to go and see how the tzaddikim fulfill mitzvos, to observe how their fear and love of Hashem is expressed in mitzvos, their excitement and precision in halacha, etc. All this will make a powerful impression on us and attach us more and more to the mitzvos.

This Brisker Rav would relate that one of his kehilla members asked him to prevail upon his elderly mother to move to Brisk, instead of remaining in her home town of Shawel, which forced him to travel for many hours just to visit her. “If only she would move in with my family, I would be able to take better care of her, and I could fulfill kibud eim properly.”

Eventually, when this woman came on a visit to Brisk, the Rav raised the subject with her, but she replied adamantly:

“Rebbe, you may ask whatever you want from me, but I cannot leave Shawel under any circumstances.”

Her reason was that toward the end of her grandparents’ lives, they decided to sell their house in order to buy a mehudar esrog. Her grandfather had always dreamed of acquiring his own esrog, and for years put aside from his meager earnings to buy one, but even after decades of saving, the esrog dealer in Vilna told him that he was still far from the sum he would need for a mehudar esrog.

A short time later, his wife suggested that since they were older, they didn’t need their house anymore, and could manage with a small rented apartment. Why not sell their house in order to buy an esrog?

The two quickly sold their house and came back to Vilna, this time with a handsome sum, and the dealer, duly impressed, said that in a few days he would present them with an exceptionally mehudar esrog.

“Now you understand, Rebbe, why I cannot and will not leave Shawel. Every day when I pass the house that my grandparents sold because of their love for mitzvos, I get a feeling of pleasure so great that it gives me life and fills me with renewed energy…I cannot give up such a pleasure. Until my last day, I will live near the where my grandparents once lived!”

The Brisker Rav would conclude that he accepted her reason, and did not tell her to leave Shawel.

May we feel joy in every mitzvah!