And in the Midrash it is brought that splendor and joy are one of the ten forms of happiness.
The ten forms of happiness there listed are: sasson, simchah, gilah, rinah, ditzah, tzahalah, alizah, chedvah, alizah, and alitzah. A person can only find simchah where he finds Hashem.
But simcha is not merely a result of attaining self-perfection. It does not merely result from the sum total of many factors coming together, such as when pages are attached together and a book is formed. That may work in the physical dimension, but not in the spiritual. In the spiritual, completion does not result from merely combining together parts. The neshamah is called “a portion of G-d from above”. Simchah is the completion that one attains in becoming attached to the Creator.
There is a long path to traverse until one attains simchah, and indeed, it is this aspiration which we need to direct ourselves, throughout our life.
[ONE OF THE FIRST RECORDED SHIURIM OF THE RAV, SHLIT"A]
10 Divrei HaYamim 16:27
11 Avos D’Rebbi Nosson 43:9; see also Kesubos 8a
