Doing Mitzvos with Joy, Especially Mitzvos that Are Painful for the Body

(Adapted from a shiur given by R' Naftoli Kopshitz shlita)

The Orchos Tzaddikim (Shaar HaSimchah) writes: One who performs Torah and mitzvos with joy receives a reward a thousand times greater than one who performs the same mitzvah without joy. And Chazal say: “One mitzvah done with difficulty is worth more than one hundred done without difficulty.” Consequently, it comes out that a mitzvah performed with difficulty and with joy is worth one hundred thousand times more than a mitzvah performed easily and without joy.

Rashi, at the end of Parshas Vayikra (5:17), quotes the Toras Kohanim:

"If you wish to know the reward of the righteous, learn from Adam HaRishon. He was commanded only one negative commandment, and upon violating it, see how many deaths were decreed upon him and his descendants. If punishment — which is the lesser measure — brought such consequences, then certainly the measure of goodness — which is greater — will bring immeasurable reward. One who refrains from pigul, from nosar, or who fasts on Yom Kippur, merits goodness for himself, his descendants, and all future generations."

It is impossible to fathom the suffering of all generations caused by the decree of death upon all humanity which came from one forbidden act.

Now consider the following: The mitzvah of fasting on Yom Kippur is essentially the same mitzvah Adam was commanded to refrain from eating. If refraining from one forbidden fruit brought such immense consequences, then refraining from food on Yom Kippur brings five hundred times more goodness than all the suffering caused by Adam's sin.

This is a staggering thought: The reward for one day of resisting forbidden eating is beyond human comprehension.

The Kli Yakar explains that “fasting from pigul” means refraining from forbidden foods. "Fasting from nosar” means refraining even from permitted foods that one does not need. And “fasting on Yom Kippur” means that sometimes one refrains even from necessary food. One who does this merits unbelievable reward.

If one performs this mitzvah with joy, and every moment he fasts he has great joy that he is able to serve Hashem, he merits lots of good 1,000 times more than one who does it without joy.

Joy Removes Fatigue

On Shabbos morning we recite in davening: שמחים בצאתם וששים בבואם “They rejoice in their going out and are glad in their coming in”. The Avudraham explains this to mean: Just like a chosan is very joyful at his chasunah and doesn't get tired, similarly the sun and the moon don't get tired, and the reason is because they enjoy what they are doing.

We see that if one enjoys what he is doing he doesn't get tired, and the proof that the sun and moon enjoy what they are doing is the fact that they don't get tired.

If one gets tired when carrying out mitzvos it shows he doesn't enjoy what he is doing.

It is known that Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt"l was never seen yawning — except after eating cholent on Shabbos. His entire life was filled with joy in Torah, and therefore he never felt fatigue, even at times when naturally he should have.

The Yesod V'Shoresh HaAvodah — Joy in the Affliction of Yom Kippur

The Yesod V'Shoresh HaAvodah (Shaar Haltun, Perek 10) writes:

“One who is wise in serving the Creator, and whose heart is filled with love of Hashem, must rejoice greatly in every moment of the affliction of the fast — for he is fulfilling a mitzvah of the Creator.

When a person becomes weak from fasting or from standing barefoot, he should fill his heart with immense joy — for he is fulfilling a Torah mitzvah through this affliction.

And as the affliction increases — at Mincha, at Ne'ilah — the joy should increase as well. For the greater the affliction, the greater the reward.”

He continues:

“But one who constantly waits for the moment the affliction will pass, who says in the morning, ‘When will evening come?' — such a person is not fulfilling the mitzvah with joy or with love of Hashem. His reward is not even a fraction of the reward of one who serves with joy.”

The difference between these two types of people is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth."

Conclusion

Yom Kippur is not merely a day of fasting and affliction — it is a day of exalted joy, the joy of serving the King. Every moment of hunger, every moment of weakness, every moment of standing on tired legs — when embraced with joy — becomes a moment of immeasurable reward.

May we merit to serve Hashem on Yom Kippur with joy, with love, and with a full heart — and may that joy lift us to the highest levels of purity and closeness to Hashem.