(Adapted from Rabbi Shlomo Price, zt"l)
ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' אלקיך ולביתך
“And you shall rejoice in all the good which Hashem your G-d has given unto you, and unto your house.” (Devorim 26:11)
The farmer has just finished reaping a bountiful crop, fills a basket with bikkurim and heads to the Beis HaMikdosh. It would seem natural for him to be in good spirits at that time. The Telzer Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Mordechai Gifter, asked, why then, does the Torah have to command the farmer to rejoice when he brings his bikkurim?
The painful reality, says Rav Gifter, is that happiness is rarely an outcome of the amount of money or possessions that a person has. There are many very happy poor people and many miserable wealthy people. Happiness is a matter of perspective. [There is a sign that reads, "A happy man is not a man with a certain set of circumstances, rather a man with a certain set of attitudes".]
Let us take our farmer. Yes, he is on his way to the Beis HaMikdosh with a basket overflowing with bikkurim, but did his crop reach his expectations? And even if he was happy with his crop when he left home, when he reaches the Beis HaMikdosh he might encounter others whose crop were much larger than his. His simcha is dampened.
Concerning this attitude, the Torah commands, “And you shall rejoice in all the good which Hashem your G-d has given unto you, and unto your house.” We have to learn to focus on what we do have and not on what we are missing.
Later in this week's parsha we read the terrible Tochecha, the list of terrible and frightening punishments that Klal Yisroel would suffer for not keeping the Torah. The pasuk delineates the cause for all this: תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרב כל – “Because you did not serve Hashem Your G-d with joy and good heart when you had everything.”
What does meirov kol mean?
In Parshas Vayishlach, we read that Eisav said "yaish li rav" – I have plenty – implying: Yes, I have plenty, however, this is not enough. Ya’akov, on the other hand, says "yaish li kol" – I have everything I need. I do not need anymore.
Now we can understand the pasuk from the Tochecha. The pasuk is saying – don’t serve Hashem with the attitude of "rov" – a lot. But rather with the attitude of "kol" – I have everything I need. ושמחת בכל הטוב, we must learn from the mitzvah of bikkurim to always be happy with what we have.
This pasuk states that the terrible Tochecha occurred because we were lacking this middah of being happy with our lot.
The Alter of Kelm, Rav Simcha Zisel Ziv (Chochmah U’Mussar, Vol.1, p.461) asks that this seems an extremely severe penalty for not reaching this lofty level (of serving Hashem with joy)?
He answers that we have to realize that keeping Torah and mitzvos with joy and happiness is not just an aspect to help us influence our children and other people. It is also a cornerstone to insure our own adherence to Torah and mitzvos.
If people would give thought to what it means to fulfill Hashem’s will, it would be a continual impetus to carrying it out with joy and with enthusiasm. But if someone lacks joy when he does Hashem’s will, it will not last, His enthusiasm will slowly fade away. And eventually it will lead to his lack of fulfilling other commandments. Therefore, joy is a key attribute and is fundamental for the observance of the entire Torah.
I once saw a couple of signs that say, “If you can't have what you want, then it's time to want what you have.”
“Everyone is looking for the City of Happiness, but it’s all in the State of Mind.”
True, it is hard to be satisfied with our lot when we see that others have more. We must understand that each person has tailor made nisyonos [tests] for his tachlis [purpose] in life. But still, we may wonder why did Hashem give specifically me the test of poverty and someone else the test of wealth. Why not the opposite?
Divrei Torah for the Shabbos Table
The Chofetz Chaim (“Chofetz Chaim al HaTorah,” p.235) brings a beautiful parable to explain this point. In Avos [4:1] the tanna mentions the meritorious virtue of “being happy with his portion.” The Chofetz Chaim asks how one can be happy when he barely ekes out a living or suffers various afflictions.
Then, he tells of a woodchopper who used a regular saw to cut down the trees and eke out his meager living. His friend, who was very wealthy, decided to buy him the most expensive saw that he could find, to help him. He buys a saw worth $10,000. The problem is that it was a tiny precision-made saw specially made to cut diamonds.
It is quite understandable that despite its tremendous value, it is worthless and detrimental to the woodchopper. For his job he needs the simple less expensive saw. With the diamond saw he won’t even be able to cut a toothpick.
The same way, Hashem knows exactly which “type of saw” to get for each person. All our souls were sent down here to be tested. Some are tested by poverty and afflictions, to see if they will continue observance of Torah and mitzvos in spite of the difficulties. Some are tested by wealth, to see if they will be generous to the poor people. All our particular tests are the exact tools that each one of us needs to accomplish and rectify what we were sent here to do.
In fact, if we would get someone else’s tools, even if they look better, they would be worthless and hinder us from doing our job. Only Hashem knows exactly which tools we need.
This is the sobering thought that we must know. Our value is not determined by what we have but rather how we use it, each person according to his potential. This is only calculated after we have left this world.
