The Rambam greatly emphasized the importance of simchah, and wrote:
“The joy that a person has in doing a mitzvah and in loving G-d Who commanded the mitzvos is a great avodah. Anyone who holds himself back from this joy is deserving of punishment, as it says, ‘Since you did not serve Hashem your G-d with joy and a good heart’” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Sukkah v’Lulav 8:15)
On the other hand, Koheles speaks negatively of joy and deems it empty and worthless (2:2). And this is the truth. Joy is meaningless and empty.
So why does the Rambam praise it?
There are things that revolutionize a person’s life. For instance, teshuvah. It transforms a person from a rasha to a tzaddik. It builds him as an individual this brings him back to Hashem. It works a revolution.
Simchah does not build a person and does not reflect his true state. Simchah is a tool that we need to know how to utilize properly.
Just being happy doesn’t change a person at all. It doesn’t make him who and what he is. Let’s say a person has a lot of money. It is his, whether or not he is happy about it. Being joyous about his wealth does not make him any wealthier.
By contrast, a person might be tremendously rich yet not be happy about it. Maybe he doesn’t know he became rich, or maybe he doesn’t appreciate its value. In any case, he is rich just the same – but he can’t take proper advantage of it. If we see that a person is happy, this is a sign that he recognizes the value of what he has.
People often ask me, “What do I have to be happy about? I know myself, and I am not worth much.” Once in the middle of a Simchas Beis Hashoevah, someone came over to me and said into my ear that he doesn’t feel like being b’simchah; only true tzaddikim rejoice at Simchas Beis Hashoevah, and since he isn’t a tzaddik, what does he have to celebrate about?
This is an example of someone who has tremendous treasures in his possession, since the Torah itself says that he has plenty to be happy about, but he doesn’t take advantage of his treasures. This person is like a dark room that the owner didn’t bother open the windows and let the sunshine in.
Each one of us carries tremendous treasures that we don’t recognize and don’t even know about at all. We need to get to know them and be truly happy about them.
