והיה כאשר שש ה' עליכם להיטיב אתכם ולהרבת אתכם כן ישיש ה' עליכם להאביד אתכם ולהשמיד אתכם... (דברים כחנסג) / “It shall be just as Hashem was happy about you to be good to you and magnify you, so will He make happy about you to destroy you and wipe you out..
The Tochacha (rebuke) of Parshas Ki Savo is a terrifying litany of ninety-eight curses describing the worst calamities humanly possible befalling the Jewish People for not following Hashem and His Torah. These curses are the flip side of the boundless blessings promised to us for cherishing the Torah. Instead of being blessed, we will be cursed. Not just having the good taken away, but having it replaced with bad.
Worse, the evil will not only come from external sources, but it will even come from ourselves, in the form of paranoia, fear, and mistrust manifest in our own minds. The reason, as stated in verse 47, is because we didn't serve Hashem with joy and gladness of heart, from the abundance that we enjoyed.
The key to Torah observance lies not in simply doing the actions the Torah prescribes, but in being happy about it. We should recognize that Hashem gives us so much, not merely for our own pleasure, but as a means for fulfilling His will gladly and with excitement. Failure to understand this is what turns the blessing into a curse. Whereas we had the ability in our hands to achieve so much, the recognition of our failure to do so will become the source of anguish and suffering.
When we do what we should with what we have, Hashem is “happy” for us, and glad to bless us with abundance. When we don't, He makes our enemies happy to harm and torment us. While they will pay the price eventually, they enjoy making our lives unbearable. It isn't a punishment, per se, but a means to bring us around to see what we are doing wrong, and need to fix.
The underlying message, which is easy to miss, is that whatever we do, we should be making the most of what we have, and that will bring us joy. When the enemies are given the task of inflicting pain on us, they relish it, even though it's a horrible, horrible thing to be doing. They find joy in it regardless, because they are maximizing what Hashem has given them, being the opportunity to harass us.
It is a sign to us of where we went wrong. The wealth we enjoyed was given for us to help others and beautify our mitzvos. If we don't use it properly, but squander it, we have no reason to rejoice. When we look at the mitzvos as a burden or anchor weighing us down, we have misunderstood what we were given, and that leads to melancholy and pain.
If we want to lead blessed lives, we should use everything we have for the best purpose, and rejoice in our opportunities to do with our gifts what Hashem wants us to. That is the source of happiness - the satisfaction of a job well done.
Each Friday, the young children of the class would have a Shabbos party. They would set a table with a white cloth, place candles, grape juice, and goodies on the table, and have a mock Shabbos meal.
One week, the teacher told Yankel it was his turn to be the Shabbos Abba/Tatty/Daddy. “Go ahead, Yankel,” said the teacher, “Take your place by the Kiddush cup and begin the Shabbos party as if you were the father leading the meal.”
Yankel slowly walked over to the seat, (as he had seen his own father do each week), plopped down in the chair, loosened his tie and belt and let out a huge groan. "Ooooyyyy....” he sighed. "Hob ich gehat a shvereh voch!” (Boy, did I have a tough week!!)
