By Rabbi Lazer Gurkow
Joy is an imperative in the Jewish tradition. In describing the terrible calamities in store for our people if we turn from G-d, the Torah says it will occur, “because you did not serve G-d, your G-d, with happiness and gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything.”[1]
In Hebrew, the word for because is ki. The word used in this verse is tachat, which in this context means in place of or in substitution of. The ordinary way to understand this passage is that rather (in the place of) serving G-d joyfully out of abundance, you will serve him while suffering.
Yet, the famed Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria explained that the word tachat in this passage is to be understood as because.
A Complete Existence
He explained that every Jew must fulfill every Mtizvah. There are 248 positive Mitzvot and 365 negative Mitzvot. Similarly, the human body has 248 organs and 365 sinews. Just as a body is incomplete when it lacks organs or sinews, so is our soul incomplete if it lacks a Mitzvah. We must, therefore, endeavor to fulfill every Mitzvah during the course of our lives.
He then went on to explain that fulfilling the Mitzvot is not enough. A Mitzvah is only complete when it is fulfilled with joy. A joyless Mitzvah is a broken Mitzvah and as a limb is not complete if it is broken, so it is with a Mitzvah. To ensure that our Mitzvot are complete, we must perform them with joy.
He, therefore, maintains that the punishments in our Torah portion are not for failing to perform the Mitzvot. They are for failing to perform them with joy.[2]
Internal Joy
Our sages wrote something similar in the Talmud. “G-d dwells not in an atmosphere of sadness, indolence, hilarity, frivolity, idle conversation, or idle chatter, but in one permeated with the joy of a Mitzvah:[3] This tells us that the joy demanded by Judaism is not a frivolous hilarity, it is an internal joy that originates deep inside our soul. What kind of joy is this?
King Solomon wrote, “G-d made humans upright, but they sought many intrigues.”[4] We are created with a heavenly soul and dispatched to earth to bring G-d’s holiness to earth. So long as we remain true to our identity and mission, we can imbue the world with holiness.
But earth is an intriguing place, and it is easy to be blinded by its many comforts and pleasures. When that happens, we lose sight of our holy soul and our connection to G-d. We become more comfortable on the beach than in the synagogue, at a barbecue than a Torah class, playing than praying. Our soul becomes twisted by earth’s many intrigues.
The Psalmist wrote, “The upright of heart, are joyful.”[5] So long as our hearts and souls are upright as G-d formed them, remembering that we are heavenly beings dispatched to earth for a G-dly mission, we can experience true joy. When our hearts and souls become enmeshed in and twisted by earthly intrigues, joy eludes us. We can have hilarity, but not inner joy.[6]
Inner joy comes from internal freedom. Knowing that we are internally synchronized with our deepest roots, brings us inner joy. Once there is an obstruction that obfuscates and blocks our path, we grow confused. Are we inside looking out, outside looking in, or are we perhaps outsiders who don’t even know how to look in?
Not knowing the answer blocks our path to inner joy. We don’t know who we are. We feel inconsistent. Twisted. We can’t put our finger on it, but something feels internally wrong. No matter how luxurious our home, how
