מעלת המצוות מתוך חביבות ושמחה
The virtue of keeping mitzvos out of dearness and joy
וְהֵם הֵבִיאוּ אֵלָיו עוֹד נְדָבָה בַּבֹּקֶר בַּבֹּקֶר: (לו:ג)
And they brought to him additional free-will gifts every morning (36:3)
This posuk comes to teach us that the thing that is measured most with every mitzvah is the companionship of the heart. Therefore, when the Torah wanted to reveal how Bnei Yisrael opened their hearts to donate to the Mishkan, It was not enough to bring mention that many brought gifts of their hearts, it added that this took place ‘every day’. With this it reveals that this came about from an extra dearness of the mitzvah, and since this was so, they always hurried to bring their gifts right away in the morning. This was ‘set’ every morning, which also teaches that it come from an extra dearness. Although all this did not add to the purpose of the gift, for the purpose of the gift was for the need of setting up the Mishkan, and this was dependent on the quantity of the gift and not the quality.
Still, the Torah emphasized the very fulfillment through dearness and yearning to erect the Mishkan. In order to teach that the main virtue of the mitzvah is dependent on this, and this is a teaching for generations, for the person must arouse his heart and keep the mitzvos out of a strong love for his Creator, with the understanding that he is fulfilling the will of the King of the world and he is causing Him great satisfaction through his actions, with joy that he merits to be counted among the legions of the King to guard and keep His commands. By doing this he elevates his actions to implant them Above and make a lasting impression in all the worlds, and also his reward in the future is immeasurable.
But the matter is very different when the person keeps the mitzvos of his Creator as if they were a heavy burden. Only out of an awareness that these mitzvos were designated for the Jewish nation and one does not have the right to do what he feels like, even if he does not belittle them by doing this, and even mitzvos like these are considered immeasurable in Heaven since ultimately, he negated his entity for the will of his Creator, and he subdued his difficult yetzer [and sometimes when the person is smallminded, one is forced to keep the mitzvos of his Creator this way], still, the great gap between the one who keeps the mitzvos out of desire and yearning and one who keeps them as if taught by people, is as distant as heaven and earth. And sometimes, there is no elevation for those mitzvos that are performed with heaviness and sadness, as they are classified as young birds that do not have wings, and they need help from another mitzvah that is done properly to elevate.
And sometimes when the person serves his Creator out of love and joy, they can change the very keeping of the mitzvah. The person that does not arouse his heart as a preparation for the mitzvah, and he keeps the mitzvah without thinking about it first, it becomes obvious from his actions that he only wants to fulfill his obligation. This is not so when one first considers Who he is serving, and how even though he was formed from clay, he was given the zechus to bring satisfaction to his King of the world Whose greatness has no bounds, and Who has multitudes of groups of angels, and these, despite their desire to do as he did, are not allowed to do so. Yet, he whose lowliness is great, is bestowed by Heaven a wonderful gift like this. When one considers all this, the shame for his Creator is aroused and he wants to do all his actions in the best possible way, and we find that aside from the arousal of the heart, he also merits to be meticulous in keeping the mitzvah, and to do it in the best possible way.
