“Because you did not serve Hashem…amid gladness and goodness of heart when everything was abundant.” – Devarim 28:47
At the end of a long prophecy of what will befall us if we don’t follow the ways of Hashem, the Torah seems to lay the blame on one issue: because you did not serve Hashem…amid gladness and goodness of heart when everything was abundant. It seems the pivotal point of these two extremes is based on simcha, implying that serving Hashem with happiness is critical to our success as a nation.
Rabbeinu Bachya explains that this is because the mitzvahs must be done with joy and complete devotion. When the mitzvahs are done without joyfulness, they are lacking in their effect, and can be part of the spiral downward.
He then gives an example of a mitzvah that wasn’t done with complete motivation. The Midrash tells us that when Reuven attempted to save Yosef from his brothers, he said, “Let us put him in the pit.” His intention was to buy some time to eventually save him. However, had he realized he would be recorded in history as the one who saved Yosef, he would have put him on his shoulders and carried him home to his father. From here we see the importance of doing a mitzvah with complete dedication and commitment.
This Rabbeinu Bachya is difficult to understand on two levels. First, how can the Torah command me to be happy? Being happy isn’t an emotion we can turn on and off like a light switch. And how can we relate the effect of doing a mitzvah joyfully to the case of Reuven?
We are well aware that honor is one of the most powerful driving forces in the human condition. Granted, Reuven was a tzaddik, but the fact that he would have been titled the savior of Yosef for eternity is something that would propel a man to extremes. How can that be compared to something as minor as joy in the performance of a mitzvah?
The answer to these questions can best be understood through a different perspective.
Sheldon Adelson is the owner of Las Vegas Sands Corp. In 2003, his net worth was ranked at 1.4 billion dollars. While that is an impressive sum, it didn’t put him anywhere near the richest people in the world. However, when he took his company public, a rather interesting thing happened. His personal wealth increased by 750 percent. By 2004, his personal worth had increased to over 20 billion dollars, making him the fifth richest man in the world. Forbes magazine estimates that over those two years, Adelson’s fortune had been growing by $1 million every hour.
Imagine for a moment what it must feel like to know your wealth is increasing at that rate. You sit down to a leisurely lunch and walk away a million dollars richer. Open a Gemara for the daf HaYomi – there’s another $750,000. Lie down for a Shabbos nap; wake up three million dollars wealthier. Every moment I live, I become richer and richer.
I Have No Plans of Dying
The single most difficult concept we human beings deal with is our mortality. While we are cognitively aware of it, emotionally we just don’t feel it will happen. With that emotional blindness comes blindness to the value of our actions. Since in our operating reality I will never die, then what I do or don’t do really doesn’t matter.
If for a flashing moment I were to see what the World to Come will be like for me, I would effectively lose free will. The extraordinary accomplishment of one mitzvah would so overwhelm me that I would be completely and radically different – not different physically, not smarter, but much more driven to accomplish my purpose in life.
When Chazal tell us over and over again that mitzvahs are worth far more than the greatest treasures in this world, it is because they had that clarity.
In the World to Come we will look back at every chance we had to grow as the greatest opportunity ever given to man. We will look back at our mitzvahs and they will bring us far more joy than earning than a million dollars an hour.
This seems to be the answer to Rabbeinu Bachya. One of the greatest motivators in the human is enthusiasm. That enthusiasm is based on a value system. If I value money, I will be driven to pursue it, and the acquisition of it will bring me great joy. If I gain a deeper perspective on life, then I experience elation, knowing my net worth in the World to Come is growing at an incredible rate. My investments are paying back in spades. That excitement is one of the most powerful motivating forces, equal even to kavod. With it, a person can reach great heights. Without it, a person’s avodas Hashem can become stale and lose its potency.
Ultimately, joy is a great force that both allows a person to enjoy his short stay in this world and propels him to achieve the greatness for which he was created.