We continue with the theme that when someone is involved in serving Hashem, he has to be full of Simcha. Hacham BenSion Abba Shaul, in his Sefer Or L’Sion, on Mussar (page 135) quotes the pasuk in Tehilim (100,2)
עִבְד֣וּ אֶת ה׳ בְּשִׂמְחָ֑ה בֹּ֥אוּ לְ֝פָנָ֗יו בִּרְנָנָֽה
Serve Hashem with Simcha/ Happiness,
Come in front of Him with shouts of joy.
He says that Simcha doesn’t mean lightheaded, it means in an uplifted mood. You’re always in a good mood.
The amount of happiness a person shows in serving Hashem reveals how much he really wants to serve Hashem. He realizes the statement, “Blessed is Hashem, that created us for His honor.”
This is especially true for someone who has the merit to learn Torah. Every time a person learns Torah, he is supposed to think that there is nobody happier than he, even if the person doesn’t understand what he is learning.
He says that his Rabbi, whom he calls his master, the Rosh Yeshiva, Chacham Ezra Attia, had a lot of difficulties and suffering, but when he walked into Yeshiva he forgot everything and learned with tremendous happiness. The more he understood his learning, the more you could see that his face actually changed, and you could see the amount of happiness on it. This is true, even if you only understand a little bit. He says it’s not like in science, where if you don’t understand, you’ve wasted your time and you’re upset. He says that even if a person is reading Tehilim, he should realize that for every letter of the Torah, there was no end to the reward.
It says Talmud Torah K’Neged Kulam/ Torah study is equal to all.
There is tremendous reward for toil.
Ezer Hu Ashir, Sameach B’Helco,
Who is rich? One who is happy with his lot also applies to one’s learning. You have to be happy with your learning.
This shows our Emunah and Bitachon.
When you rely on Hashem, you appreciate what His Mitzvot are, and what Torah and religion does for us.
Rabbi Alex Mizrahi recently returned from a trip to Eretz Yisrael with many hiddushim, which he shared in a Seudat Shelishit speech at the Yad Yosef Torah center. He quoted from Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer, who quoted the Mishna in Pirkei Avot that says that when a person sits down to eat from a meal, and he does not have Divrei Torah, it is as if he ate from Zivchei Metim, which the commentaries define as a table serving food that was sacrificed to an idol.
But if a person says a Dvar Torah at the table, it becomes a table in front of God, as if he ate from God’s table, from a korban.
He says, Look at the power of Divrei Torah!
There are two people of eating the same food, but if a person says a Divar Torah, suddenly the food is uplifted. The commentaries explain that this is because once he said the D’var Torah, he became an uplifted person, and that food he’s eating is serving that uplifted person. This is like a korban/ an offering to God.
We have to appreciate what we have. With even a small D’var Torah, we can uplift the table.
This is just one example of many about how we are always supposed to be full of happiness, and it’s a test of whether a person is really serving Hashem properly.
To serve Hashem properly, you are supposed to be full of happiness. And the only way to get there is by truly believing, as we said yesterday, that, “My Boss is great.“
As it says in the best-selling book, All for the Boss, Mr. Herman went through life saying that he was doing it all for the Boss. Who was the Boss? My kind of benevolent boss who gave me everything. He gave me my meal, He gave me my food, He gave me my children, He gave me my house, He gave me my car. He gave me everything. And He asks me for a few things: That I should be overly joyous, and happy to serve Him and do for Him.
B’Ezrat Hashem, as Chacham BenSion ends this chapter, “Yehi Ratzon, it should be God’s will, that we should merit to serve our Creator a complete service, with happiness.”
Have a wonderful day.