Simcha – a Fixture in a Life of Avodas Hashem

Good morning, Gut Voch and Gut Chodesh, I hope everyone's well. The last couple of mornings we've been talking a little bit about simcha. There is a very famous passage in the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh. It's in Parshat Ki Tavo at Sheni. It's perek 26 pasuk 11. The pasuk

ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' אלהיך ולביתך אתה והלוי והגר אשר בקרבך.

So the immediate context, this is at the, on the heels of the parsha of Mikra Bikkurim. That's the immediate context. Perush writes the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh: דבק הכלל כל הטוב. Vesamachta bechol hatov, you should rejoice in that which encompasses all good. ואין זה אלא הקדוש ברוך הוא שהוא מקור הטוב, which is of course Hakadosh Baruch Hu who's the source of all good. Asher Natan Lecha, for what does it mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave it to you?

פירוש כי דבר זה אין ערך אליו אלא מתנת חינם. ואמר לך לשלול זולתו, לומר לא מלאך ולא שרף יזכה לזה.

No one else has been granted what you've been granted. גם ירמוז במאמר בכל הטוב. He's also hinting with the phrase bechol hatov to the Torah. Vesamachta bechol hatov refers to the Torah. כאומרם ז"ל ואין טוב אלא תורה. In Perek Kinyan Torah. Now here come the very famous lines that there's a Benny Friedman, Bnei Yisrael, there's a singer who I think, I think has a tune to these words: שאם היו בני אדם מרגישים במתיקות וערבות טוב התורה. If people would only accurately sense and experience the sweetness and pleasantness of the good of Torah, היו משתגעים ומתלהטים אחריה. They would be crazed, the euphoria would be the high, the spiritual euphoria, the spiritual high would be such that hayu mishtag’im u'mislahetim achareha and the bren, the passion and the incredible enthusiasm with which they would seek Torah. ולא יחשב בעיניהם מלא עולם כסף וזהב למאומה, and the physical world would be nothing. כי התורה כוללת כל הטובות שבעולם. Because Torah encompasses all forms of good in the world. Just to re-read the first line or two:

שאם היו בני אדם מרגישים במתיקות וערבות טוב התורה היו משתגעים ומתלהטים אחריה.

So I think it was Wednesday, I think, that we spoke about the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Lulav, וכל המונע עצמו משמחה זו and we suggested that the pshat in the Rambam is that the only way a person doesn't experience an element of simcha, a degree of simcha, is if he's holding himself back. Because simcha is the natural reaction, the natural response, the natural experience to Torah and Mitzvos. And that's certainly, certainly what the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh is depicting. He's talking about Talmud Torah. In terms of Talmud Torah, that if only we didn't have so many layers of other things that dull our spiritual senses, if only those layers were to be peeled away and we would allow ourselves to be margish. The inherent intrinsic mesikus v'areivus haTorah, the sweetness and pleasantness of the goodness of Torah, היו משתגעים ומתלהטים אחריה. Again, that natural, it's a natural reaction. The simcha is a natural reaction, which is why, I don't know why, but maybe how is the correct word, which is how even when a person lives with the appropriate kovid rosh, it coexists alongside an energizing simcha. The halacha, the acharonim all write in siman aleph, the Mishnah Berurah quotes it, the Kaf Hachayim quotes it, in siman aleph in Shulchan Aruch. So the mechaber writes in se'if gimmel that

ראוי לכל ירא שמים שיהיה מיצר ודואג על חורבן בית המקדש.

Churban Beis Hamikdash for a person who's an emes'er yerei shamayim shouldn't just be a fact. Columbus discovered America, as of 1776 the United States is an independent country, and the Beis Hamikdash at this point in history is choreiv. No. ראוי לכל ירא שמים שיהיה מיצר ודואג, a person should be a source of ongoing concern, acute concern to a person. So the Mishnah Berurah writes here again, the Kaf Hachayim has the same, אבל התורה והתפילה יהיה בשמחה. But that sense of de'agah about churban Beis Hamikdash should not impinge upon the simchas haTorah and the simchas haTefilah. When you think about it rabbosai, you know, in general simcha is always an, is never, is never a premeditated reaction or emotion or experience. A person doesn't decide oh whatever whatever the person says next I'll laugh. You know, whatever he says next I'm going to assume is funny and I'm going to laugh. Simcha always is just it's a reaction. The same way if l'havdil the other end of the spectrum, if you get a punch in the stomach, rachmana litzlan, the pain's not a premeditated reaction, it's just a natural reflexive reaction. The same is true for simcha, right? Just even if you think in mili d'alma what serves as a source of more superficial simcha. So there's nothing premeditated about it, right? There's nothing deliberate about it, it's just a natural reaction. And the same is true for simcha ruchnius as well. And that's how simcha can and should be a permanent fixture in the life of an oved Hashem. Okay, so we'll stop here, we'll, im yirtzeh Hashem, we'll reconvene around 12 o'clock. Okay, have a good, productive morning, rabbosai. Everyone should be well, be safe, im yirtzeh Hashem.