“In compensation for your failure to [lit. that you did not] serve HaShem your G-d with joy and with happiness of heart, from an abundance of all.” [Deut. 28:47]
There are terrible calamities prophesied in this week’s reading. The Torah tells us why these tragedies will occur: because we, the Nation of Israel, will fail to feel joy in all the blessings which G-d gives us, and will not infuse that joy into our performance of His Commandments, into our conduct towards G-d.
In the Laws of Lulav (the palm frond taken during the holiday of Sukkos) (8:14), the Rambam (Maimonides) says that the joy which a person takes in doing the Mitzvos, and in love of the A-lmighty who Commanded us to do them, is itself a great service of G-d. A crucial element of our relationship with the Divine must be a feeling of joy and gratitude for all that G-d gives us every day.
Earlier in the this week’s reading, we see that there is an explicit Mitzvah to be happy, part of the Commandment to bring the First Fruits to the Temple: “And you shall rejoice in all the good which HaShem your G-d has given to you and to your family…” [26:11] The Chumash Rav Peninim asks: how can there be such a Commandment? If HaShem gives a person all he needs, and he comes to the Temple with his offering, of course he will be happy—he’s been given something to rejoice about. If, on the other hand, a person is impoverished and starving, then this means he has no land and no produce to offer, and this Mitzvah, including the component requiring rejoicing in the good given to him, does not apply. So whom does the Torah have in mind when it commands the person bringing First Fruits to rejoice?
Rabbi Asher Rubenstein zt”l offered a parable to explain whom the Torah is speaking to.
Imagine a farmer who owns a few acres of land. He works throughout the year, harvests his crop, produces his bread from start to finish and feeds his family. He’s happy, because he has all that he needs. As the Chapters of the Fathers tell us, “Who is wealthy? He who is happy with his lot.”
But before he can take advantage of that crop, the Torah tells him to take his First Fruits off to Jerusalem. So he packs his bags, saddles his donkey, puts a few loaves and a few clusters of grapes in a big basket, and heads off.
He reaches the main road to Jerusalem, only to find that his path is blocked. One huge carriage after another is going by, each led by a team of white horses. One is laden with grapes as big as plums, another with huge loaves of bread whose fragrance fills the air. And all of it belongs to one wealthy man, sitting in his carriage in the middle of it all, who owns hundreds of acres and whose hired help did all the work.
The farmer looks down at his bag, and now he’s not so happy any more. Is anything different? Has anything changed? Nothing has changed—except his heart. Now he’s seen what someone else has, and his joy is replaced by jealousy. This is what the Mitzvah is all about: an attitude of not caring what someone else has, but recognizing that G-d is meeting his own needs.
Every person is obligated to say, “the entire world was created for me.” This does not mean that we should be given everything in the world—but that the world is here to answer to our unique needs and to help us to grow as individuals. Whatever a person needs, HaShem gives him.
When was the last time we danced with joy, because we have legs to dance with? Just over a week ago, I was in an accident. Later I looked at what happened, considered what could have happened as a result, and felt the words of Birkas HaGomel, the blessing upon recovering from a serious illness or surviving a life-threatening situation: “the One who bestows kindness to those lacking, who has done all kindness for me.”
Yet I also know people who did not walk away, yet, though wheelchair-bound, still have lives filled with joy and laughter. So what about those of us who can use our legs? Do we say “Thank G-d” because we mean it, or as an afterthought?
So let us not look at what others have – because it is jealousy which stands in the way, when otherwise we would recognize the obvious: G-d gives us and sends us everything we need, and we have everything. Let us rejoice in all the good!
