Appreciating the Gift

“Go ahead and be frum“, says the yetzer hara – the evil inclination, “be my guest.” No, the evil inclination won’t fight you if you’re frum, especially if you perform the mitzvot as if they’re a heavy load on your back. The evil inclination doesn’t care if a person observes and performs mitzvot, just as long as he doesn’t do so with joy. The entire purpose of a mitzvah is to enhance one’s connection to Hashem. Since the main component of connection to Hashem is joy, a mitzvah that is devoid of joy won’t have the power to connect a person to Hashem. As such, the evil inclination will let a person perform joyless mitzvot all day long.

The value of a mitzvah is determined by the degree of joy that has been invested in its performance. The holy Ariza”l testified that he attained his lofty spiritual level mainly by performing the mitzvot with great joy. By way of his joy, he grasped a virtually super-human understanding and insight into G-dliness. Hashem is entirely secret and concealed, but by clinging to Him, one becomes privy to Divine secrets. The more one clings to Hashem, the deeper his knowledge of Hashem and the higher he climbs on the spiritual ladder. This wonderful upward spiral begins simply by doing mitzvot in a joyful manner.

Hashem delights in every mitzvah we do, even if it’s deficient. Yet, the way to receive gifts from Hashem is by performing the mitzvot with joy. We can better understand this concept with a simple parable: Imagine that a great king gives you a gift, but you take the gift and toss it away – as the king is watching – as if it means nothing to you. Such behavior is very insulting to the king. Not only did you fail to show the slightest gratitude for the gift, but you show that the gift is worthless to you. How different your relationship with the king would be if you would have accepted his gift enthusiastically with a big smile, while jumping up and down with glee!

Our allegory is clear: the king is Hashem, the source of all our gifts in life. Every mitzvah He gives us is a priceless gift whose value exceeds anything we can imagine. A person who therefore performs a mitzva perfunctorily with no joy makes a statement that it’s not worth much to him. Had he appreciated Hashem’s gift, he’d sing and dance every time he had the opportunity to do a mitzvah, just as the great tzaddikim such as Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev used to do. The more a person cherishes his connection with Hashem, the more he takes pleasure in every mitzvah.

Our discussion of performing mitzvot with joy is not just some rosy idea that’s nice to talk about. This is advice to live by and to incorporate in our personal prayers. Learning to serve Hashem with joy can not only uplift a person, but open the doors to spiritual growth and a connection with Hashem that he never dreamed of.

One of the main ways to preserve our happiness, as Rebbe Nachman teaches in Likutei Moharan I:282, is to focus on our good points. Even if a person is full of faults and has repeatedly transgressed Torah, as long as he doesn’t fall into despair as the evil inclination wants him to, there’s still hope. No matter who he is or where he is, he can convert all his bad to good, simply by holding on to his joy any way he can and yearning to come back to Hashem. By refusing to fall, regardless of what he did, he defeats the evil inclination, which wanted to rob him of his connection with Hashem and drag him down into despair.

Despair and depression are not only destructive, but they cause wasted time. The evil inclination loves to waste people’s time, for while they’re sad and depressed, they can’t perform mitzvot or learn Torah. So even if a person sees himself as someone who has not been on the right path, no problem – just declare a new beginning, rejoice in whatever good point you can find in yourself (and there are many) and move forward. Don’t let the evil inclination rob you of your time. By being happy, you can make teshuva and turn everything around for the very best.