Moses, the leader of the Jewish nation, is nearing the end of his life, and the nation – his flock – is about to enter the Promised Land. In this week’s Torah portion, Moses completes his speeches of preparation and guidance and begins preparing for a new covenant between God and His nation, one that will take effect in a ceremony that will take place after they enter the land. This covenant detailed blessings of abundance if the nation follows God’s path, and curses should it abandon that path. We do not need to read those verses to understand what those curses entail. It’s enough to look at our nation’s hardships through history to recognize each one of them.
The fact that bad things can come from God and affect His nation when it does not follow His path presents a difficult theological problem for people who believe in a benevolent and righteous God.
Without delving into complexities, we can examine the significance and essence of this covenant that creates an inextricable bond between God and His people. If the nation chooses well, God is committed to fulfilling His part of the covenant and imparting His goodness onto His nation. But if they choose badly, the covenant calls for the full extent of the punishment described. According to this week’s parasha, the choice is ours.
In the list of curses, we find these surprising verses:
“…because you did not serve the Lord, your God, with happiness and with gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything… Therefore, you will serve your enemies…” (Deuteronomy 28, 48-49).
These verses seem to state that suffering will be brought upon the nation because it did not worship God despite the abundance He gave it. This is how most commentators understand this. But two of the greatest Jewish thinkers interpreted it differently. Maimonides, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, a Jewish legal authority, philosopher, man of many talents, and a doctor (Spain-Egypt, 12th century); and Rabbi Isaac Luria, the greatest of kabbala scholars in Safed in the 16th century both interpreted these verses more literally: Suffering will be brought upon the nation because they were supposed to worship God with happiness and gladness of the heart but didn’t.
Maimonides writes as follows:
The joy that a person derives from doing good deeds and from loving God, who has commanded us to practice them, is a supreme form of divine worship. Anyone who refrains from experiencing this joy deserves punishment, as is written: “Because you have not served the Lord your God with joy and with a glad heart” (Hilchot Lulav 8, 15).
For Maimonides, joy is a central component of worshiping God and fulfilling His commandments; efforts should be made to be joyful. When a Jew understands the significance of his covenant with God, the infinite and lofty, the huge underlying meaning this covenant provides to every action, and the fact that God personally benefits those who choose goodness… this understanding has the power to fill his heart with joy for even the smallest of good deeds. We can pretty easily accept that joy fills our hearts because of something good. But when someone is trying to make a change in his life and return to himself, his environment, and his God, that process is often accompanied by pangs of conscience that lead to depression and sadness.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder and first rebbe of Chabad, wrote: “It is with the service of God just as it is with a victory over a physical opponent, for instance, two people who wrestle with each other, each striving to fell the other. If one of them is lazy and sluggish, he will easily be defeated and fall, even if he is stronger. Similarly with the conquest of one’s evil nature. It is impossible to conquer the evil nature with laziness and sluggishness, which stem from sadness and a stonelike dullness of the heart, but rather with alacrity, which derives from joy and an open heart” (Tanya 26).
The Jewish New Year is approaching, with the High Holy Days and Sukkot. This special time is dedicated to examining the past year, making changes and doing repentance. There is no better time to remind ourselves and those around us of the joy we are supposed to feel in our hearts for every good deed and for every good desire to change. Only by being happy and banishing sadness can we be empowered to be victorious in our inner struggles.
The writer is rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites.