Do It With Simcha!

In this week’s Parsha we have the words from the second paragraph of Shema “Vehaya im Shamoa tishmeu el mitzvosai etc – And it will be, if you vigilantly obey My commandments… that I will give rain for your land in its proper time etc.”

On a simple level this is telling us that if we listen to Hashem’s Mitzvos, he will bless us with all that we need. The question is why is there this extra word “Vehaya – and it will be” The possuk could have just said “Ve’im - and if?”

R’ Yonasan Eibshitz explains based on a Medrash which says that the word “Vehaya” means something is happening with joy. He says that a critical component of keeping Hashem’s mitzvot is keeping them with simcha not as load and burden that I am forced to do.

With this idea, he explains what the Gemara says “Why was Israel destroyed? Because they didn’t make the bracha before learning Torah.” He asks the obvious question: They were learning Torah. All that they were missing was the bracha beforehand, is that a reason to exile the entire Jewish people!?

He explains that bracha before learning describes what a great gift the Torah is. “Asher Bachar banu mikol haamim vnasan lonu es trosoi – he chose us from all the nation and gave us His Torah.” When the Jewish people keep the Torah but don’t appreciate it, they don’t do it out of joy, that’s a sign we have essentially abandoned the Torah. We may be technically learning, but our hearts and souls are not there, And that is the beginning of the destruction.

From this, we can learn how important it is to serve Hashem with simcha and enthusiasm.

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