In Parshat Va'era, deep messages about emunah (faith), simcha (joy), and our unending connection with the Creator of the Universe are revealed. Even when everything seems difficult, the Torah teaches us that through joy, we can sweeten the judgments and merit salvation. This article by Rabbi Menachem Azulai shlit"a seeks to delve into the meaning of joy in serving Hashem and how it accompanies us in our daily challenges.

"And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Hashem I was not known to them" (Exodus 6:3). God Almighty, because His divinity is sufficient for every creature (the Arizal).

"But they did not listen to Moses because of shortness of spirit and hard labor" (Exodus 6:9)

The Power of Joy: A Deep Message from Parshat Va'era

Through joy, one can merit salvation, one can sweeten all the judgments in the world. We must learn to live in the present, stop thinking about what was and what will be, stop worrying about the past and the future, "Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot" – happy every moment, happy every second.

Joy as a Key to Salvation

The challenge for a Jew is to always be in joy. Life is trials, it's ups and downs, it's a battle that doesn't end until the last moment, and we must constantly strengthen ourselves in joy. The main strengthening in joy is during the descent, during the trial, believing that he will emerge from the descent, that this descent will turn into a wonderful ascent and he will merit to draw closer to Hashem, to taste a new flavor in serving Hashem, a taste that Hashem gives to one who strengthens in the descent and believes that everything will yet turn for the good.

Our teacher the rabbi: ["When Moses our teacher came to Egypt and said, my masters, Hashem has revealed Himself to me! There is going to be redemption, start rejoicing, start singing, start playing music, the time has come to dance, sing, bring orchestras, bring violins, bring flutes, start singing about the news of redemption, "But they did not listen to Moses because of shortness of spirit and hard labor." The Noam Elimelech says this was the argument between Moses and the tzaddikim of that generation, Moses said stop with the fasts and mortifications, stop with the hard labors, start rejoicing, singing, and playing music. You want to fast, fast, but it will not bring redemption, with fasts and mortifications, redemption is not drawn closer, redemption will come only with joy! They said to him – what? You propose a new way in serving Hashem? You want to take away our fasts and mortifications after we have been fasting for years upon years, they did not listen to Moses because of shortness of spirit, from hard labor, they were unable to shake off the despair, to believe what Moses said that only joy will subdue the klipah, only joy will bring redemption and on this, our holy Rebbe (Torah 86, Part 2) said that because they lack complete emunah, they tend towards mortifications and fasts"] (until here our teacher the rabbi).

The whole work of a person is to rejoice with all his might, with self-sacrifice, to always say "everything is for the best", to thank Hashem for every step, for every breath, not to wait for trouble and then when freed from trouble, one must thank Hashem. Because if you rejoice and sing to Hashem, thank Hashem, then troubles will not come.

The main work is not to be in sadness even for one second. You merited to be a Jew, rejoice! You merited to keep Shabbat, rejoice! Hashem created you for His glory, Hashem loves you, Hashem will never leave you, rejoice!

A person goes to perform a mitzvah, he must know he is going to do something great and very precious. Every mitzvah, every effort to do Hashem's will illuminates the heavens with the precious light of the mitzvot, connecting us with the Creator of the Universe. And the main connection with the Creator of the Universe is joy. The more you are joyful in the mitzvah, the more it connects you with the Creator of the Universe.

Faith and Joy, They Go Together. We need to bring more emunah into our lives, only this will take us out of sadness, out of these falls. A person, from the moment he is born until his last day, all his life he has various plans, and not always do his plans succeed, not always do his desires come to fruition. And we don't know whom to be angry with and forget that there is someone who directs the entire creation. So, it's true, what we received is not exactly what we wanted. But who said it's not exactly what is needed? Who said what we want is what is needed? Maybe what we want is one thing and what is needed is another? Things aren't going your way, continue to want, to yearn, to pray until you build the vessels and then you can receive. Meanwhile, rejoice! Do not blame yourself or anyone else. Remember that everything is from Hashem and that this is the best for you for now.

Our Business Card in This World is Our Joy. Because our joy is how close we are to Hashem, believing in Him. Because if you are in sadness, it's like you are saying there is no Hashem in the world, God forbid. A person is expelled, dismissed, not accepted, but from Hashem you have not been expelled, flee to Hashem.

Joy as a Test of Faith and Closeness to Hashem

Our mission in this world is to remain in joy in every situation. Did I commit a sin, God forbid? I will not let the evil inclination throw me into sadness. Absolutely not! I will do teshuvah, I will ask Hashem for forgiveness, I will ask Him to help me never fall into this sin again, and I will continue in joy. One of the most important things is to believe with complete emunah that Hashem loves me. Infinite love. When I truly believe this, I look at everything with slightly different eyes. Because if Hashem loves me so much, then what is happening to me now cannot be bad. When we accept these difficult times with love, we merit a special closeness. Precisely then can we prove how faithful we are to Hashem, how much we strive to find the way to reconnect with Him anew.

Staying Joyful Even in Difficult Times

I don't have everything, but I have a lot. Overall, I received quite a beautiful package. I strive to rejoice in every small thing, even in something from something. Every good movement, every shift, even a tiny one from bad to good, is very precious to Hashem.

The Meaning of Joy: Our Portion in This World

Hashem loves the joy in our portion. What is our portion? It is everything required for us to complete our role in the world. Every neshamah (soul) is given talents and other heavenly gifts according to what it needs to do here in the world. One received a lot of money, to deal with the trial of wealth, and the other, who already dealt with this trial in a previous incarnation, now comes to the world to deal specifically with the trial of poverty. Everyone receives exactly what is necessary for their rectification. A person must rejoice even in what doesn't go well for him, even in what he lacks, it is all called "his portion."

And when we contemplate a little on "our portion," we see how impressive it is, how many thousands of kindnesses and goodnesses we receive from the Holy One, blessed be He, moment by moment. We were given here not to stop thanking the Holy One, blessed be He, for all the kindness He bestows upon us, for all the good desires He gives us because desire is joy. When can a person reach true joy? When he wants, not when he acts out of compulsion. When he wants, when he loves, then he suddenly feels the joy.

With Joy, Everything Can Be Arranged. If a person dances and sings to Hashem, then all abundance comes to him. With joy, one merits to turn the descent into an ascent, to sweeten all the judgments, to heal all the illnesses. "Do you have children? Start dancing and rejoicing, don't have children yet? Through joy and dancing, you will have children, don't have a match yet? Through joy, you will have a match" (our teacher the rabbi). Did you fail in a sin, God forbid? You must not fall in your mind, do teshuvah and continue to rejoice because the most dangerous thing is sadness. See what a great evil inclination you received, see what you are dealing with every day, see how you overcome and do mitzvot in this difficult situation, so you should rejoice more and more.

My whole concern is to maintain the connection. This will make me happier than anything else. Even if we have various other pleasures, for we are not among those who are separated from the world, deep inside we know the truth. That the greatest pleasure is when we love Hashem. And we remember how much Hashem loves us. In what affectionate terms the Creator of the Universe promises us in this parsha that He will redeem us, that He will not forget us. And I will take you out, and I will save you, and I will redeem you, and I will bring you… A father cannot disconnect from his children. Even if they have fallen to wherever they have fallen. Even if they have reached the depths of hell. It's in nature. There is no choice here. A father will turn the world upside down for his children. And the more they are in darkness, the more Hashem has mercy and brings down more light. Not because of their merits, because of His mercies, blessed be He.

There are things we don't understand. In the previous parsha, Moses and Aaron come to Pharaoh with a mission and demand: Let my people go! And instead of things getting better, they get worse. There is no more straw, go and gather straw yourselves but no discounts, the same amount you did before, do now as well. And the parsha ends with Moses' piercing question: "Why have You done evil to this people" (Exodus 5:22). Since I came, it has only gotten worse. It's hard to see their terrible suffering. The answer can be found at the opening of our parsha: "And I appeared to Abraham… but by My name Hashem I was not known to them" (Exodus 6:3).

There is also the "not known to them." The holy forefathers did not merit a clear revelation like Moses did, and yet they had no questions. With closed eyes, they walked after the voice of Hashem. In emunah and bitachon. "Whoever has emunah," says our holy Rebbe (Sichot HaRan 53), "his life is life, and he spends his days in goodness always. But whoever has no emunah, God forbid, his life is not life because as soon as some evil befalls him, he has no vitality because he goes without Hashem and without providence, Heaven forbid."

Pharaoh receives such severe plagues and he is stubborn, unwilling to admit that Hashem's hand is in the matter. And what about us? To what extent do we truly believe that everything that happens to us is from Hashem? We receive small blows, I dropped it, it broke, I lost it, all with mercy, all to remind us that there is a ruler of the city, and that everything happens by His word. And if we don't awaken from the small blows, we invite upon ourselves greater blows, God forbid.

We must constantly strengthen in emunah that there is no nature. What we call nature is all a result of the Creator's will. And when He wants, nature changes.

The Power of Prayer and Faith in Changing Nature

A Jew goes with prayers, he can change the laws of nature because prayer connects him to the One who pulls the strings of nature. All the plagues of Egypt come to strengthen us in this emunah. "And you shall know that I am Hashem." And where there is emunah, there is joy.

["A person must be in joy, every moment, and all his life. Joy is a manifestation of the revelation of emunah. If a person is in joy, it is a sign that he believes. If for one moment he is not in joy, it is a sign that at that moment he is disconnected. All of a person's work in this world is either connection or disconnection. A person suddenly sees that he is sad, it should be a sign for him that he is not connected. And then he hurries to connect, 'Hashem, Hashem, I love You, Hashem I know that this world is all You, that there is nothing here, I now received this trial and the other received that trial and I have nothing to complain about my trials because the whole purpose here is to connect, so I connect from my divine mission here in the world. From my data, with these difficult traits I have, with this suffering from this neighbor, with these parents, with this secular family that is difficult for me, that I also have to give respect because respect must be given, and on the other hand, they can ruin my whole house and how do I manage with all this, which is terribly difficult, and in general, for ba'alei teshuvah it is very, very difficult, and don't think there is a person who doesn't have it hard because if it wasn't hard for him, why did he come to the world, because the whole world is a struggle, struggle, struggle with more and more difficulties. But, I am not alone. I am not alone, there is Hashem. So if suddenly it's bad for me, I lift my head to the heavens." ] (In the Light of the King's Face).

Joy is the Sign that We are Connected with Hashem. A person cannot say he is joyful when he is not connected with Hashem, joy without connection is frivolity, jokes, nonsense, wildness but if he is truly joyful, it is proof that he is connected with Hashem.

Joy as the Final Station in Connection with Hashem

One must make self-sacrifice for joy. The greatest obstacles in the world are on joy. The nature of a person is to be in sadness. That's the nature. It's from the dust not to be in joy. A person goes through insults, humiliations, they did this to me, they did that to me, all sorts of adventures in body and soul. But with joy, everything can be arranged. A person dances and sings to Hashem, everything passes, everything is arranged. Because joy is connection to Hashem.

Joy – The Essence of Jewish Life

A Jew who is joyful in his Judaism is the happiest creature on earth. A Jew does not need to spend a fortune in vain efforts to achieve false joy as is the custom of the world. A Jew draws his joy from the connection with Hashem. From the knowledge that he works for the honor of the exalted King, King of kings, along with the clear emunah that everything that happens to him, all is for the best. These give birth within the soul true joy, which is the essence of life.