The Power of Joy β The Path to Redemption | Parshat Va'era from the Esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a
Parshat Va'era from the Esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a discussing the obligation to strengthen oneself in joy as the correct path in serving Hashem in particular and for the health of body and soul in general
In Parshat Va'era, Moshe Rabbeinu brings the tidings of redemption to the people of Israel. He calls them to rejoice, to sing, and to play music, with the belief that this is the way to bring true redemption. The esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, according to the teachings of the Noam Elimelech and Rebbe Nachman, delves into this idea and teaches us about the power of joy in serving Hashem and in daily life, even in times of difficulty and descent.
These are his holy words:
"And they did not listen to Moshe because of shortness of spirit and hard labor" (Exodus 6:9)
Moshe Rabbeinu came to Egypt and said β My masters, Hashem has revealed Himself to me! Redemption is about to happen β start rejoicing, start singing, start playing music, the time has come to make dances and songs, bring orchestras, bring violins, bring flutes, start singing about the tidings of redemption. "And they did not listen to Moshe because of shortness of spirit and hard labor" says our Rebbe in Torah 86 "They are of little faith in the aspect of shortness of spiritβ¦. because they are in the aspect of shortness of spirit due to their lack of complete faith, they require hard labors and fasts". Those who are in the aspect of shortness of spirit, who lack complete faith, tend towards afflictions and fasts.
The Noam Elimelech says this was the debate between Moshe and the tzaddikim of that generation Moshe said β stop with the fasts and afflictions, stop with the hard labors, start rejoicing, singing, and playing music. From the beginning of the enslavement, the people of Israel did not remain silent, the tzaddikim did not remain silent, the tzaddikim fasted, cried, and sat on the ground. They saw every day children being thrown into the Nile, every day children being slaughtered, children being placed within the walls, Pharaoh bathing in the blood of infants, no one remained silent, everyone fasted, cried, and afflicted themselves to bring the redemption. Moshe came and said to them β My masters, this is not the way! If you want to fast, fast, but this will not bring the redemption. With fasts and afflictions, redemption is not brought closer, redemption will come only with joy!
They said to him β What? You are proposing a new path in serving Hashem? You want to take away our fasts and afflictions after we have been fasting for years upon years, fasting and afflicting ourselves. But they did not listen to Moshe because of shortness of spirit from hard labor, from much despair, from much shortness of spirit, from much hard labor, they were unable to shake off the despair, to believe in hope, to believe in redemption. Moshe said the time has come to serve Hashem with joy, with immense joy only joy will subdue the klipah, only joy will bring the redemption.
The Noam Elimelech says that the tzaddikim who seek hard labors and fasts have a precious neshamah, not just any neshamah, but they do not see what the tzaddikim who are in the aspect of Moshe see. For the true tzaddik nullifies the judgments and decrees with the utmost ease, he needs no effort, no afflictions, no fasts, he nullifies the judgments with joy, with melodies and songs.
The world is mistaken, a person thinks that to merit salvation, to sweeten judgments, one needs hard labors, fasts, etc.β¦ In fact, the Baal Shem Tov already completely nullified the matter of fasts and hard labors, and this is what our Rebbe says, that the world does not believe that one can merit salvation, to sweeten all the judgments in the world through joy.
There are several levels in the image of God, there is a level in the image of God where a person lives in the present, is happy with the present, always happy. This is level one, the first level in the image of God, but there is a level in the image of God in completeness, where one must know the Torah, must know the mitzvot, and the judgments. But first, one must have the first level β to begin to know what the present is, to begin to learn how to live now, how to be happy now, to be happy every moment and second, to feel the present, only the present, not to think about anything, not the past, not the future, you are here now, alive, healthy, breathing, so rejoice, be happy, joy without any thought of what will be, what was, and this is "Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot", happy every moment, happy every second, no one is hitting you, you have a cup of tea? What more do you need? What are you lacking? You are thirsty, so drink, you are hungry, so make yourself a slice of bread, feel good! Feel happy, feel blessed, do not worry about what was, do not worry about what will be, be in the peak of happiness, this way you will receive everything, when a person lives in the present, in this he fulfills "Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot" and from this joy he will receive everything, all the salvations, and reach all the levels in the world.
The trial of a Jew is to always be in joy, this is the main trial because everyone must go through trials, descents, ascents until the end of life. And the main strengthening in joy is during the descent, during the trial, believing that he will come out of the descent.
There is a shocking story, a terrible story in Kochvei Or about one who dug and found a diamond worth a million dollars, he thought it was a piece of glass, someone came and told him it was a diamond! It is worth a fortune, but you will not find anyone in the village or the entire country who can buy the diamond from you, so he decided to travel to London, and sold his house, all his rags, his broken furniture, and the money was enough only to reach the port, and when he arrived, a captain of a ship found him and asked him what are you wandering around here? He said I have a precious stone, a diamond, and showed him the diamond, the captain was amazed, told him if you have such a thing, get on the ship immediately, you don't need money, don't pay anything, and arranged for him a luxurious room, a luxurious bed, three meals a day.
One day on the ship, he sat to eat and looked at the diamond, delighted in it, and suddenly dozed off and fell asleep for a second, the waiter came in and cleared the table with the diamond, with all the dirt and waste, took everything and shook it into the sea, when he woke up he was in shock, stunned, he almost fainted, his heart stopped working, if the captain knew what happened, he would throw him off the ship, throw him after the diamond into the sea, and then the Jew decided that he must strengthen himself in joy with all his might, with superhuman strength, he strengthened himself with all his might to rejoice, to smile, after five minutes the captain entered, the Jew gave him such a smile, started to laugh, to dance, he made such movements of joy, he became the happiest, the captain had never seen him so happy.
In truth, the Jew knew he could only hold on to this joy for a short time, this happiness, soon his heart would start beating again, and when the captain saw him so happy, he said to him let's make a deal, everyone thinks I am a pirate, when I arrive in London everyone investigates me about where the goods come from, so you, a compassionate Jew, have mercy on me, the entire ship with all the goods, with all the gold and diamonds, everything will be in your name, I trust you, you are a great, successful merchant, you have here a diamond worth a lot, and he wrote everything on him, as soon as they arrived at the port, before they even got off the ship, the captain had a stroke, a brain event, and all the property on the ship, all the millions, all the gold, everything passed to the Jew's possession.
Our Rebbe introduced a completely new innovation β know that there is no despair in the world at all, there is no such thing as despair, even in the greatest disaster, even in the greatest crisis, if a person holds on for five minutes happy, dancing, singing, then everything turns for the good. One must always come home with a smile, always come home with joy, at home they do not need to know that you are now in trouble, in crisis, if you cannot smile, be happy, sit outside on the steps, make smiles, make movements of joy, practice, and then enter the house with happy faces, with shining faces.
If a person holds on and rejoices, he can merit all the miracles in the world, the entire work of a person is to rejoice with all his might, with self-sacrifice, to always say "everything is for the best", this is his trial, if he says "this too is for the best" about everything, he will come out of all the sufferings in the world, he will have miracles and wonders. A person must rejoice, sing, give thanks to Hashem always before trouble comes, God forbid, not to wait for trouble and then be released from trouble, and then when released from trouble, one must already give thanks, sing, bring a thanksgiving offering, but always be happy, always sing to Hashem, always recognize the greatness of Hashem "every soul shall praise Hashem" every breath shall praise Hashem, you are breathing, start rejoicing, for every breath one must sing, not to wait for trouble because if you rejoice, sing to Hashem, thank Hashem, then troubles will not come.
The main work is not to be in sadness even for one second because there is no reason to be in sadness, one must believe that every Jew is capable of reaching all good in material and spiritual matters, all success in the world, there is a matter of rejoicing in the fact that He did not make me a non-Jew, that He made me a Jew β Baruch Hashem I merited to keep Shabbat, I merited to put on tefillin, rejoice that you merited to pray, it is like you found a diamond worth millions, one must always continue to bring upon oneself joy, endless joy, if one does not know what to rejoice about? One must rejoice that Hashem created us as divine creatures, this is the greatest joy.
"Israel shall rejoice in its Maker, the children of Zion shall exult in their King" let us rejoice with Hashem, that Hashem created us "and we are His people and the sheep of His pasture" Hashem created us for His glory "Blessed is our God who created us for His glory and separated us from the erring" let us rejoice that Hashem created us for His glory, that we may learn, pray, that the whole world may see, that all the nations may see that the weapon of the Jew is Torah, prayer, because when Hashem sees us in true joy, that we are happy with Him, then He will nullify all the decrees, all the troubles. So what is left for you? Start rejoicing with Hashem, rejoice with Hashem, only with Hashem, with Hashem you can rejoice! He is alive and exists, Hashem is eternal, Hashem loves you, Hashem created you, Hashem believes in you, Hashem believes in your teshuvah, He will never abandon you, He will give you everything.