[thereisone] The Greatest Joy
- From: Gutman Locks <locks.gutman@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thereisone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2017 07:04:38 +0200
The Greatest Joy
There are different types, or levels of joy. Physical joy is wonderful
and very welcome as long as it comes from a kosher (proper) source. Higher
than this is emotional joy. This comes from such things as family love.
Still higher than these is the joy that comes from intellectual
accomplishment. Imagine how you would feel if you solved a problem that you
had been working on for years and that solution will make life better for
all.
There is another type of joy that none of these other types of joys
can possibly reach. This is the spiritual joy that comes when Hashem
blesses you by showing you that He is Present. This is the true meaning of
the word *Shechina*. *Shechina* does not mean Hashem’s Presence; it means
Hashem’s *revealed* Presence.
We can eat wonderful kosher food to experience physical joy, and we
can give love to our closest family to experience emotional joy. We can
work very hard and solve our intellectual problems, but what can we do to
have Hashem bless us with the *Shechina*? The Talmud answers this question.
“The *Shechina* (Hashem’s revealed Presence) does not come to rest
(upon a person) while in a state of gloom, and not through laziness, and
not through levity, and not through ridicule, and not through chatter, and
not through idle conversations, but rather through the joy that is
associated with a *mitzvah*.”[i]
What can we do to increase our joy when doing a *mitzvah*? One thing
is when we say the blessing, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,”
stop for a moment and remember that “sanctified us with His commandments”
means “made us holy with His commandments”. When we fulfill a *mitzvah* we
become holy. What more could anyone want from life? Remembering this should
surely bring you joy.
Then, if you would like even more of this holy joy go help another Jew
to find it too. When a candle lights another candle it not only *does not
lose* any of its light, it actual gains light by standing in more light
than it had been standing in before.
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[i] Shabbos 30 b
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To reply; email me directly at: locks.gutman@xxxxxxxxx
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