Rabbi Yigal Cohen: Who Doesn't Want the Divine Presence to Rest Upon Them?

In the Talmud, Shabbat (30b), there's a verse from Ecclesiastes (8:15), "So I commended joy," which the Talmud elaborates on to teach us that the Divine Presence does not dwell out of sadness, laziness, laughter, etc., but rather from a joyous matter of a mitzvah, as stated about the prophet Elisha when he wanted to receive prophecy (2 Kings 3:15), "But now bring me a musician. And when the musician played, the hand of Hashem came upon him."

Rabbi Yehuda adds that even when discussing halacha, if one wishes to understand the truth of the Torah in halacha, one must be joyful, and indeed this was the custom of Raba, who would start his lesson with a joke, bringing joy to his students, which opened their hearts to understanding the study of Torah.

Who among us would not want the Divine Presence to rest upon them, for the holy Torah brings with it all the blessings in the Torah, and more so, it brings a person the most wonderful feeling on earth, which is closeness to Hashem, and certainly the sages among you would want to merit to understand the truth of the Torah. If we thought that mere Torah study and good deeds were enough to reach high levels, the Talmud teaches us that without joy, there is no Divine Presence. We can never reach the great heights of closeness to Hashem, blessed be He, if we are not truly joyful.

Our forefather Jacob, peace be upon him, was holy and righteous beyond our comprehension, to the extent that the sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Parshat Vayishlach, Section 76) he was the choicest of the forefathers and merited twelve tribes of Hashem without blemish in his offspring, and the Divine Presence always rested upon him.

Until his beloved son Joseph was taken from him, and since then he was in great distress, hence the Divine Presence departed from him for twenty-two years until he re-met Joseph, as it is stated (Genesis 46:27), "And the spirit of Jacob their father revived," signifying the return of the Divine Spirit upon him.

Let's reflect together -

During those years, did Jacob continue his righteousness? Absolutely!

Did he still labor in Torah? Without a doubt! And certainly, he engaged in acts of kindness.

So, why did the Divine Presence depart from him?

Because he lacked one thing at that time - joy!!!

The implications are staggering...

We can do everything in our power for the service of the Creator, blessed be He, and strive in good deeds, but without rejoicing in them, we will never achieve our purpose.

In the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Sukkah (5:1), it says about the verse (Isaiah 12:3) "And you shall draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation," asking why it is called the Place of Drawing? It's from there that Divine inspiration is drawn, and similarly, Jonah the prophet, who was one of those who ascended to Jerusalem for festivals, had the Divine inspiration rest upon him through the joy he experienced in the Temple, teaching us that the Divine inspiration only rests on a joyful heart. This is learned from the verse "And when the musician played, the hand of Hashem came upon him."

Who among us wouldn't want to experience Divine inspiration once in their life, and here is the way to achieve it.

* * *

Many articles have been stated in the holy Zohar praising the attribute of joy and denouncing the attribute of sadness. I will share some of them from Parashat Vayeshev, page 82b, in the original holy tongue:

"We have seen that the Divine Presence does not rest in a place of sadness, but only in a place of joy, as the verse says "When the musician played, etc.," and it was the same with our forefather Jacob, where the Divine Presence departed from him until he heard that Joseph was alive, and immediately "the spirit of Jacob their father revived." Likewise, it is written "Serve Hashem with joy, come before Him with gladness" (Psalms 100:2), teaching that serving Hashem is only through joy, and through the melody of joy, one achieves the perfection of serving Hashem, blessed be He."

Additionally, the holy Zohar writes something amazing about the verse "Serve Hashem with joy," that a Jew's joy in this world brings upon them another joy from the upper worlds, meaning our joy causes joy in the upper worlds, and when there is joy above, a doubled joy immediately returns to the Jew from the World of Truth. Furthermore, it writes astoundingly and says that opposed to joy and sadness, there is life and death, evil and good, paradise and hell. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai teaches us that joy brings after it life and good, and ultimately Paradise. Heaven forbid, sadness brings after it evil and death, and its end leads to hell, and we have been commanded "and choose life."

* * *

A Guaranteed Merit for the World to Come

In Midrash Talpiyot, the greatness of joy is expressed in the clearest terms:

"Anyone who is joyful all their days indicates their great trust in the Holy One, Blessed be He, and this attribute alone is sufficient for a person to merit the world to come."

Rabbi Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, peace be upon him, known as the Holy Arizal, achieved countless high levels. I present to you, dear readers, a few of his praises, as stated by his student Rabbi Chaim Vital, of blessed memory, in the introduction to Etz Chaim.

And these are his words: "I saw with my own eyes and not a stranger's, astonishing things unseen since the days of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, for he knew the Mishnah and Talmud in multiple ways—literal, allegorical, homiletic, and mystical. He was versed in the Secrets of Creation, the Secrets of the Throne, in the speech of birds, and the communication of palm trees, trees, and grasses, in the secret of the stone that cries out, and he understood the secret reincarnations in the inanimate. He conversed with spirits of reincarnations, brought to handle the soul of a person while still alive, talked with it all he needed, and returned it. He saw souls as they departed the body, in cemeteries, and as they ascended every Shabbat eve to Paradise, speaking with them in the next world, revealing to him the secrets of the Torah." He continues there with his wonderful praises.

Now comes the most surprising thing -

Everyone asks themselves - how is it possible to achieve such lofty degrees? How can a person born of woman reach such levels?

Of course, we cannot explain this...

But the answer was already written by a sage from the generation of the Dor Da’at, the generation of Rabbi Isaac Luria and Maran Bet Yosef, Rabbi Elazar Azkari, in the introduction to his book "Charedim" (the fourth condition):

"Thus revealed the Holy Arizal to his confidant - that all he achieved, the gates of wisdom and Divine inspiration opened to him, as he was always rejoicing in performing each mitzvah with immense boundless joy, and this is what the verse means: "because you did not serve Hashem, your God, with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything."

Similarly, Maran the Chida wrote in his book "Moreh BeEtzba" that all the lofty levels the Holy Arizal achieved were due to the great joy with which he performed the mitzvot."

Rabbi Chaim Vital also wrote in Sha'ar HaKedusha: "Sadness prevents the service of Hashem, and prevents fulfilling mitzvot, nullifying study of Torah, the intent in prayer, and negates the good thought to serve Hashem. It is the gateway to the inclination to the evil one (usually when a person is steeped in sadness, the evil inclination leaps upon them to commit sins). On the contrary, he who serves Hashem with joy, as it says "Serve Hashem with joy," incites zest and love towards Hashem, blessed be He, and a desire to cling to Him. This is akin to a servant who works for their master with sadness and a frowning face, and as it says (Proverbs 10:22) "The blessing of Hashem enriches and He adds no sorrow to it."

These insights resolved a question I had for a long time –

Why is Hashem so angry with a Jew who serves Him out of sadness?

The answer is: Imagine our beloved child, for whom we strive to fulfill all wishes, and thank God, they have everything, constantly wandering around us with a frown and discontentment. It is ungratefulness; surely you would say to yourself, "How much they received from us throughout their lives, how much we tried to make them feel comfortable wherever they went, and yet they remain frowning and sad?"

Similarly, say the ministering angels before the Holy One, blessed be He, you gave him health, parents, friends, food, shelter, a wife and children, and the Jew is not content.

The book 'Yagel Libi B'Yeshuatecha' is available in select stores and at Hidabroot Shops