How to Receive 1,000 Times More Reward for Every Mitzvah We Do? Here's the Answer

1. Joy in serving Hashem is a Torah commandment, according to Maimonides, Rabbeinu Bachya, and others. According to their approach, all the admonitions and curses listed in the book of Deuteronomy are directed at those who do not rejoice in serving Hashem. This is how the verse is interpreted: "Because you did not serve Hashem your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of everything" (Deuteronomy 28) - all these curses come upon you, heaven forbid, because you did not rejoice in serving Hashem.

2. And so writes Maimonides: "The joy that a person experiences in performing mitzvot and in loving God who commanded them - this is a great service, and whoever prevents himself from this joy deserves to be punished, as it is said: 'Because you did not serve...'" etc. (Laws of Lulav, 8:15). And in the words of Rabbeinu Bachya: "Because you did not serve... Scripture holds him guilty for serving Hashem without joy, because a person is obligated to rejoice when engaging in mitzvot, and the joy in performing a mitzvah is a mitzvah in itself" (Parshat Ki Tavo).

3. The Arizal also writes as follows: "Indeed, a person must, when fulfilling any mitzvah, or when engaging in Torah study, or when praying, be joyful and glad of heart, more than when earning or finding a thousand thousand gold dinars." (Sha'ar Ruach HaKodesh, p. 6b).

4. The Sefer HaMiddot states that joy in performing a mitzvah is proof that one's heart is completely devoted to Hashem: "What satisfaction does a master have when his servant serves him without any feeling of joy in his duty to serve his master? Let us imagine - Hashem has given us Torah and mitzvot to merit us with a wonderful future in the world to come. What sense is there in serving Him without great and immense joy for the good that awaits us in return for all these?!" (Sefer HaMiddot, Joy 1)

5. Joy is the attachment required in performing every mitzvah, and the more the joy of the mitzvah increases, the greater the attachment to Hashem, and the soul will perceive Him more and more: "And so revealed Rabbi Isaac Ashkenazi of blessed memory to his confidant that all that he achieved - the opening of the gates of wisdom and divine inspiration - was a reward for rejoicing greatly beyond measure when performing every mitzvah" (Shlah, Gate of Letters, Longing). Indeed, the holy Ari himself in Sha'ar HaMitzvot promises that if a person persists in this, "there is no doubt that the divine spirit will rest upon him."

6. There is a special virtue to prayer with joy. The books place great emphasis on this, and there is an explicit statement of the Sages: "One should not stand to pray from sadness or laziness... but from the joy of performing a mitzvah" (Berachot 31). And what is astonishing is what was brought in the introduction to Sha'ar HaKavanot written by Rabbi Samuel Vital: "It is forbidden for a person to pray in sadness, and if he does so, his soul cannot receive the supreme light drawn upon him during prayer... for the rest of the prayer, tremendous damage is caused to him through his sadness."

7. In the book "Pele Yoetz," under the entry "Joy": "How good and pleasant it is for Israel to rejoice in their Maker, and with the joy of a mitzvah, for every mitzvah one performs, one should delight and rejoice, more and more than finding great spoil... Especially during prayer service, one must rejoice greatly, and similarly when reciting the Grace After Meals, the holy Zohar emphasizes the great obligation to say it with joy and gladness of heart, to the extent that they said it is appropriate to eat and drink things that gladden the heart, in order to recite the Grace After Meals with joy."

8. How do we achieve joy? Rabbi Nachman of Breslov gives special advice from the verse: "I will sing to my God while I have my being" - a person should take note before prayer of the "while I have" - of what good he still has - that is, to remember a good deed he did, some mitzvah he merited, to strengthen himself and rejoice in it, and through that contemplation of the good within him - "I will sing to my God while I have my being" - he will burst into song and rejoicing to the Master of all worlds, for the kindness extended to him, for granting him such a good deed which is truly a wonderful and awesome eternal gain. And so, with such a feeling, he will continue to pray with joy and great delight.

9. Another piece of advice to rejoice in mitzvot: "And if sometimes his mind is confused and he cannot in any way rejoice then, his advice is to pretend as if he is joyful, and although at first the joy is not truly in the heart, nevertheless, by acting as if he is joyful, through this, he will later merit true joy. And this advice is a very great advice also in all matters of holiness, that at first one needs to act as if he is passionate about that holy matter, and afterward one truly merits it." (Sichot HaRan 74).

10. In the popular ethical work "Orchot Tzaddikim" in the Gate of Joy: "And whoever performs the mitzvot with joy has a reward a thousand times greater than one who finds the mitzvot a burden... and then he succeeds in all his ways and his reasoning is good, and the Holy One, blessed be He, sends the holy spirit within him, and his heart rejoices and is filled with love for Hashem."

Rabbi Hertzel Choder in a wonderful lecture on fulfilling mitzvot with joy: