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I was at an erusin (engagement party) this past Sunday night, where I heard a Rabbi speak about the quality of simcha - joy. It’s very easy to be sad, he pointed out. If you wake up in the morning and you didn’t get enough sleep, and you feel tired, then you’re sad. If you go to make your coffee and you find you’re out of milk, then you’re sad. If you go to dressed and you can’t decide what to wear, and you don’t like any of the clothes hanging in your closet (granted, a more likely occurrence among women!) then you’re sad. Sadness can take on many permutations, such as frustration, disappointment, grumpiness, exasperation, and lack of motivation, but really, it comes from the same place. We, as flawed and finite beings, are able to see only a small fraction of the ultimate Reality, and so we inevitably perceive flaws in our own small “reality”. The result is that you can always find plenty of reasons to be sad, and it’s very it’s very easy to let yourself succumb to it. In fact, sadness could really be attributed to laziness. It requires substantial effort to overcome the instinctive feelings that arise when things aren’t “just right” or when a situation isn’t quite what you wanted it to be.

In this week’s parsha, Hashem reprimands the Jewish people saying that the reason behind all the curses that will befall them is tachat asher lo avadta et Hashem Elokecha b’simcha ub’tuv levav, merov kol - because you didn’t serve Hashem your God with joy and with goodness of heart, when [you had a] bounty of everything (Bamidbar 28:47). The language in the pasuk puts simcha as a service - from the Hebrew word la’avod - to work. Simcha is not something that just happens if you are lucky to stumble across it. It’s an avoda, it takes work!

I had the opportunity to put this idea into practice the next morning. I woke up feeling less far rested than I would have liked, and dragged myself out of bed with a frown on my face, knowing I had to get on with the day whether I had gotten the recommended 6-8 hours or not. But then I stopped myself, and reminded myself of what I had heard the night before. I actually have a lot of things to be happy about - in fact, I really do have a bounty of blessings from Hashem. I am married to an incredible husband with whom I am growing and learning each day. We have the means to live in Jerusalem, the holiest city in the world, and for my husband to be studying full-time in a yeshiva. I have a network of close friends and mentors who provide me with support and help me through challenges. And like most people in the Western World today, I live with material abundance, even if I don’t always feel like wearing the clothes in my closet.

Sure, the easy thing to do would have been to let myself be sad, but what fun is that? By working to be happy, I not only make my life more enjoyable, but I bring to life a precept of the Torah. As our parsha points out, one of our duties in our avodat Hashem is to be joyful. It says elsewhere in Tanach, ivdu et Hashem b’simcha (Tehillim 100:2) - You have to serve Hashem with joy - but you have to work at it.