[Avodah] Serve Hashem with Gladness

[Prof. L. Levine]

The following is from Rav Hirsch on Chumash:

תַּ֗חַת אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־עָבַ֨דְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּשִׂמְחָ֖הוּבְט֣וּב לֵבָ֑ב מֵרֹ֖ב כֹּֽל

Since you did not serve Hashem, your G-d, with joy and
good heartedness, in total affluence. (Devarim 28:47)

Rabbi Chelba says in the name of Rabbi Huna (Brachos 6b) that anyone who
partakes of the repast at a wedding and does not make the groom happy
"has violated five declarations." Conversely, if a person rejoices with the
groom, "it is as if he has rebuilt one of Yerushalayim's ruins." Why is rejoicing with
the bride and groom equated with the rebuilding of Yerushalayim more so than any
other mitzvah that we may perform?

Most mitzvos can be performed with or without simchah. For instance, one
can don tefillin joyously or grudgingly; eat matzah happily or resentfully; sit in the
sukkah enthusiastically or apathetically. Nevertheless, there is one mitzvah that
cannot be performed without expressing joy, i.e., the mitzvah of rejoicing with a
bride and groom at their wedding.

The destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and Klal Yisrael's subsequent
exile occurred just because "you did not serve Hashem, your G-d, with joy and
good heartedness." Therefore, rejoicing with the bride and groom, the one mitzvah
that can only be successfully performed when done with simchah, rectifies the lack
of joy that caused the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Consequently, it is as if
he is repairing the cause of the Churban and making it possible to rebuild the ruins
that were destroyed.

The Gemara (Brachos 6b) states that the reward for rejoicing at a
wedding is for the "words" that are expressed. Rashi comments that
this means the words that are said to the chassan, which will cheer him
up. Why does the chassan need to be cheered up on his wedding day,
and what are the "words" that we are to say to the chassan that will
accomplish this?

During the first year of marriage, there is a special mitzvah of for the groom to keep his wife in a constant state of happiness.

Further, the Gemara (Yevamos 62b) states that
a husband must love his wife as himself. A chassan might therefore
be concerned that his wife will insist that he concentrate on these
mitzvos; she might be averse to his Torah pursuits and take him away
from his learning.

Therefore, we bless the chassan at his wedding that his wife should be
among those women who will be delighted to wait for their husbands
until they come home from the study hall (Sotah 21 a). And we reassure
him that the more he will immerse himself in Torah learning, the more
joyous his wife will be. These are the "words" that will bring the chassan
joy.


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