Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Simchah shel mitzvah
שמחה של מצוה
The joy of a mitzvah (simchah shel mitzvah)
Joy in doing a mitzvah: since the mitzvos are rooted in the supernal Will (Keser), joy in fulfilling them reveals the hidden inner Keser, the supernal delight, and reaches G‑d’s very essence, above all worlds.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶30Joy is the revealing of the hidden, as a king who sits in his innermost chambers shows himself to all at the time of his joy. The mitzvos are rooted in Keser, of which only the outer level, the gulgalta, the supernal Will, is revealed; joy in fulfilling a mitzvah draws the revelation of the inner Keser.
אך ע״י השמחה בקיום המצוה שהשמחה מעורר גילוי הפנימית לכן עי״ז ממשיך גילוי בחי׳ פנימית הכתר
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 5, ¶17“Because you did not serve… with joy… out of the abundance of all (merov kol)”: “all” is the whole chain of worlds, layer upon layer; the joy of a mitzvah is in His very essence, “more than all,” above the chain of all the worlds. This is “there we will rejoice in Him.”
אבל השמחה של מצוה היא בבחי׳ עצמותו ממש שהוא מרוב כל למעלה מהשתלשלות כל העולמות
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6, ¶38Each lamp of the Menorah has two pipes: oil, and the gold, which is the joy of a mitzvah, receiving the mitzvos with gladness and delight. The first paragraph of the Shema, “with all your might,” is from below upward; the second is the revelation of delight and joy in keeping the mitzvos, beyond the limits of the soul.
ומוצק הב׳ הוא מ״ש המריקים מעליהם הזהב והוא בחי׳ שמחה של מצוה
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 12, ¶6The mitzvos themselves are the particular, returning makif, garments that fit each part as it is. The joy of a mitzvah is the general makif, too great to enter the vessel at all, encompassing the person equally from head to foot.
המקיף הכללי הוא המקיף שלגודל אורו אינו יכול ליכנס כלל בכלי והוא ענין שמחה של מצוה
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 3, ¶11“Rejoice, O righteous, in Havayah,” love in delights, is not attained by everyone; but the joy of mitzvah and Torah, by which one quenches his soul’s thirst for its Maker, is commanded to every person.
ואין כל אדם זוכה לזה, אבל שמחה של מצוה ותורה מה שעל ידי זה מרוה נפשו
Stated differently
Whether the joy of a mitzvah is joy hidden within the service (as against the revealed joy of the festivals), or is itself a revelation in the soul
אינו בבחי׳ גילוי השמחה רק השמחה גנוזה בעבודהAll year the joy is not revealed but hidden in the service, “because you did not serve with joy,” making the service the main thing, and this joy is the joy of a mitzvah: its revelation is through the mitzvos (Binah, the hidden world, clothed in the revealed). On the festivals the joy is revealed.
ולמטה בנפש הוא ענין שמחה של מצוה שהשמחה הוא בחי׳ גילוי בנפש מבחי׳ עונג ושמחת ה׳Above, the supernal delight is clothed and revealed through Yesod; below, in the soul, this is the joy of a mitzvah, for joy is a revelation in the soul of the delight and joy of G‑d.
יוכל להיות בחי׳ שמחה של מצוה שהוא בחי׳ גילויWeeping for one’s distance from the side of the body, and great joy from the side of the soul in the joy of a mitzvah, from His very essence above sovev, are joined through Yaakov, compassion; through it there can be the joy of a mitzvah, which is revelation.
Whether the joy of a mitzvah is from the side of the soul, as against the body, or is also of the animal soul, whose seat is the heart
אך מצד נש״י יש בחי׳ שמחה רבה לשמוח בה׳ בשמחה של מצוהFrom the side of the body a person is utterly distant, and weeps over it; but from the side of the soul there is great joy, rejoicing in G‑d with the joy of a mitzvah, from His very essence above sovev.
ונעל הב׳ הוא בחי׳ שמחה של מצוה שהוא ג״כ מבחי׳ נפש הבהמיתThe second shoe is the joy of a mitzvah, which is also of the animal soul: “with joy and gladness of heart,” for the main seat of joy is the heart, where the animal soul dwells, and joy is when the blood is clear; it comes through “who sanctified us with His mitzvos,” the supernal delight.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶30Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6, ¶38Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6, ¶39Likkutei Torah, Reeh 12, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 3, ¶11Torah Ohr, Beshalach 5, ¶17Torah Ohr, Shemos 7, ¶22
Where it appears
In 45 paragraphs of 27 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶6 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 7 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3 ¶16 ¶20 ¶23 ¶27 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶38 ¶39 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 12 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 6 ¶8 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶18 ¶30 ¶31 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 36 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶8 ¶9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 5 ¶17 ¶18 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1 ¶19 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20 ¶11 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6 ¶13 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 3 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 11 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 9 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶61
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 34 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 8 ¶4
Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.