4 Ways to Inner Joy According to Tanya

00:00 When Adar begins, we increase in joy. We are in days of joy. The question is: How exactly do we reach that joy? What is the secret, the key, the way to become joyful? The Baal Shem Tov revealed the approach of serving Hashem with joy. The Baal Shem Tov did not invent the idea of serving Hashem with joy; it is already written in the Torah. There is an explicit verse in Tehillim, chapter 100: “Serve Hashem with joy; come before Him with song.” A Jew needs to serve Hashem with joy. In Hilchos Lulav, at the end of chapter 8, the Rambam says: “The joy a person feels in loving Hashem and fulfilling the mitzvos is a great avodah.” He cites verses showing how important joy is. The Rambam cites a verse already written in the Torah itself: “Because you did not serve Hashem your G-d with joy and gladness of heart.” And the Rambam says: What does it mean? It means exactly what it says—serving Hashem must be done with joy. And the Torah speaks, G-d forbid, of punishment: when you do not serve Hashem with joy, punishment comes. Why? What is so bad about it? Why is it so serious? We are talking about a person who serves Hashem and fulfills mitzvos, who follows halachah and the Shulchan Aruch. What he lacks is joy. And we are told: No. Joy is extremely important, absolutely essential. The question is why joy is really so important, and how we are supposed to reach it. At first glance, the Baal Shem Tov’s approach, with its strong encouragement of joy in serving Hashem, can sometimes seem somewhat shallow: as though we should not think or reflect deeply. Don’t look at the problems in your life; don’t look at your sins. Everything is fine. Keep going. It’s all good. Just move on. No, no—don’t look too deeply. But that is a mistake. The joy the Baal Shem Tov speaks about is a very, very deep joy that comes from contemplation

02:28 that is very deep and very clear-eyed. In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe devotes several chapters to explaining this beautifully, giving us the key and the way to reach genuine joy without deceiving ourselves. Being joyful does not mean I have to live in a fantasy or deceive myself, pretending I don’t see the darkness, the bad, or the problems, and I’m simply happy. Everything is good. The Alter Rebbe comes and explains that this is not how it works. Interestingly, there is a letter from the Alter Rebbe. It seems that even in his time, among the early generations of the Baal Shem Tov’s students, there were people who mistakenly thought this was what the Baal Shem Tov meant: “Everyone, be happy, enjoy life—be happy at any cost.” So there is a wonderful letter from the Alter Rebbe. This letter is printed in all the Chabad-nusach siddurim, the Tehillas Hashem siddurim, which follow the nusach of the Arizal. It is printed at the end of those siddurim. It is a very interesting letter. We see that the Alter Rebbe addresses a group of chassidim who mistakenly understood that, since the Baal Shem Tov asked for it and the teachings of Chassidus demand serving Hashem with joy, they should get together, talk, joke around, and celebrate. The main thing was to work themselves into some sort of joy, and then they would daven and learn joyfully. And the Alter Rebbe explains to them: “Friends, that’s not it. You have misunderstood the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings.” Joy requires deep avodah and, as the Rambam said in the words we quoted, “it is a great avodah.” But there is a way, and everyone can reach it. The question is how we develop genuine joy, especially when a person knows in his heart, knows about himself, that he has many reasons not to be happy. He has many reasons because of his body, because of his circumstances, because of his yetzer hara, because of things he has done that were not good.

04:46 How do we overcome all that and serve Hashem with joy? Today we will talk about four ways to reach joy that the Alter Rebbe teaches us in Tanya. Four wonderful approaches that each and every person can take, adopt, and bring into everyday life. Before we discuss the four ways the Alter Rebbe explains, I first want to introduce a wonderful point with which he prefaces them. He states a great principle in serving Hashem. Why, in fact, is joy in serving Hashem so important, so essential? The Alter Rebbe gives us a very interesting point, one that is extremely important and essential for everyone in life. He says: Listen, this is a great principle in serving Hashem. Consider victory in a physical battle—a war between nations, a fight between people, or even a game that is a kind of contest, where one person wants to bring the other down and defeat him. When two people are fighting to bring each other down, the Alter Rebbe says, one might be stronger, have bigger muscles, and be more skilled in fighting. But if he is a little worried or sad, he will fall. He will not win. To win a battle, it is not enough to have strength and muscles, or to be physically stronger. You need the right frame of mind. You must have, in the Alter Rebbe’s words, “alacrity that comes from joy, without any worry at all.” A person needs genuine joy, because it gives him the strength, energy, and alacrity with which he can win the battle. The Alter Rebbe says the same applies to the battle against the yetzer hara. When we face the yetzer hara, we have tremendous powers. The power of a Jew, the power of the soul, “an actual part of G-d above.” We have

07:18 Hakadosh Boruch Hu with us, on our side; we have tremendous powers. A Jew has a wonderful ability to overcome the yetzer hara, but that is not enough. To overcome the yetzer hara, we need alacrity, and we get that alacrity when we are joyful, without the slightest trace of worry or sadness in the world. A wonderful point. The question is how—how do we acquire this thing called joy in serving Hashem? Here I am skipping over several wonderful chapters in which the Alter Rebbe explains how to remove worry. That is a subject in its own right, and over several chapters he offers some wonderful advice on how a person can free himself from worry—whether worry about material matters or worry about spiritual matters—so that his worries do not bring him down. He then turns to the subject of joy. So we will go step by step through four ideas to think about and contemplate, each of which has the power to awaken great joy in a person. One idea, the Alter Rebbe says, is to contemplate the wonderful gift that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave each and every one of us: the G-dly soul. It is true that I have a body, a physical nature, an animal soul, and a yetzer hara, and it is possible that I have stumbled in matters I should not have. That is true. But put that aside for a moment and think about the most precious thing you have. Let’s take an example, says the Alter Rebbe. Many times in life, we experience things that bring us joy while, at the same time, other things happen that give us reasons not to be happy and cause us worry. Let’s take the simplest example. You are at your child’s wedding. A person brings his son to his wedding. What greater joy could there be? What could make me happier than bringing my child to the chuppah? But along with the chuppah and the wedding, we all know there are

09:44 Lots of bills. You have to pay for the food, the music, the photos, the flowers. There are so many expenses, and all sorts of other things pile up along the way. A person is at the wedding hall on the day of his son’s wedding, and he dances and is overjoyed. You could ask him, “Wait, what are you so happy about? You still have to pay all those bills, and you have all sorts of things to sort out.” But what do people naturally do? They choose where to focus at that moment. What matters most to me right now? True, some things aren’t right, there are things that still need fixing, and this person may be facing other difficulties too. But right now, what matters most to me? That is what I focus on. And when I choose what matters most and focus on it, I can feel tremendous joy even though some things remain unresolved. The Alter Rebbe says it is the same when a Jew reflects: True, I have a yetzer hara and an animal soul. True, there are things I haven’t yet corrected, and other things around me are still not, not, not quite right. But wait: I have within me the most wonderful thing imaginable. I am a Jew, and as a Jew I have an actual part of G-d above, a G-dly soul. That soul is here with me, and the poor thing is imprisoned within the body and the animal soul as long as I am absorbed in myself and in the things that trouble me. At every moment I have an opportunity to free my soul from its prison. At every moment. Any second of the day, the moment you decide to do a mitzvah, study Torah, think about

12:02 Hakadosh Boruch Hu, or daven, at that moment the pure soul leaves the prison of the world, the body, and material existence, and connects with the Infinite. The analogy, as it says in Tanya, is of a king’s son held captive in prison. He is given the opportunity to leave, to be freed from prison and return to the home of his father the king. There is no greater joy than that—the advantage of light that comes from darkness. I was in the deepest darkness, and now I have the opportunity to leave, to be freed from that darkness and connect with the great light. That opportunity is available to me at every moment. When a person thinks this way, the joy is immense. He knows that some things are still unresolved and that he still has things to correct. But what difference does that make right now? What are you focusing on? Every good deed I do is a kind of release of the soul from prison, a return to the home of my father the king. What greater joy could there be? That is the first point, concerning the soul. But now, as we said, there is still the body, the animal soul, material existence, this coarse, material world—the world of kelipos, as the Alter Rebbe calls it. What do we do with all of that? Here comes the second point. The Rebbe says: Think for a moment—who made all of this? Did I make it? Did I make myself? Did I bring this body, this animal soul, this world into being? Did I create all of it? Hakadosh Boruch Hu created it. He created all the worlds, and He created this physical, material world. He created my body, and He created me with

14:18 an animal soul and a yetzer hara. Why? Why did He do all this? To punish us? G-d forbid. Our Father in Heaven loves us. On the contrary, the purpose is not only for a Jew to free his soul when he does a mitzvah. There is also a G-dly purpose in our entire creation. Through studying Torah and doing mitzvos, a Jew also refines his body, and eventually refines his animal soul as well. “With all your heart”—with both your inclinations. He rises, is elevated and refined, and that is the purpose of creation. The soul’s entire descent—from the highest heavens, from the loftiest worlds; “The soul You have given me is pure”—down into this physical world is for the sake of an ascent. Through his own efforts here in the world, a Jew elevates the entire world, not only his soul. He makes the world a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That brings a person tremendous joy. So that is the second point. There is the joy of having a soul, of being a Jew, an actual part of G-d above. And there is the great joy of being able to lift up and elevate the body and the animal soul too, and make them a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu through Torah and mitzvos. There is a well-known story chassidim tell about Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, one of the great disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch, the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple. Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev would come to shul each morning and begin davening with the morning blessings, praying with great fervor, as he was known to do. One day he came to shul and began the morning blessings, but left out the blessing “who has not made me a non-Jew.” He didn’t say those words—he skipped that blessing.

16:35 Chassidim approached him and said, “Wait, you left out the blessing ‘who has not made me a non-Jew’?” Reb Levi Yitzchak explained: “No, listen to what happened. This morning I got out of bed, washed my hands, and the first thought that popped into my head was, ‘Wow, I’m a Jew! I have a soul!’ And a second later, before I could even prepare myself, it just burst out of me naturally: ‘Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, who has not made me a non-Jew.’ And I began dancing with joy. Well, I had already said the blessing, so I skipped it.” So this is what comes from reflecting on the fact that we have a pure soul, an actual part of G-d above. I am a Jew, and as we said, I have the ability to break free and draw close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And not only my soul: I can illuminate and elevate the world around me too. This brings a person tremendous joy. And now we come to the third point. So far we have spoken about the soul, Torah and mitzvos, and serving Hashem. But there is another joy, a deep and wonderful joy that comes from the belief that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here with me. Here the Alter Rebbe introduces a wonderful point. It isn’t about Torah, mitzvos, or serving Hashem. It is about reality itself—knowing the true reality, the wonderful teaching that the Baal Shem Tov revealed and explained: the true oneness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. One of the things Chassidus discusses is the oneness of Hashem. When we say, “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One,” the simple meaning is that there is one G-d, not two. Some people believe in various idols, but we have only one G-d: Hashem is One. The Baal Shem Tov came and explained that the oneness of Hashem is far deeper, and that the subject of

19:02 There is nothing besides Him. The point is that there is no reality apart from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In truth, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present here throughout all of existence—all of creation, the entire world. Everything is, in essence, divine energy. Apart from that divine energy, there is nothing. The world is created anew by Hakadosh Boruch Hu at every moment, and apart from Him, there is nothing here—just as before the creation of the world, Hakadosh Boruch Hu was the only reality and there was nothing besides Him. And in truth, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is still exactly the same now, without any change. The change is only in how we see things. In reality, all of creation is renewed at every moment. This gives us the deep understanding that we are together with Hakadosh Boruch Hu at every moment. When a person reflects on this point—which is really the basic faith every Jew is meant to live with—it is the simple, pure faith that a Jew has in the oneness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Every morning, a Jew says Shema Yisroel. In the prayers, he says the verse, “The whole earth is filled with His glory.” The simple meaning of the words is: Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here with me. Imagine the most precious, most important thing—the person most precious and important to you. Someone very, very dear to you says, “I’m coming to stay with you in your home. I want to be your guest.” What wonderful joy! There is no greater joy than that. That is the joy of knowing that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here with me. The moment a Jew opens his eyes and notices it, there is no greater joy. It is the joy of bringing Hakadosh Boruch Hu into my life, through this simple, pure faith. The Alter Rebbe says that this is the whole purpose of man’s creation and of the creation of all the worlds. Know that this is the purpose of creation, the purpose of creating all the worlds. The purpose of creating

21:11 man in this world is for a person living here, in this physical, material world—which seems, as it were, the place furthest from Hakadosh Boruch Hu—to know the truth, to awaken and think about the true belief that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here. The very fact that a Jew believes this and lives with it fulfills the purpose of creation. Through this alone, we make the world a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is a wonderful teaching attributed to the Baal Shem Tov. The Alter Rebbe cites it in one of his maamarim in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: Jews go about the world. The Baal Shem Tov writes that the Jewish people were dispersed to all sorts of places. Sometimes a Jew walks down a street in some country, in some place; he is there, walking around. What is he doing there? The Baal Shem Tov says that the purpose lies in the very fact that a Jew is walking down the street. A Jew believes—that is his nature. The very fact that a believing Jew walks down the street already makes that place illuminated, a G-dly place. Simply by walking there, he helps turn it into a G-dly place. What a wonderful thing! So this is the joy that comes from reflecting on our ability to welcome Hakadosh Boruch Hu into our home. We have the ability to sense Hakadosh Boruch Hu and to know that He is here with me in this world. And here we come to the fourth point. What we have discussed so far is our joy that I have a soul; our joy that I can fulfill Torah and mitzvos and refine the body; and our joy that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here with me. Now comes the fourth, wonderful point. The Alter Rebbe calls it a doubled and redoubled joy: the joy of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Hakadosh Boruch Hu rejoices that a Jew here

23:32 below, in the physical world, thinks about Him, believes in Him, and draws close to Him. The very fact that a Jew is here in the physical world—a world of darkness, a world full of kelipos and sitra achra—and believes in Hakadosh Boruch Hu means that he transforms darkness into light. As it were, there is no greater joy before Hakadosh Boruch Hu than the joy of light emerging from darkness. That is the greatest joy. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has revealed to us in the Torah, in the Midrash and in the verses that He rejoices. The Zohar says that the greatest joy for Hakadosh Boruch Hu comes when a Jew subdues the sitra achra, when a Jew transforms darkness into light—when a Jew is in this dark physical world and nevertheless believes in Hakadosh Boruch Hu and is connected to Him. This brings the greatest joy to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In fact, there are explicit verses in Tehillim: “May Hashem rejoice in His works”; “Let Israel rejoice in its Maker.” These are two verses that speak about a Jew rejoicing in the joy of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Hakadosh Boruch Hu rejoices that a Jew here in this physical world is connected to Him, and the Jew rejoices in the joy of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Let me quote the words of Tanya. The Alter Rebbe says: “And this is the meaning of the verse, ‘Let Israel rejoice in its Maker’: Every person of the seed of Israel should rejoice in the joy of Hashem, Who delights and rejoices in His dwelling in the lower realms.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu rejoices that this world becomes a dwelling place for Him. How does this world become a dwelling place? Through a Jew here in the world being connected to Him and believing in Him. So a Jew should feel joy in that joy. In other words, when I know that I bring pleasure and joy to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, there is no greater joy than being privileged to bring pleasure and joy to the Creator. So these are the four points of joy that the Alter Rebbe teaches us in Tanya.

26:03 To sum up: First, to reflect on the pure soul I have, “an actual part of G-d above,” and on the ability to free that soul—the king’s child—and bring it home. The second joy is that the purpose of creation includes not only the soul but the whole world. We elevate it and uplift it; we make it a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu through Torah and mitzvos. That is the purpose of creation. Hashem created the world for this purpose, and we are fulfilling it. The third point is to reflect on the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here with us: the possibility of welcoming Him, so that He is with us and we are with Him. And the fourth is the great joy that Hakadosh Boruch Hu rejoices. My greatest joy is feeling that I have the ability to bring joy to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that I rejoice in His joy. To conclude, I want to share a wonderful point that the Alter Rebbe writes elsewhere—not in Tanya, but in one of his maamarim—in connection with what we began with. It concerns the verse cited by the Rambam: “Because you did not serve Hashem your G-d with joy and gladness of heart, amidst an abundance of everything, you will serve your enemies.” A frightening verse. The verse says, in Parshas Ki Savo, that because you did not serve Hashem your G-d with joy and gladness of heart, what will the punishment be? “You will serve your enemies.” The Alter Rebbe asks: What is going on here? What did this person do, after all? He did not serve Hashem with joy and gladness of heart. And the Rambam explains that this is the meaning of the words here. Other commentators offer other explanations, but according to the Rambam, as we said—and the Arizal also explains it this way, as the Alter Rebbe cites in his name—this is what the words mean: because he did not serve Hashem with joy. That is, he did serve Hashem. He observes all the halachos and fulfills all the mitzvos. Here is a Jew who does everything, but he lacks joy. “You will serve your enemies.” Why? What happened? He

28:10 He says something wonderful. “You will serve” is not a punishment for the lack of joy. He’s saying something else. After all, we all know we aren’t tzaddikim. Everyone knows that “there is no righteous person on earth who does good and does not sin.” Each of us knows ourselves, our weaknesses, our failings, and everything we go through. We know we aren’t as we should be, and if we go by the reckoning—oy, oy, oy. A reckoning of what I’ve done and what I deserve. We know that one plus one equals two. What does that mean? There are all sorts of unpleasant things I deserve because of my behavior. But when a person is happy, that joy brings about joy Above. When a Jew is happy, joy breaks through barriers. A Jew’s joy arouses joy, so to speak, in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And when there is joy Above, the judgments are nullified. When there is joy Above, Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees only good, looks upon us favorably, and forgives us as well. But when a person is sad, they cause sadness, so to speak, Above as well. Sadness brings the attribute of judgment, and then the reckoning begins according to the attribute of judgment: “You will serve your enemies.” You deserve punishment, G-d forbid. So that is what the verse means: “Because you did not serve Hashem your G-d with joy and gladness of heart.” Because joy is missing from your service of Hashem, what happens? You have brought about judgment, and when there is judgment, G-d forbid, negative consequences can result. So this is practical advice, says the Alter Rebbe: simply be happy. Because joy in serving Hashem brings about joy Above, and that means no account is taken of any reckonings. It gives you the strength for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to grant you every kind of abundance, every blessing, and every kindness. And this is, in fact, what the Zohar says. The Zohar in Parshas Tetzaveh says:

30:26 Come and see—the lower world is, in fact, a reflection of the upper world. When a person down here conducts themselves with joy, delight, and a beaming face, they arouse the same Above, so that Hakadosh Boruch Hu also treats them with joy, delight, and a beaming face. And when there is a beaming face Above, there are no decrees; all judgments are nullified, and every good influence and kindness flows forth. And that is what “When Adar enters, we increase in joy” is about. The month of Adar is the month of “it was turned around.” From the deepest darkness of Haman’s decrees came “it was turned around,” when the Jewish people stood firm in their faith and with self-sacrifice for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the whole story of the Megillah. That is why this month in particular is when we increase in joy. From the festival of Purim, we draw the strength and joy for the entire year, so that each and every one of us will have joy, and so that we will truly merit the genuine joy of “The Jews had light and joy, gladness and honor.” May we have that in the complete Geulah, immediately. Amen, may it be His will.