Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

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בלה תובשחמ
deserves to be punished as it says, ‘Since you have not served Hashem your G-d
in joy’ … True greatness is attained only through rejoicing before G-d.”
Everyone wants to feel this joy, yet it remains elusive. What is the secret to feeling
this happiness? Perhaps some of the answers can be found in this very parasha.
The first key is appreciation. The parasha opens with the mitzvah of bikkurim.
Every year, every farmer must bring his first fruits to the Temple and declare
before G-d that he recognizes that all his fruits and even the very land which
he lives on and which he inherited from his ancestors – is not really his! It is all
a gift from G-d! What other nation tries to keep alive the notion that they are
strangers in their own land?! Yet the Torah directs us to constantly remember
that we were a slave nation in Egypt and that G-d gave us the land of Israel as a
gift. The more we internalize this awareness – the more authentic joy we will feel
when partaking even of the simple joys often taken for granted, such as walking
into our own home in the land of Israel.
The second key to happiness suggested in our parasha is to try to feel chosen and
special and loved by Hashem. Before the warning of curses, this parasha also
promises blessings if Am Yisrael follows the Torah. However, many commentators
ask why the Torah does not promise any spiritual rewards of Olam Ha-ba or the
like, but rather only promises physical rewards such as rain, plenty and security
in the land of Israel. Rebbi Yehudah HaLevi and the Abarbanel answer that the
greatest ‘spiritual’ reward that the Torah can offer is to live a ‘physical’ life in the
land of Israel in which the presence of G-d is clearly manifest. It seems that the
central beracha in our parasha is, “The nations of the earth will see that the name
of G-d is called upon you” (28:10). If we can truly feel that we are chosen by
Hashem to represent His name in the world, and that the Torah and mitzvot are a
gift and an opportunity to fulfill our calling and to feel a unique connection with
Hashem, there is no greater beracha and secret to happiness than this!