Don't Worry, Be BeSimcha! Cultivating Jewish Joy

(40) On the first day you shall take the beautiful fruit of trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before your God ה' seven days.

(11) You shall rejoice before your God ה' with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the [family of the] Levite in your communities, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your midst, at the place where your God ה' will choose to establish the divine name. (12) Bear in mind that you were slaves in Egypt, and take care to obey these laws. (13) After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths for seven days. (14) You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the [family of the] Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities. (15) You shall hold a festival for your God ה' seven days, in the place that ה' will choose; for your God ה' will bless all your crops and all your undertakings, and you shall have nothing but joy.

and you shall sacrifice there offerings of well-being and eat them, rejoicing before your God 'ה.

(1) A person should strengthen himself like a lion to rise up in the morning for the service of his Creator, so that it is he who awakens the dawn. Gloss: “I set HaShem before me always” (Tehillim 16:8)—this is a major principle in fulfillment of the Torah (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 1:1).

(3) When a person begins to examine himself and sees that he is very far from HaShem, full of many sins and blemishes, and it seems to him that he is far removed from good, he must not despair. Rather, he should search and seek until he finds in himself some good. For how is it possible that he never did anything good in his life? Finding that good point will wake him from spiritual sleep and create in him a genuine feeling of closeness to HaShem.

(4) And even if a person sees that also the little bit of good he has done is riddled with imperfections, mixed with many impurities, he should not get discouraged. It is impossible that it does not contain at least some bit of good.

(5) And so, just as he persevered and succeeded in finding that first good point, he should continue to search inside himself until he finds some other good. Even if that good too is mixed with many impurities, it has to have in it at least some good point. And in a similar manner he should keep on searching and finding still more good points inside himself.

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(6) By judging himself favorably and finding still more good points inside himself—even though he has done what he has done and blemished what he has blemished—a person genuinely crosses over from the side of guilt to the side of merit. And through this he can merit doing teshuvah.

(As long as he believes that he is bereft of good and so feels distant from HaShem, it is indeed very hard for him to sincerely return to Him in repentance. But after he finds his good points and feels genuinely close to HaShem, it is easy to do true teshuvah.)

(8) And by this finding of his good points, a person can bring himself to joy. He will then be able to pray with enthusiasm and inspiration. This is the significance of the verse “I will sing to my God with what I still have left.” Through the “still a little bit”—namely the good he finds inside himself—he is able to sing to HaShem and praise Him.

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(9) And this finding of the good points creates melodies. For melodies are made by selecting the good ruach from the ruach of gloom and despair.The Rebbe explains that this is precisely the meaning of “I will sing,” which alludes to the concept of melodies and songs of prayer that one creates through finding the little bit of good he still has left.

This is the tzaddik, who is capable of collecting all the good that is found in each and every person, and he knows all of the deep secrets of this concept of the sanctuary that the tsaddikim construct.