Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Halakhah הֲלָכָה
Are you supposed to be happy on Shabbat? If you read the Tanakh carefully, you will see that the word שִׂמְחָה (simhah, joy) never appears in connection with Shabbat! The Torah only commands us to rejoice on our holidays, like Pesah, Shavuot, and Sukkot. (In Devash for Ki Tavo, we talked about specific ways that we show our simhah on holidays.)
The prophet Yeshayahu refers to Shabbat as a time for עֹנֶג (oneg), which means something more like “pleasure” or “delight.”
Sure, you have to rest on Shabbat and take a break, but do you have to actively find ways to be happy?
A few practices connected to Shabbat suggest that happiness is not an important part of the day:
When someone dies, we observe shiva, seven days of mourning for them. If a holiday like Pesah comes along in the middle of shiva, the period of mourning is cut short by the simhah of that holiday. But Shabbat does not cut off mourning. Shabbat is part of shiva, and mourning practices that are more private continue on Shabbat itself.
On a regular Shabbat, after Minhah, it’s traditional to recite a group of verses known as צִדְקָתְךָ צֶדֶק (tzidkatekha tzedek), which is a way of accepting things even if they’re sad. We only skip this prayer when Shabbat falls on a happier day, like Rosh Hodesh or Hanukkah.
On the other hand, in our parashah, one of the times we’re told to blow horns in the mishkan is וּבְיוֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶם (uveyom simhatkhem, on the days of your joy). The midrash in Sifrei Bemidbar 77 says this refers to Shabbat!
In fact, if you look closely, you can find all kinds of hints to simhah in our Shabbat prayers and songs. In the main berakhah about Shabbat in the Amidah, we say וְשַׂמְּחֵנוּ (ve-samheinu, make us happy). During Shabbat Musaf, there is a whole paragraph called יִשְׂמְחוּ (yismekhu, be happy). And one of the Shabbat zemirot, the special songs we sing, is called מְנוּחָה וְשִׂמְחָה (menukhah va-simhah, rest and joy).
So you don’t necessarily have to have a party on Shabbat, but it is also a good time to find joy in the rest, prayers, meals, and Torah learning of Shabbat.
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