Rav Avigdor Miller on Gaining Happiness With Happiness

A:

If you have pleasure in this world, is that deducted from your schar in Olam Habah?

The answer is, it depends.  If it’s a pleasure of issur, a forbidden pleasure, then absolutely it’s deducted.  But if it’s a pleasure you get from doing a mitzvah, then no.  Actually you’ll get a reward for that enjoyment you had.

כל המענג את השבת – If you make the Shabbos a day of pleasure you’ll be rewarded for that. If you sit down at the Shabbos table and think, “I’m eating l’kovod Shabbos, to celebrate that Hashem created this world yeish mei’ayin. I’m eating l’kovod olam chesed yibaneh, to remind myself that Hashem made the world for kindliness. I’m enjoying the food l’kovod ביני ובין בני ישראל אות היא לעולם – that Hashem chose this day as a sign, a covenant between Him and us; if you think those thoughts and you enjoy the meal, you enjoy the cholent, you enjoy the potatoes, you enjoy the meat, you enjoy everything, so you’re getting more reward just because of that.  כל המענג את השבת – you get a tremendous reward for that!  

All good things that you do and you have hana’ah from the good things – you get a schar for that!  

ואכלת לפני ה’ אלקיך – You should eat the korbanos in front of Hashem, ושמחת – and rejoice in front of Hashem!  Yes!  Absolutely!

And that’s why the frum Jew has so many opportunities to do mitzvos of simcha.  Eating matzah – whenever somebody eats whole wheat matzos, it’s a pleasure to eat them.  You enjoy life doing mitzvos.  If you love doing mitzvos, absolutely it won’t be deducted; it’ll be added to your cheshbon.

Now, many Jews get hana’ah from learning. Pleasure from learning, you should know, is a very good mitzvah.  והערב נא ה’ אלקינו – We ask Hashem every day, “Make sweet the words of Your Torah in our mouth.” If you get pleasure from learning gemara, if it becomes sweet to you and you enjoy it so much – some people enjoy it tremendously – will it be deducted from Olam Habah?  On the contrary, you’ll get more reward.

And so whether it’s a gashmiyusdig simcha or a simcha ruchni, whatever it is, all simchos that are considered worthwhile things to do, you should know there’s a reward in Olam Habah for it; it won’t be deducted chas v’shalom.

Now, if person gets simcha because he sees that something bad happens to somebody else, שמח לאיד לא ינקה – that kind of simcha is going to cost him a great expense.  If you’re happy that somebody has a misfortune; let’s say his competitor had to close his place down, so he’s happy.  No! That happiness is going to cost him a tremendous amount.  Any wrong simcha is going to be very expensive and of course any sinful simcha.  

But simcha shel mitzvah, no question that it won’t be deducted from your reward in Olam Habah. On the contrary, it’ll add to your reward. 

TAPE # E-186