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Why does the Torah (תורה) threaten catastrophic punishment for serving God without simcha—even when we had everything? Happiness is not a function of wealth but of focus and purpose. The word v'haya (future from past tense) teaches that simcha means the future is already happening—clear goals, total commitment, every step an achievement. Conversely, the more a person has, the harder it is to focus, and suffering exists to refocus us on what matters.
Rabbi Zweig examines the verse "tachas asher lo avadta es Hashem (ה׳) Elokecha b'simcha" — the Torah (תורה)'s statement that the curses come because we did not serve God with happiness, despite having everything (rov kol). He asks two fundamental questions: Why is serving without happiness such a terrible sin warranting the entire tochacha? And why weren't we happy when we had everything? The shiur develops a novel understanding of simcha through a grammatical analysis of the words vayehi and v'haya. Chazal teach that wherever the Torah says v'haya, it is a lashon simcha (expression of joy), while vayehi indicates tzara (trouble). Rabbi Zweig explains that vayehi uses a future-tense root (yehi - it shall be) converted to past via the vav, indicating that what was should not continue—things could be better. This is tzara. V'hoya, conversely, takes the past tense (hoya - it was/became) and makes it future, meaning the future has already happened. This is only possible when a person has complete focus, clear goals, total commitment, and concrete steps in place—the future is so certain it's as if it already occurred. This state of focused purpose is the definition of simcha.
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Devarim 28:47
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