a joyful jew

Deuteronomy 26:11 “You will rejoice in all the good that Adonai your God has given to you and to your house—you, the Levite, and the outsider in your midst.
In one of the most extraordinary lines in the Torah, Moses says that curses will befall the nation not because they served idols or abandoned God but “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness out of the abundance of all things” (28:47). A failure to rejoice is the first sign of decadence and decay.