Adar Joy-Taste of the Future World

The Zohar and the Midrash haNe’elam (Zohar I 125b) teach: What is the reward of the righteous? Certainly it is not what most people think, that in the World to Come the righteous are placed upon an exalted and lofty throne. The Tzaddik derives neither entertainment nor pleasure from such things. For he desired no pleasures in this world, but instead chose to serve the Lord.

The Zohar and Midrash haNe’elam cite the parable of the man who for a long time tried hard to understand some subject, its essence and nature. After continuing to investigate and research it, he succeeds in discovering the truth of the subject. There is no greater pleasure than what he feels when God gives him the reason and intelligence to discover that for which he has expended so much time and effort.

So it is with the Tzaddik. All his life in the world is spent in the pursuit of learning the essence of how to serve the Lord. Daily his mind turns to it, but he is unable to comprehend it adequately in this world.

In the World to Come, however, he achieves a fundamental understanding of how to serve the Creator, as our Sages said, “In the World to Come there is neither eating nor drinking; but the righteous sit with diadems upon their heads and derive pleasure from the radiance of the Divine Presence (Berachot 17a).” No pleasure is greater than this, and it is the primary reward in the Future World. For the fundamental desire and heart’s yearning of the Tzaddik is to apprehend now that which was inacccesible to him from the day of his birth until the present time. (Kedushat Levi, Likkutim, leva’er).

Each time we experience clarity and understanding in our learning or service of God we are experiencing a taste of this Future World pleasure. Find your Adar joy in such moments.