This week again we read the list of the most Horrible Curses imaginable. Oy! It is very hard to even read them. Why did, or worse yet, why do such horrible curses come?

     Read what Hashem tells us caused them; All these curses came upon you "because you did not serve Hashem, your G-d, with gladness and goodness of heart…"[i]

     It does not say they came because we did not serve G-d. It says because we did not serve G-d with joy.

     Mitzvahs make us holy. This is exactly what the blessing we say when we do a mitzvah tells us. Surely doing something that makes us holy should also make us happy.

     Have a holy, and happy New Year.