Likutay Moharan - Volume 2 - Torah-teaching 34

Likutei Moharan II, Torah 34
Unified Joy: “And Yisro Rejoiced Over All the Good”

וַיִּחַדְּ יִתְרוֹ עַל כָּל הַטּוֹבָה
“And Yisro rejoiced over all the good…” (Exodus 18:9)

Ordinary Joy is Fragmented and Divided

Among ordinary people, there is no single joy that encompasses all the goods together. Joy is divided into many separate categories.

For example, at a wedding:

• One person rejoices from the food — fish, meat, and the like.
• Another rejoices from the music and instruments.
• Yet another rejoices from other things in the same way.
• And some rejoice from the wedding itself — like the in-laws, who pay no attention to eating and drinking; they are simply happy about the marriage union.

There are many such distinctions. But no person rejoices from all these joys simultaneously.

Even if someone does feel joy from each of the above things, still — the joy is not from all of them together; rather, from each one separately, one after another.

Moreover, some people have no joy at all — neither from food and drink nor from anything else. On the contrary, they may feel jealousy and pain, envying the match, that this one got engaged to that one.

True perfection and greatness of joy belongs to one who merits to rejoice from all the goods together — as one unified whole.

The Secret: Looking Upward to the Root

This unified joy is impossible except when one looks upward — to all the good, meaning to the Root/Source (הַשֹּׁרֶשׁ) from which all goods are drawn.

There, in the Root, everything is one. All joys are included together as a single entity.

Then — his joy is from all the goods simultaneously, and the joy becomes exceedingly great and shines with a very great light.

Why is the light so amplified?
Because through this inclusion — one joy included within another — the light of the joys grows enormously.

The more joys are included and unified with one another, the more the light of joy increases and intensifies.

This happens through the mutual reflections (הִתְנוֹצְצוּת) — sparks of light reflecting from one joy to another.

The greater the number of joys included together, the more the light of these reflections multiplies exponentially — from this to that, and that to this.

The Precise Meaning of Yisro’s Rejoicing

This is the meaning of:

“And Yisro rejoiced over all the good” —
He rejoiced from all the goods together as one.

And this is:

“Over all the good” —
He looked upward to all the good, i.e., to the Root, where everything is one, and where all joys are included together.

Therefore, he was able to rejoice over all the goods simultaneously — with the amplified, radiant joy described above.

May we merit to connect to the Root of all good, so that our joy becomes whole, unified, and ever-increasing in divine light — reflecting eternally from one spark of holiness to another.