Musar for Berakhot 61:24

The Talmud Berachot 31a relates that when Rabbi Hamenuna the Younger was asked to sing for the assembled guests at a wedding party of the son of Ravina, he said to them: "woe to us that we have to die, woe to us that we have to die!" They responded by asking what kind of a refrain they were supposed to sing to that. He answered: "there are Torah and the commandments which protect us." The Rabbi meant that the whole justification for lightheartedness at a wedding is to inspire fulfillment of the commandment to be fruitful and to multiply. Were it not for this, the fact that we are headed for death does not really encourage any merriness at all. This statement in the Talmud is followed by Rabbi Yochanan's comment that one must not fill one's mouth with laughter in this world. This indicates that we have correctly understood Rabbi Hamenunah's meaning. Whereas Rabbi Hamenunah justified merriment by the fact that man, at least as a species, is eternal, his colleagues added that seeing that each individual soul lives on by the merit of having performed the Torah's commandments, there is additional justification for such merriment. The true "wedding" of body and soul will take place in the future, as we say daily when putting on our phylacteries: וארשתיך לי לעולם, "I shall espouse you forever" (Hoseah 2,21). The prophet continues that this will be a faithful union, "באמונה." At that time, body and soul will have achieved a partnership of infinite duration. The Torah next legislates the procedures for inheritance, something described as משפט, social legislation. It tells us that, notwithstanding the original sin of man induced by the serpent, which brought mortality into the world, the property which mortal man leaves behind on this earth is transferred to his nearest surviving relative. Death notwithstanding, the bonds of blood relationship are not severed by a person's death. This proves that there is a "relationship" between the נפש of the deceased and the נפשות of his survivors. The various souls involved may be viewed as branches of the same tree. The closer the branch is to the root the more nourishing sap it receives from it. The Torah introduces the laws of inheritance with the words: "When a man dies and does not leave behind a son" (27,8), to teach us the order of priorities in which other surviving family members are viewed relative to the soul of the deceased. Since the rules mentioned apply to instances where there is no surviving issue of the deceased they are described by the Torah as חוקת משפט, legislation that contains elements that are not arrived at through logic.

And a man should not rejoice to the point of hilarity for now all joy should be mixed with sobriety, for when our "Holy Rabbi" (Rabbi Judah the Prince) used to laugh thus, troubles came to the world (Berakoth 31a). And similarly "Rabbi Jeremiah would bring Rabbi Zera to the point of laughter, but Rabbi Zera did not laugh" (Niddah 23a).

And when should a person rejoice greatly and laugh? When the Divine Presence returns to Zion, for this is a great joy, as it is written "Then will our mouths be filled with laughter and our tongues with song; then will they say among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things with these' " (Ps. 126:2).