Don’t Miss the Finale!
So here we are! At the climax and finale of the High Holiday season, ready to celebrate the eighth day and Simchat Torah. (I’m not sure why Simchat Torah didn’t gain the same ‘popularity’ as Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur but it’s certainly a holiday not to be missed!!)
Thoughts, words, or feelings alone cannot contain the joyous energy of this final holiday. The spirit of Simchat Torah spreads beyond the mind and heart. Its potency engulfs our entire being - ‘till our feet - and so we dance and dance and dance!
And yet ironically this most joyous of holidays coincides with – what appears to be – a rather gloomy Torah reading. On Simchat Torah (Friday morning) we will read the final section of the Torah describing the passing of Moses, the beloved sheppard of Israel. Moses’s passing marks the conclusion of Israel’s miraculous journey in the desert.
Why the juxtaposition of such joy and such a great loss in one holiday? Could not we have left the sadness for a different time?
Perhaps a deeper appreciation for Simchat Torah will allow us to see these two ideas in harmony with each other and uncover the secret of Simchat Torah.
We have just come from such holy, awesome, and inspiring days: On Rosh Hashana we accepted G‑d’s sovereignty, on Yom Kippur we achieved true oneness with G‑d, and for the past 7 days we experienced the unity and elation ofsukkot. Now we’re about to settle back down into our ‘everyday’ and ‘real’ life. We’re about to re-enter a world in which the notions of G‑d, holiness, and spirituality, are – at best – aloof and abstract.
There seems to be a very big disconnect between the rich holiness we experience during the ‘holiday season’ and our mundane everyday life. We plummet from such great heights right back to where we began.
Enters Simchat Torah.
The holiday that gives us the strength to hold on to this transcendental spirit even in our mundane and physical world. It is not a day of intellect of or emotion. It’s a day of dancing. Dancing with our feet, the lowliest part of our body. And by dancing we draw the celestial energy and grand heights of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, into our mundane ‘feet’.
If we celebrate Simchat Torah properly we’ll see that even a regular Monday morning will be filled with meaning and fulfillment. (Don’t take my word for it – try it!)
And that is why – on Simchat Torah - we read about the passing of Moses and the conclusion of Israel’s miraculous journey in the desert. In so doing we are sending ourselves a powerful message and capturing the essence of the day.
When Moses passed away the era of daily miracles came to a screeching halt. The Jewish People had to enter face the challenges of living a spiritual life - miracle free.
By reading this portion we are making a powerful statement:
“We might not always have an inspiring leader like Moses right next to us; we won’t always have the holiness of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur at our side. They will ‘pass on’. But even as they leave us; even as we return back to a life without tangible holiness and without ‘a Moses’, we can and will continue to remain invigorated, inspired, and elevated.
How? By celebrating Simchat Torah and imbuing ourselves with the teachings of ‘Moses’.
So dear friends, I encourage you – if you were not planning on joining us before you read this column - please become a part of this potent holiday and celebrate it together with us. And if you were planning on joining us, I hope that these words will make your dancing all that more meaningful.
Chag Same’ach & l’chaim!
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick
