How Can We Not Dance This Simchas Torah?

Oct 22, 2024

Well, here we are again—it's Simchas Torah.

The question on everyone's mind is: how are we meant to be happy on Simchas Torah ever again? Many blog posts and derashos will surely explore how we can find joy in Simchas Torah, but I want to share a perspective that has resonated deeply with me.

I can’t help but note that terrible things have happened to the Jewish people on many momentous and joyful days, yet we always got up and kept dancing. As Rabbi Sacks remarked, "A people that can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and still rejoice is a people that cannot be defeated by any force or any fear ... Simchat Torah was born when Jews had lost everything else, but they never lost their capacity to rejoice."1

However, I want to flip the question on its head: Are we meant to be happy on Simchas Torah? What is it that we are supposed to feel? What distinguishes today from the preceding seven days of Sukkos, which are also days of simcha?

I think we need to reconsider our understanding of simcha. Is it mere happiness, which can be fleeting, or is it something deeper?

If we had to assign a Hebrew term to happiness, perhaps "sasson" would be the best fit. Rav Yitzchak Maltzen2 described "simcha" as internal joy, while "sasson" is joy that manifests in physical celebration. Thus, simcha, the internal aspect of happiness, is what we experience on both Sukkos and Simchas Torah.

Happiness may give us a temporary high and a reprieve as we navigate life's bumps, but simcha is the vehicle that carries us through our journey. And we want the best vehicle we can find.

During Sukkos, this sense of simcha is drawn out through the Simchas Beis HaShoeva. As Chazal taught, "Whoever has not seen the joy of the Simchas Beis HaShoeva has not seen true joy in his life”3. This event brought forth the deepest and truest feelings of simcha. Yet, as the Rambam4 taught, despite the overarching mitzvah to maximize the celebration, not all were given this honor. Only esteemed individuals—Gedolim, Roshei Yeshivos, the Sanhedrin, and Chassidim—were permitted to participate. The masses, both men and women, were spectators, coming to witness this spiritual fervor. (In a previous post, I explored why this was so.5)

Rav Michoel Borenstein writes in Beis Sha’ar6 that while the tzaddikim draw this simcha during the Simchas Beis HaShoeva, the time for everyone else to draw upon it is on Simchas Torah.

Simchas Torah celebrates the completion of the one-year cycle of Torah reading. But it's not merely a celebration of our accomplishment; it’s a celebration of Hashem and His Torah.

The simcha of Sukkos and Simchas Torah is about reaching deep within ourselves, connecting to a place where we are fully aligned with the Torah and the Creator, drawing up the energy and simcha that will sustain us throughout the year ahead.

I would be remiss if I did not mention an idea I heard from Rav Judah Mischel which resonated with me. Rav Judah asked the question we are all asking: how can we dance this Simchas Torah? He shared a piece from Rav Hutner7, who related that the Chiddushei HaRim of Gur once saw two of his talmidim dancing on Simchas Torah. He turned to the person next to him and predicted that one of them would tire out first. When that talmid took a break, they asked the Rebbe how he knew. The Chiddushei HaRim explained: both men were dancing for the Torah, but the one who retired was dancing for the Torah he learned this past year, while the one still dancing is dancing for the Torah he will learn in the coming year.

Rav Judah explained that the same applies to us. We can dance with the events of the past year on our minds, or we can dance for the future, envisioning the greatest of times and manifesting the era of Mashiach, visualizing how beautiful it will be.

Last year, we were in bomb shelters during hakafos, though we managed to dance at night. While it wasn’t our fault, perhaps we didn’t fully draw up the requisite simcha for the year. We couldn’t dance properly last year, but this year we must ask: how can we not dance this Simchas Torah?