Dancing Leaves and Dancing Feet

G-d does not manifest Himself where one’s ego leaves no room for Him. True joy can only be experienced when our emotional state is healthy and vibrant. However, the ultimate experience of joy is when we are in touch with our soul, our G-dly life.

Shaking the Lulav versus Shaking our Feet

We are presently in the rejoicing mode. From the first day of Sukkos through Simchas Torah, we were commanded by G-d to rejoice, and rejoice we do.

However, the manner of rejoicing varies from the Festival of Sukkos to the Festival of Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. During the former, the joy is expressed primarily by shaking the Lulav, whereas on Simchas Torah, our rejoicing manifests itself by dancing with the Torah. To be sure, during Sukkos we also dance, but the Biblical commandments to rejoice during Sukkos is contained within the context of shaking the Lulav.

There are several questions that need to be addressed. First, what is the difference between these two modes of joy? Second, how does one express joy by shaking a Lulav?

The nature of joy is that it opens up the person and permits him or her to be free to go in different directions.

Ordinarily, the leaves of the Lulav are closed. When we shake the Lulav—which is held close to our hearts—and the leaves spread apart, it signifies the opening of our hearts.

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Joy

But, the joy of Simchas Torah goes beyond that of Sukkos in, at least, two significant ways.

First, whereas the shaking of the Lulav is a symbol of joy because it inspires us to rejoice, it is not an intrinsically joyous experience. While the Lulav is shaken, the person can remain unaffected. One can shake a Lulav and not even know that it is supposed to represent a state of joy.

Dancing, by contrast, is an intrinsic expression of joy. Even a person who is sad will experience joy when he or she starts to dance. The act of dancing itself will generate the feeling of joy and ecstasy.

Hands and Feet

There is also a second salient difference between the joy associated with the shaking of the Lulav and the joy of dancing on Simchas Torah. Shaking a Lulav involves movement of the hands, while dancing on Simchas Torah involves movement of the feet. As we shall see, both of these movements reflect two levels of movement that have the capacity to generate true feelings of joy.

The Anatomy of Joy

To better understand the difference, we must first analyze the anatomy of sadness and joy. When a person is closed, his or her emotions occluded, he or she will feel sad and even depressed. Joy is synonymous with life, and when our feelings—an expression of our life—are inhibited, we cannot be happy. Life must be lived to its fullest to experience joy.

Similarly, when we are one-dimensional and are confined to one mode of emotional expression and lack the ability to experience all of the other dimensions of life, we will also find true joy to be elusive because we are not in touch with all of our life’s functions.

Thus, to generate feelings of joy we must “open up” and allow all of our feelings to be expressed. This is symbolized by the shaking and dancing of the Lulav leaves, where the otherwise closed Lulav leaves begin to open up.

Furthermore, the movement, or “dancing” of the Lulav leaves from one place and direction to another, implies that we are able to “dance” and jump from one emotional place to another and are not limited to only one dimension of our personality. When we can express the full range of emotions, we are in touch with our emotional vitality. And that is one definition of joy.

There is, however, one more path to true joy, which comes when we removes the primary obstacle to happiness—our ego. When we are so full of ourselves, we cannot experience the true nature of life, namely our own Divine soul.

Ego: The Obstacle to Joy

G-d does not manifest Himself where one’s ego leaves no room for Him. To be sure, true joy can only be experienced when our emotional state is healthy and vibrant. However, the ultimate experience of joy is when we are in touch with our soul, our G-dly life.

This, then, is what the dancing of Simchas Torah adds to the joy of the “dancing leaves” of Sukkos. Whereas on Sukkos we are given the opportunity to open up emotionally and enjoy the full range of emotional vitality, Simchas Torah dancing, which lifts us off the ground, takes us away from our place. We are no longer attached to the ground, earthiness and ego that limit the soul’s expression. Consequently, our soul is free to shine through us, allowing its joyous light to be experienced.

The Ultimate Expression of Joy

Ultimate true joy, however, cannot be fully experienced in the time of Galus, exile. And while Simchas Torah gives us a good taste of that joy, we await eagerly for such time that our souls will be capable of fully expressing themselves, with no obstruction. Hence, the Psalmists declares, “Then our mouths will be filled with laughter.” “Then,” refers to the Messianic Age, at which time our joy will be complete and Simchas Torah will be a daily occurrence.

If there are three manifestations of joy: openness, expansiveness and ego-less-ness, we can understand why we cannot experience the full measure of joy until the Messianic Age.

Galus or exile is the greatest constraining force known to us. And while it allows us to express some of our more base instincts and expand into all areas of expression, the state of exile denies us the ability to express our true G-dly nature. Furthermore, even when there is some measure of G-dly energy expressed it is usually confined to a narrow part of our lives.

Geulah, Redemption is more than just freedom from oppression. It is about freeing us to be our true unconstrained inner selves; to be able to dance freely and enjoy a perpetual Simchas Torah.

From the book Light from the Future: Simchas Torah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.