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The joy of Simchas Torah is not limited to the connection we enjoy with the Torah commensurate with our limited service. Rather, they joy is unlimited, because it derives from our intrinsic connection to Torah that comes from Above. This connection is beyond the parameters and confines of human endeavor.
Dual meaning of Hakafos
On Simchas Torah we rejoice with the Torah. The traditional dance with the Torah called Hakafos (circuits) involves the removal of all the Torah scrolls from the ark and to then circle the table upon which the Torah is read (Bimah) with them, and then dance with the Torah scrolls. All of this is designed to demonstrate the extent to which the Jewish people rejoice with the Torah they were given.
The term Hakafos, the colloquialism used for the traditional dancing with the Torah around the Bimah possesses yet another meaning. According to Chassidic thought the term hakafah (singular of Hakafos) can also mean “[the extension of] credit.”
During Simchas Torah, G-d allots the Jewish people the requisite energies for the entire year on credit, in anticipation of their repayment of the debt with the observance of Torah and Mitzvos throughout the year. [See preceding essay.] Can Everyone Rejoice?
There is, however, a need to further clarify this matter.
Rejoicing with the Torah on Simchas Torah can be appreciated when it is a person whose relationship with the Torah is ideal. For such an individual, the joy he experiences upon realizing how fortunate he was to have received it, is matched by the Torah’s joy at having been given to him For the Jew whose connection to Torah is less than ideal, however, a serious question arises. How can such a Jew be permitted to take the Torah and dance with it? How can we allow him the right to express his joy in possessing the Torah, when the Torah scroll is hardly pleased with its association with him?
The Inner Connection
The answer to this dilemma is that while it is true that the individual’s relationship with the Torah – based on his past year’s behavior – leaves much to be desired, nevertheless, an inner connection with Torah does, in fact, exist. This connection exists not of the individual’s own accord, but because G-d established this intrinsic connection between a Jew and the Torah.
Because of this inner connection that exists between each and every Jew and Torah, their state of Jewish commitment notwithstanding, they have the right, ability, and, indeed, the obligation, to participate in Hakafos. The inner connection of every Jew to the Torah is what makes the joy of Hakafos expressive not only of the Jewish person’s joy with the Torah, but also of the Torah’s joy with (every) Jewish person.
Added Dimension
Even with regard to those Jews, whose connection to Torah is intact, there is an added dimension to their joy. Their joy is not limited to the connection they enjoy with the Torah commensurate with their limited service. Rather, they joy is unlimited, because it derives from their intrinsic connection to Torah that comes from Above. This connection is beyond the parameters and confines of human endeavor.
What has been said thus far is that every Jew possesses an internal link to the Torah, and that is what justifies G-d’s extension of “credit” (Hakafos) to all on Simchas Torah..
Intertwined Explanations
Upon deeper reflection we will see that the deeper meaning of hakafah, credit, is related to its plain meaning of circling the bimah with the Torah in hand.
The issuance of credit (the alternative translation of hakafah) implies that although the recipient is not now worthy of receiving the object – inasmuch as he had not paid the seller its fair value — nevertheless, he is given the object gratis, with the stipulation that he pay for it later.
Applying this concept to Simchas Torah, every Jew is granted the right and, indeed, the obligation to circle the Bimah, dance and rejoice with the Torah. This privilege we possess because of our intrinsic connection with the Torah, is not because of our own worthiness, but because it is bestowed upon us by G-d, (in anticipation of our subsequent repayment of this debt Seven for Seven Seven Hakafos (circuits with the Torah as well as seven separate extensions of spiritual “credit”) are necessary, because the extension of “credit” from Above relates to all of the seven emotional traits of the soul which are: kindness, judgment, harmony, victory, persistence, bonding and leadership. [In the texts of Kabbalah and Chassidus, there are alternate translations for some of these seven emotions.] In other words, the first Hakafah (circuit) is associated with the extension of “credit” for the attribute of kindness; the second Hakafah represents the extension of “credit” in conjunction with the attribute of judgment, and similarly with respect to all of the other attributes.
The extension of “credit” to all of the soul’s emotional characteristics is what affects one’s genuine and complete connection with the Torah. To be totally attached to Torah it must affect all of our personality.
Simchas Torah of the Future
This process will be complete in the Days of Moshiach. At that time all of our debts will be paid and our joy will be boundless.
One of the characteristics of exile is that we cannot express our emotions. The more a person suffers the more bottled up become their feelings. Liberation in the psychological sense is when a person has the capacity to express their full complement of emotions.
A very special Jew related to me his childhood memories. He lived in a part of the former Soviet Union and witnessed some of the effects of the war. Family members and others were dying in the streets from hunger. The horrific nature of what he experienced prevented him from even crying for a few years. By Divine Providence, one Simchas Torah, having been taken under the wings of a compassionate elderly Chosid, broke down crying. The Chosid was ecstatic at the child’s ability to express some emotion. That was the beginning of his emotional liberation.
As long as our emotions are occluded and prevented from being fully expressed we cannot adequately celebrate Simchas Torah.
In the Messianic Era, Moshiach, whose name is associated with simcha-joy, will inspire us with his simcha and enable us to fully embrace the Torah in its totality by the totality of our being.
From the book Light from the Future: Simchas Torah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
