Simchas Torah and the Power of a Jewish Custom
Simchas Torah demonstrates our love for G-d’s Torah. It elicits an extraordinary measure of Divine pleasure, as it were. For it indicates that G-d is close to us and is not just an Authority figure.
SIMCHAS TORAH AND THE POWER OF A JEWISH
CUSTOM
Customary Joy
The three sequential Holidays: Sukkos, Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah are all part of a continuum of joy. Sukkos is designated in our prayers as “The Season of our Rejoicing.” This description is based on an explicit Biblical commandment to rejoice during the festival of Sukkos. Shemini Atzeres, which is simultaneously an independent holiday as well as the eighth day of Sukkos, is likewise under the general directive to rejoice.
The rejoicing of Simchas Torah—when we complete the annual cycle of reading the Five Books of Moses, and we celebrate the occasion by dancing ecstatically with the Torah—is not mentioned in the Torah. It is not even a rabbinical command such as the holiday of Chanukah. It is rooted in Jewish custom. Yet, the joy and exhilaration that is expressed universally on Simchas Torah seems to far outpace the joy of all other Biblical Holidays including Sukkos.
This begs an obvious question. Why has the joy of Simchas Torah, which is only rooted in custom, assumed a more prominent role in Jewish life than the other Biblically ordained Holidays. The question is even more pronounced with regard to Sukkos, which is the only Holiday that is characterized as “The Season of our rejoicing.”
One answer lies in the role of Jewish customs in general. While a Biblical commandment obviously takes precedence over a custom—as worthy and positive the custom may be—the joy that accompanies the observance of a valid custom surpasses that of the performance of even a Biblical commandment.
Parent-Child Analogy
To understand why there is so much joy in a custom a simple analogy has been offered:
A parent is certainly pleased when his or her child follows explicit orders. The parent, however, will be thrilled when the child anticipates his or her desire and fulfills it even before he/she verbalizes it.
When we anticipate someone else’s desires and execute them joyfully it is a sign that we have a unique and loving relationship with the other.
Hence, Simchas Torah—a celebration that we anticipated, as our way of demonstrating our love for G-d’s Torah— elicits an extraordinary measure of Divine pleasure, as it were. For it indicates that G-d is close to us and is not just an Authority figure.
What is Unique about the Simchas Torah Custom?
One could ask a simple question. Aren’t all customs an expression of how we anticipate G-d’s will which, in turn, elicits G-d’s greater love for us? What distinguishes the customs associated with Simchas Torah from all other customs?
For example there is Jewish custom to eat kreplach (a ravioli type of food) on the day before Yom Kippur and blintzis on Shavuos; yet no one dances and celebrates the fact that these culinary traditions are an expression of our love for G-d. Why is Simchas Torah different?
The answer is quite simple. Whatever the reason for eating kreplach or blintzis and the like, there is no overt expression of love in the performance of these customs other than the fact that a custom itself is an expression of love. However, once a custom is observed, people will forget the love of G-d part of it and indulge in the love of kreplach and blintzis for their own sake.
Simchas Torah is therefore radically different. The joy, singing and dancing with the Torah that accompanies the conclusion of the reading of the Torah is overtly an expression of love, joy and excitement for G-d’s Torah. Here, both the fact that it is a custom and the manner of which the custom manifests itself, it is an outpouring of unmitigated love and joy. This, in turn, elicits a reciprocal response of unadulterated love and joy from G-d.
But it doesn’t end there.
A Virtuous Cycle
Once G-d expresses His unabashed “pleasure” and “joy” in response to ours, we, in turn, intuitively sense G-d’s “unbounded joy,” and reciprocate by adding even more joy to our celebration. And when G-d sees how we sensed and responded to His joy, which came initially because of our unsolicited joy, that generates an even greater Divine reaction of joy. And the cycle continues ad infinitum.
This explains why we express our joy in Simchas Torah by dancing in circles, referred to as Hakafos. Just as a circuit around the Bimah has no end, so too the joy that we generated has no end, for each measure of joy that we exhibit elicits a greater level of Divine joy, which, in turn, elicits more joy from us.
The Dance of the Future
There is a Biblical and Talmudic reference to a dance in the future Messianic Age. This dance is said to be in a circle. The circle symbolizes the infinite joy that we will experience in the Messianic Era. We can all savor a taste of that joy when we participate in the Simchas Torah dancing.
There are two ways we can prepare for the future Messianic Age. The first is to sit back and wait for G-d to do what He promised to do and bring us the final redemption. If G-d tells us, as He has in the Torah, to perform certain Mitzvos that will hasten the Redemption, such as giving Tzedakah, we do it. There is no question that it will be accepted by G-d favorably and bring about the final Redemption.
However, there is a second approach to our preparation for the Redemption. When we look for original ways of doing good and exult in the belief that the Redemption is imminent, that spontaneous and unsolicited reaction to the future is in the mold and mode of Simchas Torah, where both the initiative and the manner in which the initiative manifests are expressions of joy and love. G-d will certainly respond in kind with unrestricted joy and love that will break through all the boundaries of exile so that we initiate the “virtuous cycle” of unfiltered love and joy; dancing all the way to the coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Third Temple!
From the book Light from the Future: Simchas Torah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
