Two Tiered Unity

To express the idea of unity where the lowest becomes the highest, we express our joy through dance. When we dance, it is the feet that raise the head to higher levels, because the feet possess a quality that even the head does not have. To exemplify the level of unity that transcends division altogether, we dance in circuits. Just as in a circle there is no beginning and no end, so too there is no beginning and end to our Jewishness, our community, and our relationship to Torah and G-d.

Why all the Dancing?

Every Holiday has its special Mitzvah. On Rosh Hashanah it is the sounding of the shofar. On Passover it is the eating of Matzah. During Sukkot it is dwelling in the Sukkah. On Simchas Torah the central mitzvah is Hakafos, which literally means “circuits” and it refers to the dancing with the Torah around the bimah.

On the surface, the reason for the dancing on Simchas Torah is to rejoice as we complete the annual cycle of Torah reading. But if that is the reason for the dancing one can ask two questions:

First, why is the emphasis placed on dancing? Why not emphasize the singing or other manifestations of joy?

Second, why the emphasis on Hakafos-the circling of the bimah with the Torah, as we dance? What difference is there if we dance in a circle or in a straight line?

The Common Strand

To answer these two questions it is necessary to see the thread that runs through all of the Holidays of the month of Tishrei, from Rosh Hashanah through Simchas Torah.

The common theme of all these Holidays is unity. And it all begins with the Torah reading that immediately precedes Rosh Hashanah:

“You stand firmly today, all of you, before G-d your G-d. Your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers – all the men of Israel; your small children, your women, and your convert who is in the midst of your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water.”

The word “today” in the foregoing verse is said to refer to Rosh Hashanah, and the declaration of unity stated here refers to the unity of Rosh Hashanah.

On Rosh Hashanah all classes of Jews from the leaders to the simplest folk stand in judgment before G-d and will be victorious in their judgment because they all stand together.

The theme of unity continues of Yom Kippur, the day that is designated by the Torah as “the singular day of the year.”

It is a day of singularity, when the essence of our souls is exposed, in relation to which we are all one.

The Sukkah that embraces whoever is in it equally also symbolizes unity.

The Four Kinds (Lulav-Palm branch, Etrog, Myrtles, Willows) that we recite the blessing over during this holiday, according to the Midrash, represents four disparate classes of Jews who are all brought together in unity during Sukkot.

When we rejoice ecstatically with the Torah on Simchas Torah we take the ideal of unity to a crescendo. All classes within the Jewish community unify to rejoice with the Torah. We do not celebrate our knowledge of the Torah; we celebrate our spiritual connection to it, in relation to which we are all equal.

Two Distinct Levels of Unity

Upon closer examination we can see how the dancing with the Torah in circuits on Simchas Torah actually exemplifies two distinct levels of unity.

When we list the various hierarchical levels within the community from the heads to the simplest, we must recognize that the “lowest” and least sophisticated level of the community possesses an advantage that even the head does not possess.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman, the founder of the Chabad movement, in his Likkutei Torah explains this level of unity by way of an analogy to the human body. It is clear that the head is superior to the feet. However, in some respects, the feet are more important than the head. After all, the feet will transport the entire person, including his head, to places the head could not possibly reach on its own. In some respects, therefore, the feet are actually the “head” of the whole person.

Similarly, with respect to the Jewish people: While there are those souls that are clearly head and shoulders above the rest of us, there are certain qualities that the “feet” souls possess that render them the “head” of all other souls.

But, this level of unity assumes the existence of legitimate divisions in our community. It is just that sometimes that which is recognized as being on the lowest rung can actually be on the highest.

The Rebbe explains at length that there is another level of unity. This is the level of unity where there is no division whatsoever. There is no head and no foot. All of us are truly inherently one.

Dancing in Circles Parallel Two Firms of Unity

On Simchas Torah we experience both of these levels of unity.

To express the idea of unity where the lowest becomes the highest, we express our joy through dance. When we dance, it is the feet that raise the head to higher levels, because the feet possess a quality that even the head does not have.

To exemplify the level of unity that transcends division altogether, we dance in circuits. Just as in a circle there is no beginning and no end, so too there is no beginning and end to our Jewishness, our community, and our relationship to Torah and G-d.

Dancing in Circles: Messianic Phenomenon

In one of the Messianic prophecies, the image of a dance that G-d will make for the righteous is employed.

The deeper meaning is that in the Messianic Age the unity of G-d will be fully revealed. This unity will expose the unity within each and every one of us so that we will all dance in and endless circle to celebrate the revelation of the infinite glory of the one G-d, who pervades all of existence.

In the Messianic Age we will experience true unity that manifests itself in two ways. We will see the virtue in the “feet” Jews; the ones who serve G-d with simple sincerity; that they uplift all of us. And we will also experience the higher level of unity in which we are all equal. We get a taste of that every Simchas Torah.

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