What is Simchat Torah all about? This is a question I am asked frequently. The answer is an emotional one for me. While growing up, it was always such a happy and joyous occasion—the Lubavitch Rebbe would encourage singing and dancing, making sure that even the littlest children would participate, and the energy in the synagogue was just electric. It is really hard to describe, let alone explain. Yet, as an adult, I ask myself: what moved the Rebbe so much to instill in us, little children, such a love for this holiday? What is it about Simchat Torah that Chabad celebrates like no one else?
I will attempt to give an intellectual twist by explaining the last few words of the Torah itself, and perhaps this will give us an appreciation for the holiday.
The Torah ends with a “eulogy” of sorts for Moses, telling us how great a man he was when he “shattered the Tablets in front of all the Jews.” Why is this stated as the greatest act of Moses? Couldn’t his eulogy be about one of the miracles that he performed on behalf of the Jews? Or maybe something more positive?
When Moses broke the Tablets, he was making two statements simultaneously. He was protecting the Jews from G-d’s wrath, and he was protecting the Torah from the Jews’ abuse. The Jews had proven by their actions that they were not deserving of the Torah; yet at the same time, Moses wanted the Jews to repent so that they could have the Torah—they just weren’t ready for it yet. By breaking the Tablets, he was giving them time to come back and be ready.
Simchat Torah is that time in between the shattered Tablets and the renewed Tablets. It is a time when we dance with the Torah closed. It is a time when the question “is the Torah greater or are the Jews greater” doesn’t matter. At this point, the Torah and the Jews dance together. Tomorrow morning, we will open the Torah and read (in the morning we conclude the Torah reading and start anew). By night we just dance away with the Torah scroll tightly rolled closed, with its mantel on, its crown on its “head,” in full “royal garb.” This is the time when all Jews are equal, and the Torah and the Jew are equal. G-d, Jew, and the Torah are all wrapped in one. Dancing the night away.
This is why Simchat Torah is so special. It is a celebration that all Jews can relate to. It is not about who knows more or less, who does more or who does less. It is about being a Jew. It is about our relationship with G-d. It is about our essence.
Happy Simchat Torah!