By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
The way my eight-year-old grandson told it to me made such simplistic sense.
‘On Sukkot Hashem hugs us, on Simchas Torah we hug Hashem’.
This exuberant comment from told to me by a young child touched me.
This is a very deep concept distilled into a one liner that even kids can understand.
So poignant for this year – one year from last Simchas Torah (October 7 2023) - in particular.
The Sukkah represents the Divine Clouds of Glory that enveloped and protected us during our journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel. This is likened to the embrace of G-d. By sitting in the Sukkah, we are being ‘hugged and embraced’ by the Al-mighty so to speak.
On Simchas Torah we lift the Torahs and hug them while we dance with them.
Hugging the Torah is in a sense like hugging Hashem.
The Zohar teaches: The Jewish people, Torah and Hashem are all one.
Hashem is to be found in His Torah. Torah is Hashems wisdom. Hashem and His wisdom are one.
Thus, in a sense, hugging the Torah that contains the wisdom of Hashem is like symbolically hugging Hashem.
Sukkot and Simchas Torah represent the reciprocal cosmic hugging between Hashem and Am Yisrael.
As my grandson simply put it (kudos to his teachers and parents)
‘On Sukkot Hashem hugs us, on Simchas Torah we hug Hashem’.
This year we have another extremely holy angle to consider.
We are remembering the ‘kedoshim’ – literally ‘the holy ones’ who were murdered on last Simchat Torah in the holy land of Israel, simply because they are Hashem’s holy people of Israel.
In English the word ‘martyr’ is used to describe those who were killed.
This does not adequately express the name they are given in Hebrew.
In traditional Hebrew they are referred to as Kedoshim.
Holy ones.
True, we are all holy as we are one with Hashem. We have a neshama, a soul that is a ‘piece of Hashem’ so to speak within us.
But we also have bodies that can create friction between our holy side and our impulsive ‘human’ mundane side.
The martyred kedoshim are not limited by material bodies.
The kedoshim whose lives were taken ‘al kidush Hashem’ are bound up with Hashem in an inseparable bond.
Their unity with Hashem is transparent and complete. We refer to them as the ‘holy ones’.
The Torah rejoices on Simchas Torah, but the Torah doesn’t have feet and cannot dance.
We are like the feet of the Torah when we dance on Simchas Torah.
This year we will also be like the feet of the martyred kedoshim whose souls are dancing in the presence of G-d, and whose memories we remember, honor and cherish.
A dear friend sent me a picture of what his Synagogue in Israel did.
They embroidered the Sefer Torah coverings with the names of the martyred kedoshim. Every kibbutz will be represented. Every martyred kadosh will be hugged as the Torah’s whirl around with joy and optimism and the belief that lies deeply in every Jewish soul that ‘I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Mashiach!
We will dance as we pray and pray as we dance. For the return of our hostages, the wellbeing of our soldiers and the security and safety of the Jews of Israel and the world over.
Until we merit the end to all of suffering and tribulation for all of mankind, with the coming of Mashiach, NOW.
Chag Sameach
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor
(A long) P.S.
Topic:
ה' צילךHashem is ‘your shadow’.
Our connection to Hashem is both reactive and proactive.
Rabbi Levi Yitschak of Berditchev taught in the name of the Ba’al Shem Tov the following kabalistic truth.
The words of King David (Tehilim 121) likening Hashem to our shade/shadow gives us a deep insight into how Hashem runs his world.
Hashem so much desires to have the created beings engage with Him in a meaningful relationship, that He mirrors the activities and even the demeanor and mood that we project on our faces and through our actions.
If we act melancholy, the reciprocal divine flow from above is anxious and non-joyous energy.
When we act joyous and our faces light up, Hashem projects light, happiness and a radiant ‘face’ so to speak.
This means that when we need Hashems benevolence and extra positive attention, we would best be acting joyously down below. This will elicit the flow of Hashem’s infinite joyous light.
If there was ever a time that we need G-d’s love and joy to shine down upon us, it is now.
Just after the Yom Kippur war, the Rebbe shared this kabbalistic teaching and urged and encouraged us to take our joy on the holiday of Sukkot and Simchas Torah very seriously.
We have an opportunity to generate that kind of radiance from above by being happy down below.
On Simchas Torah we are instructed to be happy. This means that Hashem not just gives us permission to be joyous, he instructs us and empowers us to be joyous.
By being happy we change the equation.
Don’t stay on the sidelines this year.
The people of Israel needs every song, every joyous handclap, every foot that can dance to bring victory and peace to our people.
By having simcha joy on this Simchas Torah you will be participating in the rejuvenation of our people, in strengthening our nation and in continuing in the glorious chain of our holy ancestors who all rejoiced with the Torah throughout the millennia.
Let us add our link to that illustrious chain.
Even if you cant make it to a shul or join with a community of Jews who are celebrating, do a dance in your home. with your family. Or even alone.
Chag Sameach