The singular joy of Simchat Torah

Before trying to unlock this puzzle, let me explain our obligation to be joyful on festival days. Each of our festivals has particular requirements, put there to direct our celebration. On Pesach we eat matzah, maror, and the lamb sacrifice; Shavuot has the special offering of bikkurim (first fruits) and the festival showbread; on Succot we wave the arba minim (four species) and reside in a succah.

All of these obligations share one objective: to remind us why we are celebrating the festival so that we can experience the appropriate joy and happiness. Strangely enough, Shemini Atzeret seems to have no mitzvah to call its own and there is no indication in the Torah to tell us what we are expected to use as the trigger for joy.

The Talmud notes that seventy separate sacrifices were offered at the Temple over Succot, corresponding to the “seventy nations of the world” (Succah 55b). On Shemini Atzeret, however, there was only one offering, “corresponding to the one [chosen] nation”.

While the non-Jewish world seemingly has a role to play throughout the festival of Succot, on Shemini Atzeret, only the Jewish nation is the focus and we are only required to bring a solitary offering. The joy and happiness of Shemini Atzeret is more self-contained, without any need for accessories and artificial enhancements.

On each day of Succot we invite one of our illustrious biblical ancestors to join us in the succah — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David. Each one of these Ushpizin guests represents our attempt to repair a particular characteristic we wish to remove from our identity, a trait that connects us to the nations of the world.

Similarly, on each day of Succot, we wave the arba minim in six directions, protecting ourselves from damaging influences that can invade our space from every side.

And on the final day of Succot, Hoshana Rabbah, as we hold the arba minim in our hands, we circle the Torah seven times and implore God to protect us from any potential danger.

The explicit focus of Succot is to mitigate the threat to our viability from the unknown beyond and the joy we experience on Succot directly correlates to our victory over every potentially damaging alternative. But on Shemini Atzeret we no longer seek protection; our safety is generated by the festival itself.

There is a beautiful midrash in Yalkut Shimoni that gives us a powerful backdrop to the Shemini Atzeret festival: “After the seven days of Succot are done, God says to Israel, ‘Now you and I will rejoice together’, and when Israel hears this, they begin to praise God, saying, ‘This is the day that God has made, we will rejoice and be happy with it’ (Psalm 118:24).”

The midrash goes on to say that the ambiguous pronoun “it” at the end of the verse is not a reference to the festival day; rather “it” refers to the Torah, which the Jews will use on that day to celebrate their unique relationship with God.

The joy of Shemini Atzeret is not associated with any historic event, nor are we required to perform a particular mitzvah. The joy of Shemini Atzeret is meant to reflect our relationship with and love of God’s Torah.

The feeling of longing that we have for a loving, meaningful relationship with God transcends individual mitzvot and instead encapsulates the whole Torah, along with everything it contains and imparts.

It is about our love of God’s word over and above the details of each mitzvah and it is this aspect of our identity that distinguishes us from the other nations of the world, clarifying why Shemini Atzeret belongs exclusively to the Jewish nation.

Someone once shared a compelling insight with me about the dichotomy between Jewish penitence and the repentance processes prevalent in other religious faiths.

Those who adhere to other religions are induced to repent out of fear for God’s retribution; Jews cleanse themselves of sin so that they can renew the relationship they have with God, unencumbered by the baggage of iniquity and material distractions.

By the time we reach Shemini Atzeret we no longer need a specific mitzvah. The clarity of our relationship with God is at its zenith and we do not require a crutch to support it, nor a ladder to reach it.

That is why Shemini Atzeret is the perfect time to celebrate and dance with our precious Torah scrolls. People mistakenly believe that the reason for the Torah-oriented celebration on Shemini Atzeret is because this festival happens to coincide with the conclusion of our annual Torah reading cycle. In fact, exactly the opposite is true.

We deliberately conclude and recommence the Torah on Shemini Atzeret because Shemini Atzeret is the most appropriate date in our calendar for this moment to occur.

Which means that dancing and singing with Torah scrolls on Shemini Atzeret is not the imposition of an intruding element of joy into the festival. As it turns out, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are identical — the ultimate celebration of our unique relationship with God.

Pini Dunner is senior rabbi of Beverly Hills Synagogue in California

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