Today we are celebrating Hoshana Rabba “Day of the Willow” (one of the four kinds, which has the shape of the lips it has no taste and no smell). The arava represents the simple Jew who has a simple faith in G-d and Divine simplicity. Today sets the final seal of judgement, the verdict written in Rosh Hashana and sealed on Yom Kippur is made final today. Hoshana Rabba is the seventh day of Sukkot and the world is judged for water upon which life is dependent.
Tonight we celebrate Shemini Atzeret. This Holiday represents the richness of the essence of the entire year. Rashi explains it with a parable: there was once a King who invited his children for a feast of several days. When the time came for them to go back, he said to them “My children, please stay with me one more day, your parting is difficult for me…”
The KING is H”S, and He is always with us but sadly we are not always with him that is why our parting is difficult for him. So we dwell one more day in the Sukkah “Shemini” the eight day which means “transcendence” to get out of ourselves once more and enjoy the unity of Sukkot with our Father in heaven and our community and in this way we give Him delight.
And finally on Monday night we come to the climax of the month with Simchat Torah “the Joy of the Torah” when we finish the cycle of reading the Torah with “Deutoromy” and we begin a new with the book of “Bereshit”. This day is a celebration of that new beginning and we dance with the Torah with absolute passion and no limits. Why are we celebrating by dancing with our feet? The logical thing would be that we celebrate studying and using our heads.
But we come to learn here that to really love the Torah it has to come from a place out of our heads, it has to come from the heart and what better way to do it than using our lowest limbs (our legs) which give life to the Torah Scroll and allows it to dance. By moving our legs we draw down all the blessings intended for us both in the material and spiritual realm.
As The Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak said: “Simchat Torah means two things: we celebrate with the Torah, and the Torah celebrates with us.”
So let’s DANCE
Chag Sameach and Live a little higher
