Ironically, it was the Jewish-German poet Heinrich Heine who famously wrote, “Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.” Heine sadly abandoned his Jewish faith. But, fast-forward over 100 years and, in 1933, his own books were burned by Germans.
Jews have been called the “People of the Book.” Undoubtedly, Judaism has the largest and oldest corpus of written tradition. The Torah is still the best-seller of all time.
It makes sense, then, that we greatly value our books.
We study them, we revere them, we kiss them, and we keep producing them.
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It’s no surprise then that we celebrate completing – and starting – a Torah study cycle. This is precisely what we do on Simchat Torah.
It’s not merely symbolic that the Torah is always read from a scroll – which is rolled back and forth. Torah study is a ceaseless process that ends and begins continuously. We literally roll back the Torah just as we complete it, in order to study from the very beginning, reminding ourselves that studying it all over again is never complete.
Jewish law mandates that we treat Torah scrolls with utmost respect. For example, it is housed in a hallowed ark, must never be placed on the ground, and is not to be left uncovered when not being read from.
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But, why do we dance with the Torahs to celebrate our achievement? Why not study some Torah instead? And, even if we throw a huge party, should we not leave the Torah on the bima and dance around it, showing more reverence? Is holding the Torah and dancing with utter abandon the appropriate – and Jewish – way to celebrate?
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The truth is, however, we are not simply celebrating the wisdom of the Torah. Nor are we celebrating its traditions.
It is told that an ordinary person was once observed especially rejoicing on Simchat Torah. He was asked: “Why are you rejoicing on Simchat Torah? Did you learn a lot of Torah during the year?”
He answered, “When my brother marries off his daughter, should I not participate in his rejoicing?”
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, however, notes that this story – cute as it may be – does not accurately reflect the joy of Simchat Torah. In reality, every Jew deserves to dance with utter abandon with the Torah.
It’s not like your brother’s celebration that you are merely attending. Rather, it’s your simcha!
This is seen in obvious form by the fact that we dance with the scrolls covered. We are not celebrating Jewish wisdom (represented by the text of the Torah). Rather, everyone can celebrate equally, because we are celebrating the very essence of Torah that binds us to G-d.
We are celebrating a vital bond with G-d.
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Our books have kept us going as a people and have survived the bonfires of the Nazis.
But, dancing with books would still seem an odd display of perseverance.
That’s not why we dance on Simchat Torah.
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Dancing at your daughter’s wedding, on the other hand, never seems odd. Even if everyone else looks at you like you’ve gone overboard.
This Simchat Torah, forget the naysayers. Abandon the voice of reason inside your own head.
After all, it’s your own simcha!
Instead, simply dance with abandon!