One singular sensation....
On the eve on Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah,
“Your departure is difficult,” says God, “Please stay another day, just us alone”. This is the holiday knows as the Eigth-day Gathering, or Shemini Atzeres. We’ve spent quite a long while with Him – preparing during Elul, coronating Him on Rosh Hashana, crying and repenting to Him on Yom Kippur, celebrating Him and unifying existence for 7 days on Succos, and now, just as it’s all over, He wants one more dance. Just us and Him.
We’ve purified ourselves, reinstated the Kingship, wiped the slate clean, and brought the blessing of Oneness into the world. Succos was a time of worldly work. The lulav, esrog, willow and myrtle have been taken to become one – symbolizing the human condition (spine, heart, lips and eyes), the Jewish people (wise & righteous, wise but not righteous, righteous but not wise, and neither wise nor righteous), the world at large (4 different species growing in necessarily different ways). Shaking the lulav in all directions brings unity into a disparate world. You’ve become a venerable lighting rod for God.
Our Sages teach that all the 70 nations receive their life-force through the service of Succos. We as holy, purified intermeditory vessels live in our Succos for an entire week’s worth of spiritual world unification and receive divine protection as would angels on an earthly mission. And when the work is done and we prepare to leave, He calls us back.
“Put down your lulavs, esrogs, release your focus from the created world, leave your divinely guarded Succos dwelling, your protection from all things physical (including temptation). Leave it all behind and cling to your Creator.” Only when a Jew’s work on himself and the world around him is done, only then are we so close that we could reach out a grab Him. That’s why Simchas Torah’s the same day. We do. As best we can, we grab Him, and dance to our hearts’ content.
Enter into the chamber of life where souls delight, where bodies are relegated to glorified chauffeurs, but nothing more. Here, in the halls of synagogues across the world, Jewish souls grab their crown jewel, the sefer Torah, and swing their bodies behind them as they dance away the world.
Good Yom Tov,
Rabbi Lynn
“Your departure is difficult,” says God, “Please stay another day, just us alone”. This is the holiday knows as the Eigth-day Gathering, or Shemini Atzeres. We’ve spent quite a long while with Him – preparing during Elul, coronating Him on Rosh Hashana, crying and repenting to Him on Yom Kippur, celebrating Him and unifying existence for 7 days on Succos, and now, just as it’s all over, He wants one more dance. Just us and Him.
We’ve purified ourselves, reinstated the Kingship, wiped the slate clean, and brought the blessing of Oneness into the world. Succos was a time of worldly work. The lulav, esrog, willow and myrtle have been taken to become one – symbolizing the human condition (spine, heart, lips and eyes), the Jewish people (wise & righteous, wise but not righteous, righteous but not wise, and neither wise nor righteous), the world at large (4 different species growing in necessarily different ways). Shaking the lulav in all directions brings unity into a disparate world. You’ve become a venerable lighting rod for God.
Our Sages teach that all the 70 nations receive their life-force through the service of Succos. We as holy, purified intermeditory vessels live in our Succos for an entire week’s worth of spiritual world unification and receive divine protection as would angels on an earthly mission. And when the work is done and we prepare to leave, He calls us back.
“Put down your lulavs, esrogs, release your focus from the created world, leave your divinely guarded Succos dwelling, your protection from all things physical (including temptation). Leave it all behind and cling to your Creator.” Only when a Jew’s work on himself and the world around him is done, only then are we so close that we could reach out a grab Him. That’s why Simchas Torah’s the same day. We do. As best we can, we grab Him, and dance to our hearts’ content.
Enter into the chamber of life where souls delight, where bodies are relegated to glorified chauffeurs, but nothing more. Here, in the halls of synagogues across the world, Jewish souls grab their crown jewel, the sefer Torah, and swing their bodies behind them as they dance away the world.
Good Yom Tov,
Rabbi Lynn
posted by Rabbi Lynn at
3:19 PM
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