6 October 2023
Question
What is the meaning of Simchas Torah?
Answer
There are only two times a year when we take the Torahs out at night. The first is at Kol Nidrei, the beginning of Yom Kippur. The second time is on the nights of Simchas Torah. On these nights, we don't even read the Torah. We take them out with great pomp and ceremony, and return them unopened.
The Torah is our ideal, the description of who we are meant to be and what we are meant to stand for. But we don't live up to it perfectly. No one can say they have observed every law correctly, even if they tried their best. That's what an ideal is - something to always strive for, even though you can't get there.
On Yom Kippur, we bring out the Torahs so we can apologise to them. We are sorry we haven't kept all of your laws, we haven't upheld you perfectly.
And we are forgiven. So on Simchas Torah, the Torah comes out to dance with us. The Torah is happy with us, exactly as we are, our imperfect selves.
Torah was not given to angels, but to human beings. Because Torah is about transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. We are great candidates for that. So the Torah is ready to dance with us.
That's the literal meaning of Simchas Torah - the happiness of the Torah. The Torah is happy with you. Can you be happy with yourself too?
