Simchat Torah – Joy
by Esther:
Chag Sameach
When I was first asked to speak this evening I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about because it’s been in my mind for a while.
Every school morning, my son and I read a tehillim in order to kickstart the day. When I am feeling particularly grateful to Hashem, I also read Psalm No 100, which commences ‘Mizmor le Toda’ … as I feel we should be showing gratitude to Hashem for all his blessings – and at the same time I hope my son and other children, will see that Hashem is really the source of our blessings and a little ‘thank you’ never goes amiss.
No 100 is a line which I particularly love and which is apposite for this Chag of Simchat Torah. ‘Ibdu et Hashem beSimcha’ – serve Hashem with Joy. Come before him with joyous song.
I truly believe it should be read every day as it such a simple and fundamental little reminder of how our attitude should be right from when we wake up, when possible of course.
How, then, do we serve Hashem with Joy? How do we serve Hashem at all? To answer the second question first, serving Hashem means doing Mitzvot. When Hashem created man, the design was a Godly neshama, soul, clothed in a physical body. The body is the vehicle used to perform mitzvoth and by performing them, our souls can reconnect with Hashem, as they yearn to do. That reconnection brings joy to our neshama (Rabbi Walkin in The World Within) – that answers the first question.
The world in which we live is full of material beauty and physical pleasures. Our religion elevates the material and the physical such that we can use everything around us to bring joy – we do not deprive ourselves of fine wines, delicious food, beautiful cars, lavish homes … on the contrary, we are exhorted to use them for the performance of mitzvoth – invite people to your beautiful home, share with them your delicious food and wine, take them home in your Maserati. It is up to us to reconcile the material with the Godly and thus reap joy from using one in the service of the other.
When we think of Yaacov and Esav – those prime examples of the spiritual and the physical, and the time when they were reunited, Esav who had overflowing riches, said ‘yesh li rov’ – I have plenty. Yaacov, who had a gift to add to Esav’s considerable possessions, said ‘yesh li kol’ – I have everything. For Esav there was still plenty more he could amass – and we see this in the world today where people are just gathering material possessions and not really deriving happiness from them. By Yaacov saying he had everything, however, we see that happiness and joy come from within. We can determine our own happiness just by choosing to focus on the good and the blessings we all have. Then we really need nothing more. We are satisfied with our lot.
During Rosh Hashana, we pray to Our Father Our King, avinu malkeinu. On the one hand we are the children of Hashem our father; on the other we are subjects or servants of God our King.
A father will look upon his children with compassion, love, mercy, forgiveness. A child also will do as his father asks him and – hopefully – want to do even more than his father requested out of love and joy.
If a King (or a boss) would ask for something he would expect it to be carried out without question. One would do his bidding out of awe and fear of losing his job. He would not necessarily do it with joy and would do only the minimum in many cases.
There is a clear distinction here. However, when it comes to Hashem, there is no distinction – He is close to us, He is there for us, we can be as close or as far as we wish – we have unlimited access to Him. As a father and as a King. We can get in closer touch by doing mizvot or praying – how joyful is that!
When it comes to our children, instead of teaching them that ‘ez iz schwer zu sein a yid’ – it’s difficult to be a Jew (excuse the Yiddish) we must impart ‘ez iz a glick zu sein a yid’ – it’s a joy to be a Jew and then go on to show them that we keep the Torah because we want to rather than because we have to.
There is an old Chassidic adage which perfectly sums up my message: “we rejoice in the Torah, and the Torah rejoices in us.