When I was a banker, before Jewish holidays my co-workers were curious about what I was doing with my vacation. For Simchat Torah, I explained that I was part of the largest and longest running book club in the history of the world. Each year we read the same book and we make a huge party and dance around with the book after we finish it, everyone all around the world is reading it and our group has been celebrating its completion for thousands of years. One of my co-workers remarked "what kind of book club is that, you guys party?"
The Jewish people are the real academics and philosophers. What do we do with our free time? We study Torah. We read books.
This Shabbat we read Parshat Berashis. Berashis describes the 7 days of the creation of the natural world, 7 symbolizes the natural world. 8 Symbolizes the supernatural. Supernatural is a culmination of the natural world (7) taken to the next step (8) , this last step transcends the physical.
The 7 days of Sukkoht represent the natural world, we use the plants of the earth for a mitzvah and get closer to nature in the Sukkah. Simchat Torah represents the supernatural as it is on the 8th day and the number 8 represents supernatural.
Music is supernatural and transcends the physical. Music is not just notes on a page or vibrations it is one level higher. You can not explain music to a deaf person you must experience it with your soul. During the times of the Beit Hamikdash, when the Jews gathered in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur and Sukkot they stayed a little extra for the Shmini Atzeret - Simchat Torah holiday. Simchat Torah is like the encore for the Chagim. It is the closing number. We save the best for last.
The main avodah (Connection to God) in Simchat Torah is not learning, it is singing and dancing. We are a nation of scholars but the culmination of our learning is not a graduation, it is joy and happiness in starting our book over and continuing our learning. The deepest level of understanding and appreciating God’s world and his Torah is to sing out with joy that we are part of the club. It is a supernatural book club.
The Jewish people are the real academics and philosophers. What do we do with our free time? We study Torah. We read books.
This Shabbat we read Parshat Berashis. Berashis describes the 7 days of the creation of the natural world, 7 symbolizes the natural world. 8 Symbolizes the supernatural. Supernatural is a culmination of the natural world (7) taken to the next step (8) , this last step transcends the physical.
The 7 days of Sukkoht represent the natural world, we use the plants of the earth for a mitzvah and get closer to nature in the Sukkah. Simchat Torah represents the supernatural as it is on the 8th day and the number 8 represents supernatural.
Music is supernatural and transcends the physical. Music is not just notes on a page or vibrations it is one level higher. You can not explain music to a deaf person you must experience it with your soul. During the times of the Beit Hamikdash, when the Jews gathered in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur and Sukkot they stayed a little extra for the Shmini Atzeret - Simchat Torah holiday. Simchat Torah is like the encore for the Chagim. It is the closing number. We save the best for last.
The main avodah (Connection to God) in Simchat Torah is not learning, it is singing and dancing. We are a nation of scholars but the culmination of our learning is not a graduation, it is joy and happiness in starting our book over and continuing our learning. The deepest level of understanding and appreciating God’s world and his Torah is to sing out with joy that we are part of the club. It is a supernatural book club.