October 19, 2022|כ"ד תשרי ה' אלפים תשפ"ג Shmini Atzeret drasha: The Simplicity of Shmini Atzeret and the Simplicity of Simchat Torah
Print ArticleThere was a guy who was walking through the Sahara desert, desperate for water, when he saw something far off in the distance. Hoping to find water, he walked towards the image, only to find a little old man sitting at a card table with a bunch of neckties laid out on it. The guy asked, "Please, I'm dying of thirst, can I have some water?" The old man replied, "I don't have any water, but why don't you buy a tie? Here's one that goes nicely with your shirt." The guy shouted, "I don't want a tie, you idiot! I need water!" "OK, don't buy a tie. But to show you what a nice guy I am, I'll tell you that over that dune there, about five miles down, there is a nice restaurant my brother runs. Go over that way, they'll give you all the water you want." The guy thanked him and walked away towards the dune and eventually disappeared. Three hours later the guy came crawling back to where the old man was sitting behind his card table. The old man said, "I told you, about five miles over that dune. Couldn't you find it?" The guy rasped, "I found it. They wouldn't let me in without a tie."
Water is a central theme on Shemini Atzeret. We recite a special prayer for rain on Shemini Atzeret, but water is but one illustration of what Shemini Atzeret is all about, and that is simplicity. First, as mentioned, what we ask for on Shemini Atzeret is very basic. We want water. Water is not perceived as something special. We recite a very generic bracha on water, shehakol nihyeh bidvaro, that everything is created by God’s word, as opposed to specialized brachot like borei pri ha’etz or borei pri hagefen, when we identify the item over which we bless – the fruit of the tree or the fruit of the vine. We don’t get excited about water. It’s very simple.
Additionally, the ritual on Shemini Atzeret is simple. On Sukkot we did a lot of stuff. We had not one but two special holiday mitzvot – the sukkah and the lulav. In the time of the beit hamikdash, we offered a lot of sacrifices. We worked hard to celebrate God. However, on Shemini Atzeret, we do neither, sort of. In Israel, there is no lulav and there is no sukkah and there are very few sacrifices. Of course, in the diaspora we like to create problems so we eat in the sukkah but don’t recite a blessing and complicate our lives, but at least in Israel, Shemini Atzeret is very simple. There ritual is very basic and there are no unique holiday ritual mitzvot. Why so simple?
For seven days of Sukkot we engaged in complexity. There is a value to the complexity of Sukkot with all the sacrifices and all the ritual mitzvot. Each mitzvah is rich with symbolic meaning and helps us appreciate the underlying values of Sukkot and there is rich discussion, both halachic and hashkafic, about these mitzvot and values. But there is also room for simplicity because when we celebrate with simplicity, we are all the same. We bring one special par, or bull, on Shemini Atzeret, there is no debate about whether a certain type of lulav or etrog or sukkah is kosher or not because we don’t practice these mitzvot on Shemini Atzeret, at least in Israel. Baruch Hashem, in the diaspora, we ruined the simplicity when we argue about whether we should sit in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret or not, but in an ideal world, everything is supposed to be simple on Shemini Atzeret.
And what happens when everything is simple? The midrash tells us that God says to us on Shemini Atzeret, “Kasheh alai preidatchem,” or “your departure is difficult for Me,” and therefore, God tells us to stay one more day, the day of Shemini Atzeret. But the Shem Mishmuel explains this line in a different way. “Kasheh alai praidatchem” means that “your division, your divisiveness, is difficult for Me.”
The Shem Mishmuel writes that we are all different. Some of us excel at the midda of Avraham Avinu. We live lives of chesed and we are giving and we reach out to others. We have no boundaries. Some of us excel at the midda of Yitzchak Avinu – the gevura, the discipline, the yirah – the reverence for God. For seven days we are all together, all doing the same special Sukkot mitzvot in Jerusalem together to unite us and then we are going to disperse, each one with our own shoresh neshama, each one with our own different hashkafa, our own different religious worldview. However, on Shemini Atzeret, we are like Yaakov, the fusion of Avraham and Yitzchak. We just sing together and dance together and connect with each other.
“Kasheh alai preidatchem,” says God. “I know you are different. I know that you are Ashkenazim and Sephardim, and Litvaks and Chassidim, and Republicans and Democrats. Some of you who will only use a non-canvas sukkah and some of you will use a canvas sukkah. Some of you will buy a greenish etrog and some of you who won’t, and that’s all good because that’s how I created you, all differently.” But Shemini Atzeret is about simplicity in ritual because there are times when we need to overlook the complex and focus on the simple. We all need water and that’s what we pray for today. We offer a basic, simple sacrifice today. We do everything together today, because there is so much power to communal ritual experiences.
And do you know what our response to Shemini Atzeret is? It’s Simchat Torah. God tells us to stay one more day in simplicity to teach us the value of simplicity in communal ritual, and our response in the diaspora is to stay one more day in simplicity to teach us the value of simplicity in Torah and Torah study. That is what we are doing on Simchat Torah.
Initially, in Talmudic times, in Babylonia, the Jews would complete the Torah every year on the last day of the Sukkot holidays, which eventually was named Simchat Torah, and in Eretz Yisrael the Jews would complete the Torah every three years. Already in the times of the Rambam the practice all over the world had followed that of Babylonia, to celebrate Simchat Torah every year on the last day of the Sukkot holidays. Simchat Torah is us telling God, “You celebrate us by telling us to stay one extra day. Now we celebrate you. We conclude the Torah and begin Breishit, celebrating the cyclical nature of Torah.” We read about the end of the life of Moshe who is known as Moshe Rabbenu, our founding Rebbe, who created a legacy thousands of years ago that we still passionately pursue each and every day. Tonight and tomorrow, we are just going to dance to celebrate that Torah. It’s simple – not intricate shiurim, not high-level learning – except for my wife’s inspiring shiur, of course – but other than that, just singing and dancing to celebrate our connection to the Torah.
Sometimes we need to be reminded what the essence of these holidays is all about. In 1945, in the Feldafing Displaced Persons Camp, a certain lightheadedness that sometimes accompanies the Simchat Torah davening was missing. And after the congregation davened maariv, the time for hakafot had come. At that moment each group came forward to demand their style of hakafot be conducted. The German Jews had their manner and the different Chassidic groups had their way. Even the Salonikans and other smaller groups spoke up about having their customs observed at this time. The quiet talking among the individuals escalated and before long a full-blown loud argument broke out in the shul. Some peacemakers tried their best to calm the crowds but the tensions ran high. It appeared that this Simchat Torah would just not be.
Sitting in the corner was a middle-aged man. His name was Shmuel, and he provided a stark contrast to what was transpiring in the shul because he sat so placidly in the corner. Perhaps part of the reason he sat in the corner was because he never spoke. No one ever heard him say a word. Some speculated that he was in shock from the time his family had been killed in front of his eyes, but no one could be sure. And during the arguing in shul, he sat all the while watching and observing what was happening. The hostility grew to the point where some feared it would come to fist fights. It was at that moment that Shmuel stood up.
He walked slowly to the center of the room where the arguments were most intense. One by one those who noticed the usually invisible Shmuel striding to the center of the room immediately quieted down, wondering what he was about to do. He walked through the crowds and by the time he reached the center of the room the crowd was quiet. The tranquility and calm that descended seemed to be at odds with potential for a thunderous explosion that threatened the sanctity of both the shul and the Yom Tov. But the respect for Shmuel “the silent one” could be felt by all.
All eyes were focused on him and he looked around the room at all the people who waited with baited breath to see what he would do. He opened his mouth and a teardrop formed in his eye. “S-i-s-u v-e-s-i-m-c-h-u b-e-s-i-m-c-h-a-s T-o-r-a-h.” Four words. “Rejoice and be happy with the happiness of the Torah.” And then he moved away. The four words hung in the air. But the message penetrated each and every heart. Those gathered began to think to themselves, “What do we have left? Nothing! V’ein shiyur rak HaTorah hazos – we have nothing left but the Torah! Let’s celebrate what we have left, that which brings us all together.”
Slowly and silently the arguing crowds dispersed, and they regrouped peacefully as remnants of a nation that had survived to live for the sake of the Torah. No one ever remembers Shmuel saying another word. But those words that he said will never be forgotten.
Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are all about simplicity – simplicity for the purpose of unity – unity in ritual and unity in Torah. Some of us may not wish to dance tonight or tomorrow because maybe we haven’t been so involved in Torah study, but that shouldn’t be a reason to stop us. In fact, there was once a poor simple Jew who was dancing on Simchat Torah with such joy and the rabbis came over and asked him, we who study all year long and truly appreciate the gift of the Torah, we have reason to dance and be happy on Simchat Torah. But you don’t learn during the year, don’t live the Torah like us – why are you so happy? The poor ignorant man said, wouldn’t I dance my heart out even if it was my brother’s wedding? Everyone can participate in this unity of ritual and Torah.
We are about to recite Yizkor. In connection with Yizkor, I ask you to help out in today’s appeal, one of two annual appeals for our charity fund. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of need in our community. Last year, the overwhelming majority of funds went for local needs and unfortunately, the need promises to be greater this year. For obvious reasons, I am not divulging names, but there are a number of situations in the community which will require significant funds throughout the year and I hope that those who are able to contribute will do so and those who are able to contribute significantly will do so. The Yizkor appeal creates a sense of community in the area of tzedakah and chesed.
But today and tomorrow are days when we can tap into the simplicity and unity to inspire us after the holiday to create more deeply inspiring opportunities that can unite us as a community in both ritual and Torah. We have to find more ways in the coming year to replicate the beautiful youth Shabbat we had a little more than a week ago when fathers sat with their sons and mothers sat with their daughters in shul and there was a tremendous feeling of communal ruach and singing. I don’t view what we accomplished then as a novelty to be done maybe once or twice a year. We need to do these things regularly. We need to create more ruach filled Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat experiences when everyone comes out to sing and daven together. When we announce these opportunities, push yourselves to come out with your family to help create these deeply inspiring communal moments of ritual. We are also starting a new season of Talmud Torah in the fall with parsha shiurim, gemara shiurim, semichas chaver shiurim, parsha chaburot for women, tzurba mai’rabanan halacha shiurim for women and many other opportunities. I understand that many of us learn alone or listen to a shiur and the advantage of that is that we can arrange our own schedule accordingly. But Simchat Torah teaches us the value of communal spiritual experiences of Talmud Torah. Form a chabura, a group that commits to grow spiritually and learn together on a weekly or even monthly basis, tap into the power of community that Simchat Torah provides for us. May God help us all take a little bit of the simplicity and community of these two days to truly energize us for the coming year.