Simhat Torah: What Are We So Happy About?

By Rav David Dov Levanon, yeshiva.co, translated by Hillel Fendel

In the Hallel prayer we recite this verse: "This is the day G-d wrought, we will rejoice in it/Him." The Midrash asks about this last word: Is it "it," or "Him?" That is, are we supposed to rejoice in the day, or in G-d? 

Rav Avin in the Midrash says that the answer is found in King Solomon's Song of Songs (1,4), which states: "We will be glad and rejoice in You" – "we will rejoice in You, G-d – in Your salvation, in Your Torah, and in Your awe." 

But what difference does it make if we rejoice in G-d, or in His special day? Is not our joy in commemorating or performing His commandments the same as joy in G-d Himself?

Let us look at the entire verse in Song of Songs: "Draw me, we will run after You; the King has brought me into His chambers; we will rejoice and be happy in You." I believe that this verse alludes to the month of Tishrei and its special holidays: "Draw me, we will run after You" refers to the High Holidays when we wish to repent and return to G-d so that He will grant us life in which we can strive to follow His dictates; the King has brought me into His chambers  refers to the Sukkot holiday in which we take shelter in the Sukkah, the "shadow of faith" – and we will rejoice and be happy in You indicates Simhat Torah/Shmini Atzeret which has no practical mitzvot [such as the lulav, etrog and Sukkah of Sukkot], but just happiness alone. 

With this, we can now answer what difference it makes if we rejoice in G-d or in His mitzvot: We will rejoice and be happy in You indicates Shmini Atzeret – and this refers to another Rabbinic teaching, which is that the essence of this day at the end of Sukkot is that G-d is asking us to remain one extra day and celebrate just by ourselves with Him – without the other nations [who come to the Temple for Sukkot], and even without other mitzvot. "Parting from you is hard for Me," G-d says, "so please remain just one more day."

The message is that on Sukkot, when there are so many mitzvot – the Four Species, the Sukkah, the sacrificial offerings – we are so busy with mitzvot that sometimes we are distracted from G-d Himself! He therefore asks us to remain one more day just with Him alone, with no distractions other than the happiness of the day itself. But even this happiness can possibly turn into a "mitzvah" object, if we attribute it only to the day – for time is also something that was created and can distract us, even though it is intangible. Therefore the verse states, We will rejoice and be happy in You – only in You, in G-d Himself. 

Similarly, our rejoicing on Simhat Torah focuses on the "light of Torah" – G-d's wisdom – as opposed to the "candle of mitzvah" (see Proverbs 6,23) which are the technical commandments that we must fulfill. 

This is also borne out by the fact that Simhat Torah rejoicing involves the participation of all Jews, whereas the Sukkot celebrations of Beit HaShoevah in the Holy Temple (and even nowadays, to some extent) include only the communal leaders. Should it not be the opposite, given that the Torah is studied chiefly by the scholars and leaders? The answer is that our joy on Simhat Torah is for the Giver of the Torah - We will rejoice and be happy in You – and regarding G-d and our relationship with Him, we are all equal. But on Sukkot, where the commandments are the main thing, it is appropriate that only those who actually fulfill them would celebrate, each according to his level.

The Woman Who Chose Her Husband Again

On this verse We will rejoice and be happy in You, the Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabba relates a fascinating parable: 

"There was a woman who lived with her husband for ten years but had no children. In keeping with Halakhah, they went to R. Shimon bar Yochai to arrange a divorce. He said to them, 'Just as you married with a festive meal, so too you must not separate without a festive meal.' They did so, and the woman wined and dined her husband to the point that he became drunk. He said to her, 'My daughter, choose any beautiful object you see in my home and take it with you back to your father's house.' When he fell asleep, she told her servants to take her husband to her father's house. When he awoke, he asked her, 'What am I doing in your father's house?' She said, 'You said I should take whatever object I want from your house – and I found nothing better in the world than you…'  They went back to R. Shimon, who prayed for them, and they had a child."

Why did R. Shimon bar Yochai not pray for them at the outset? Because if they were willing to act according to their intellect telling them to separate, in keeping with both Halakhah and natural law, then that is what they should do. But once they reached the conclusion that this was not a solution for them, because their emotions and feelings did not allow them to separate, R. Shimon realized that their salvation must come from the super-natural, from the power of prayer. 

The message of this parable is that even if we have not merited to have our deeds produce good results, and we are "barren," and by logic G-d should want to "divorce" us – the great love that we have for G-d comes along at this time of Shmini Atzeret/Simhat Torah showing that we do not want to separate, and that we want only Him – meaning that He simply can't divorce us. And by virtue of this, even when we are barren of good deeds, we can be blessed with "fruits" of Torah and mitzvot.  

Our conclusion is that even if the teshuva that we did on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, and then on Sukkot, was not sufficient to merit us G-d's positive remembrance, the joy that we rejoice on Shmini Atzeret, and our deep feeling of how difficult it is to part with G-d, can correct all the shortcomings. This is why this happiness applies not only to the generation's tzaddikim and scholars, but to Clal Yisrael in its entirety.