Simchat Torah

Everyone dances on Simchat Torah, the greatest scholar and the simplest Jew. Everyone is equal; no one can tell who is the Torah sage and who has never even studied. All Jews are on the same level.

A person dances with his feet, not with his head. The feet are responsible for transporting the whole body, including the head. If people danced with their "heads" on Simchat Torah, their rejoicing would be limited, each person being only as joyful as his intellectual capacities allow. The Jew who studied more would be happier and would dance more intensely; the Jew who studied less would be less happy and take only a few steps.

The joy of Simchat Torah, however, is unlimited and knows no bounds. By dancing with our feet, we express a higher level of joy that transcends all intellectual understanding.

Everyone dances on Simchat Torah: the Jew who has never heard of G-d, and the Jew who has never had an opportunity to study Torah, who only knows that the Torah is something very precious. This knowledge alone causes him such happiness that he begins to dance, and his joy is so intense that it is immeasurable.

It is for this reason that Simchat Torah is not celebrated by sitting down and studying, for our happiness is not derived from how much Torah we understand. On the contrary, we dance with a completely rolled-up Torah scroll! Encased in its mantle, no one can even see what is written in it.

On Simchat Torah, everyone dances: the Jew who has studied much and the Jew who is just starting out on the journey, the learned scholar and the one who has no idea what Torah is all about. For on Simchat Torah all Jews are equal, rejoicing in the Torah with an infinite joy.