We have to ensure that our simcha is beyond any limitations, a simcha in the fullest sense, and simultaneously it is a spiritual simcha, a G-dly simcha, a simcha that celebrates and expresses our connection with Hashem, and our willingness to continue, increase and extend that connection throughout the year.
One of the ways of implementing this is by associating the simcha with practical hachlotos tovos for the coming year, in Torah and Mitzvos and in machshovo dibur and maaseh. And for us, that includes, of course, increased learning chassidus.
This is what we saw, in the early years, after hours of singing and dancing, at 5 in the morning, when the Rebbe personally distributed mashkeh and taught a niggun, he tied it with every single person committing to a new shiur chassidus.
When the simcha throughout the 48 hours of shmini atzeres and simchas Torah is with the yearning to serve Hashem better, to learn better and daven better in the coming year, and to express this with practical resolutions, then the Simcha is not one of prikas ol, - then the Eibishter is not ch”v absent. When the simcha is with true chassidishkeit, with kabolas ol, then the simcha is a direct continuation from the Awesome experience of Hashem’s Kingship on Rosh Hashono and Yom Kippur.
Then the simcha is dancing with the Eibishter, it is a simcha that expresses “Malchuscho malchus kol olamim”, a simcha that experiences and internalizes “Atoh horeiso lodaas . . Ein Od Milvado”!
