WHAT DO WE CELEBRATE ON SIMCHAT TORAH?
A question frequently revisited in Chasidic thought is why Simchat Torah is celebrated at the conclusion of Sukkot, rather than on Shavu’ot—the time of the giving of our Torah. The explanation is that Simchat Torah is not a joyous celebration of receiving the first set of Tablets, which occurred on Shavu’ot, but rather a commemoration of the joy of receiving the second set of Tablets Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai on Yom Kippur.
The first set of Tablets represent the Giving of the Torah to the righteous, while the second set of Tablets represent the Giving of the Torah to Ba’alei Teshuvah (those who have returned to observance). Simchat Torah specifically celebrates the second set of Tablets with all their positive traits. There are also positive traits in the first set of Tablets that cannot be found in the second, but overall, the conclusion is that there is a preference for the second Tablets, and it is them we rejoice over. This is particularly relevant to our generation, which is a generation of Ba’alei Teshuvah, which as we have said, “the Ba’alei Teshuvah will take control of Israel.”
THE DELAY OF SIMCHAT TORAH
Indeed, Chasidut asks: if Simchat Torah is about the giving of the second set of Tablets on Yom Kippur, why wait until Shmini Atzeret, the eighth day of Sukkot (or the following day, in the Diaspora), and not celebrate immediately the day after Yom Kippur? The answer provided by Kabblaah is that we wait until the Torah given on Yom Kippur is absorbed internally. It is on Shmini Atzeret, that the inner union between God and the Jewish people occurs, and so it is only at the end of the Tishrei holidays that we can rejoice.
At a deeper level, delaying Simchat Torah from Yom Kippur to Shmini Atzeret expresses a fundamental difference between a tzaddik (righteous person) and a ba’al teshuvah. For a tzaddik, everything proceeds smoothly. When he receives the Torah, on Shavuot, it is immediately absorbed internally. That is why it is customary on Shavu’ot for us to wish each other “reception of the Torah with joy and interiority.” In contrast, for a ba’al teshuvah, everything seems to be stuck. Even when he receives the Torah, on Yom Kippur, its content is not yet absorbed and settled within him, and he needs more than ten additional days until “he gets it,” so to speak. However, conversely, when a ba’al teshuvah does end up absorbing something, he or she rejoices with a much greater joy over the Torah he receives.
THE DELAY OF ABSORPTION UNTIL SHABBAT BEREISHIT
Indeed, the delay in absorbing the Torah by a ba’al teshuvah does not end with Shmini Atzeret. According to the sages, some women conceive immediately at the time of union, but there are also women for whom the absorption is delayed—a delay that can take up to three days, during which the seed remains vital (as reflected in the laws of separation before the giving of the Torah). Likewise, regarding the absorption of the “seed” on Shmini Atzeret, some absorb it immediately, on the same day, while others experience a delay in absorption.
Even among ba’alei teshuvah who rejoice in the Giving of the Torah of ba’alei teshuvah, there are levels. There are the righteous among the ba’alei teshuvah, who absorb the light and “seed” of Simchat Torah on the same day, and there are the ba’alei teshuvah among the ba’alei teshuvah, who do everything at the last moment and whose absorption itself is “stuck,” coercing them to wait until the third day from Simchat Torah, which some years is Shabbat Bereishit.
THE JOY OF GIVING THE TORAH ON YOM KIPPUR AND THE FIRST DAY OF SUKKOT
Beyond this answer, it is possible to contemplate that there is a broader and more complete process here. At first glance, it might have been proposed that Simchat Torah, celebrating the giving of the second set of Tablets, be held on Yom Kippur itself, without waiting for the next day, since Yom Kippur is a day associated with the joy surrounding marriage, as the sages state,
There were no days as joyful for Israel as the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur... and so it says, “Go forth and gaze, O’ daughters of Zion, upon King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his wedding and on the day of the gladness of his heart.” “On the day of his wedding”—this refers to the Giving of the Torah, and “on the day of the gladness of his heart”—this refers to the building of the Temple, may it be rebuilt speedily in our days.
Another stage between the spreading of joy from Yom Kippur, and the day after, to Simchat Torah, is the first day of Sukkot, about which it is said, “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day... and you shall rejoice before Havayah your God.” The sages interpret the words, “on the first day” (even though it is actually the 15th day of Tishrei) to mean that it is “first—for the accounting of sins.” What joy could there possibly be when we begin to keep an account for our sins? It is explained in Chasidut that on Sukkot, we reach a state of teshuvah from love (after the teshuvah from fear experienced during the High Holidays), which causers even intentional sins (as opposed to those transgressed unintentionally) to be transformed into merits. Thus, the joy is caused by an accounting of sins that were transformed into merits. This joy, of the first day of Sukkot, is certainly part of the joy of giving the Torah to ba’alei teshuvah on Yom Kippur. And in the “new Torah” given on Yom Kippur is the source for this principle that “intentional sins are transformed into merits.”
(from a class given on the 24th of Tishrei, 5774)
