The Culmination of It All

שמיני עצרת

The Ultimate Purpose

The Focal Point of All Yamim Tovim

The Chasam Sofer quotes earlier tzaddikim who note that we describe the Yom Tov of Shemini Atzeres differently from the way we do any other Yom Tov. In davening we say, שמיני עצרת הזה החג. The word chag, he explains, is the same as מחוג, which is the “arbor” of a clock, that is, the central axle around which the hands turn. This is because Shemini Atzeres is the focal point around which all other exalted Yamim Tovim revolve—it is the ultimate point to which we aim with everything we have accomplished during all the other Yamim Tovim.

This point is conveyed by countless Sefarim HaKedoshim. They explain that the avodah of every Yom Tov is to carry a Yid forward—bringing him closer to the נקודה of deveikus in Hashem, which is ultimately reached on the exalted day of Shemini Atzeres.

Rav Dovid of Tolna (see Magen Dovid for Shavuos) says that Shemini Atzeres is the time of [i.e., the purpose of] the existence of all the worlds, and the unity and perfection of all worlds. The more a person has utilized the previous Yamim Tovim, the more he will be aided from Above in rejoicing during this exalted day.

Cleaving for Connection

This cycle of toiling for our connection with the Ribbono shel Olam is essentially the model for our entire avodah in This World—not only for Shemini Atzeres itself!

The Ribbono shel Olam wants us to work on our connection to Him, ultimately attaining the sweetness of קירבת אלוקים—and then we must begin the work anew on a whole new level and plane. Once we have tasted the flavor of this connection, we will continue to aspire to it, wishing to taste it once again.

The hakafos of Shemini Atzeres—the joy, the fervor, and the connection that we experience—are the ultimate expression of the inherent דבקות of this day. It is the vehicle through which we express our קירבת אלוקים in the most practical way. All day, we’re in a state of yearning and cleaving to Hashem. We taste עולם הבא itself, and we express it through our fervent dancing. We sing and dance before the Ribbono shel Olam as we aspire to go higher—recognizing that only such a life is considered life, and everything else is foolishness and nonsense.

We Mustn’t Squander This Day

Shemini Atzeres is a day when the loftiest levels are being given to all of us. It is a day when the neshamah can access the most incredible closeness and connection—literally tasting the World to Come. But there’s one condition: We must show up. If we sleepwalk our way through it, we won’t be given this access.

Yiddishe Kinder don’t sleep or eat too much on this day in any case—but we can nevertheless lose everything in a short time. If, instead of participating and joining the fervor inside the shul, a person spends his time schmoozing in the hallways, he can’t expect to feel the sweetness of kirvas Elokim afterward—because it’s not being distributed outside!

A Yid must place himself in the proper place and mode of thought on such a day—among likeminded Yidden. Tzaddikim taught us regarding this day, עצרת תהיה לכם—a gathering it shall be for you—in the plural, indicating that many Yidden should come together to celebrate this day…. To dance with the Sefer Torah together, to cleave to and yearn for closeness to Hashem together, to give thanks and praise to the Ribbono shel Olam together: this is the place where we must be found so that we will receive the kirvas Elokim that is being doled out so freely.

The Culmination of Our Year-Round Avodah

We must contemplate the avodah that we have invested over all the Yamim Tovim of the year—and we must understand that this day is the culmination of it all, the moment when we come to the climax of all our avodah.

We tend to have short memories. We forget that we have relatively recently experienced a Seder night and all the preceding avodah to cleanse ourselves of chametz. The Sefarim HaKedoshim tell us here that our Seder night isn’t over yet! We’re now reaping the rewards of this avodah in the form of the great deveikus b’Hashem that we’re being given. On Shemini Atzeres, we’re showered with the earthly reward for our year-round avodah—the ultimate purpose of it all, which is to experience pleasure in the Ribbono shel Olam and to cleave to Him.

Our Closeness to Hashem Chases Away All Darkness

Trampling the Kelipos

The great tzaddikim have taught us—each in his own words—that our avodah of these exalted days of Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah bring tremendous benefit to our neshamah, for through our avodah, we trample the kelipos and the darkness.

That is, on this day, we banish the kelipos with a completely different approach from that of the rest of the year. Generally, there’s a mehalech of battle—going to war with the forces of evil. But on this day—after we have offered over Succos the פרים that correspond to the nations of the world, with the aim of weakening them—we have completed the avodah of battle. Now, the סתרא אחרא is felled—not through our battle—but by the power of our deveikus in Hashem.

Light Banishes the Darkness

To better understand how this works, lets us examine the words of Rav Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin (see Pri Tzaddik on Pesach) who explains that during Makkas Bechoros all the Egyptian firstborn died of exposure to the blinding light of Hashem revealing Himself. At that time, the Ribbono shel Olam Himself was revealed, and the impure forces automatically ceased to exist.

There are times when we must battle with the יצר הרע, and although it is very difficult, our avodah requires battle. Yet there are times when battle is unnecessary. There is so much kedushah being exposed that the יצר הרע is simply immobilized. “You have nothing to look for here. This isn’t your day. You’re outside of all this.”

On this day, we convene with the Ribbono shel Olam Himself—as the Zohar HaKadosh teaches us that on Shemini Atzeres we’re בלחודוי עם מלכא, alone with the King. The great deveikus that we attain on this day itself fells all the forces of טומאה. The darkness is banished automatically—because the light of the elevated state of our neshamah is so great.

When a Yid is “alone with the King,” the darkness simply finds no place near him. It automatically flies away, because it is the polar opposite of the great light that defines this day.

Light Accomplishes More Than War

On the day of Shemini Atzeres, when a Yid attains deveikus with the Ribbono shel Olam, he can purify and cleanse very deep aspects of his nefesh that he couldn’t access previously. He has tried battling those struggles and weaknesses—to no avail. But through the power of deveikus in Hashem, he can illuminate those areas too.

Chazal (Rosh Hashanah 16b) tell us that we blow two sets of תקיעות on Rosh Hashanah to try to confuse the Satan. Rashi explains that when the Satan sees the way the Yidden cherish the mitzvos, he is stunned into silence, and he is unable to speak ill of Klal Yisrael.

Because, as we have noted, when the Satan sees the depth of deveikus that we achieve with the Ribbono shel Olam, he is automatically banished.

The avodah of Shemini Atzeres, to feel a closeness and a connection with the Ribbono shel Olam, is the ultimate expression of the avodah of סור מרע through עשה טוב—banishing the darkness through goodness and light. The Gemara tells us that when we encounter the yetzer hara, we must drag him to the Beis Medrash. However, sometimes the basic level of עשה טוב is insufficient. But on Shemini Atzeres—when everything is Olam HaBah—all the struggles disappear, because we’re so much higher than all of them.

Where We Truly Belong

Sometimes, we see a person—even someone who does some part of what he is supposed to—who is just not as he should be. The Sitra Achara says, “He’s one of mine.”

But when this Yid shows up in shul on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, and he clutches and embraces the Torah, we know where he really belongs! No matter what happens the rest of the year, this day brings out the essence of every Yid and his deveikus in Hashem. The Satan says, “I lost him! He’s not mine!” When a Yid dances with a feeling of love, of yearning, and with a joy for the Torah, he proclaims that he belongs to the Ribbono shel Olam… and all the negativity and struggle automatically slide off of him.

Remember How Exalted You Are

The Gemara (Berachos 8a) says that the pasuk (Yeshaya 1:28) ועוזבי ה' יכלו, those who abandon Hashem shall perish, refers to those who leave behind an open Sefer Torah as they leave the shul. Said the Imrei Emes of Ger: This can be applied to those who depart from the Yom Tov of Shavuos—when we’re given so much revelation in Torah—and we leave behind an “open Sefer Torah.”

In many ways, this applies to us as we approach the climax and the culmination of Chodesh Tishrei, and as we explained, the avodah of the entire year: If we could properly appreciate how pure and how elevated we have now become, how transformed and remade we have become, we would view ourselves completely differently!

We must properly appreciate how much weight has been lifted from us! We have acquired a לב בשר, a soft heart of flesh which is open and ready and primed for G-dliness. We have become fitting vessels for deveikus in Hashem, because we have tasted deveikus b’Hashem! The yetzer hara is afraid to approach us in our current state! But we must make sure not to return to our negative habits of old.

If we’d properly appreciate and internalize this, we wouldn’t even be tempted to look at the other side. Concealment stems only from our lack of awareness of how exalted we have become. These are such great and awesome days when we can daven for and attain the highest levels of connection to Hashem, to let go of our unwanted habits and struggles through the pure light that permeates these days—illuminating every single Yiddishe neshamah.