Real Simcha
As we arrive at Simchat Torah—the celebration of rejoicing with the Torah—and the official end of the High Holiday period, we have the opportunity to reflect on the last 3 weeks and what this final observance truly means. Certainly, it provides a bookend to the celebration of Sukkot and resets the annual Torah reading cycle back to its endless beginnings.
But there is a deeper lesson to be gleaned from what it means to rejoice with Torah. Outwardly and more obviously, we dance and sing at this marking of a new year and a refreshed embrace of the Torah narrative. But for Jews, the command to celebrate all of our festivals requires more than partying and pleasure-seeking. We rejoice in our set moment to consider and assess, as milestones provide vantage points on past, present, and future.
We focus on the value and role of Torah in our lives: As a lens through which we think and believe and act in the world; as an embrace of a powerful story that binds us as a community in time and space; and as a transcendent and universal set of values that define us as Jews and as human beings.
Authentic joy is far more than a dopamine surge or fleeting emotion. It is an indelible reminder of the ideas and people who bring value, meaning, and purpose to our lives.