A correspondence my colleague, Rabbi Aaron Moss, had with one of his congregants...
Thanks for the invite, but I won't be able to attend your Simchas Torah celebration this Saturday night. I have booked tickets to a game and I don't want to miss it. Anyway, I only go to synagogue for the High Holydays. You don't expect me to give up a game for another prayer service, do you?
Answer:
I agree, it would be foolish to book tickets to an event and then not show up. That's why you should come to shule on Saturday night.
Simchas Torah is a celebration of Jewishness, the grand finale of the High Holyday season. All the hard work of the High Holydays comes to fruition on this day. The prayers and Shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah, the fasting and supplication on Yom Kippur, are all just the build up to the final crescendo, the dancing on Simchas Torah.
Simchas Torah is a celebration of Jewishness, the grand finale of the High Holyday season. All the hard work of the High Holydays comes to fruition on this day. The prayers and Shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah, the fasting and supplication on Yom Kippur, are all just the build up to the final crescendo, the dancing on Simchas Torah.
We pray to be blessed with a sweet new year on Rosh Hashanah; we ask that our soul be cleansed on Yom Kippur; but it is through the joy and dancing on Simchas Torah that we actually bring down all the blessings that we have prayed for.
To go to shule for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and then miss out on Simchas Torah is like waiting in line to buy tickets to a game and not showing up to the game itself. At the height of Yom Kippur your soul was given a ticket. You claim your place on Simchas Torah.
So you have two tickets, one to be a passive spectator at a game, the other to be an active participant in a holy moment. You choose which is not worth missing: to watch the strength of the human body, or to experience the exhilaration of the human soul.
To go to shule for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and then miss out on Simchas Torah is like waiting in line to buy tickets to a game and not showing up to the game itself. At the height of Yom Kippur your soul was given a ticket. You claim your place on Simchas Torah.
So you have two tickets, one to be a passive spectator at a game, the other to be an active participant in a holy moment. You choose which is not worth missing: to watch the strength of the human body, or to experience the exhilaration of the human soul.
Some people think synagogue services are boring. They have never been to a Simchas Torah service. Try it once and you'll be a fan for life.
Good Shabbos and Good Yomtov,
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