There’s a Chassidic teaching from the Baal Shem Tov (see it here on Chabad.org) that on the morning after Simchat Torah the angel Michoel and his helpers clean up the synagogue and they collect torn parts of shoes from the lively Simchas Torah dancing and fashion from it a crown for G-d.
If the angels were cleaning up this year at Shabbos House on Simchas Torah morning, I know some of what they’d find.
The Class of 2003 bought the bima cover for Shabbos House. It’s a golden color, embroidered in purple: “Home Away From Home – Class of 2003”. We read Torah and lead prayer services on it each week. Towards the upper-center of the Bima cover there’s a large embroidered crown with colorful (plastic) gemstones. Its now a decade later. The dancing this Simchas Torah in 2014 was so lively and intense, with such dynamic and enthusiastic banging on the Bima, that a few of the gemstones popped off. Take a look later tonight, you can see the surrounding embroidery with the gemstones missing.
The missing gem stones from our Bima cover crown recalls yet another Chassidic story, a parable of the Alter Rebbe:
Among the early students (later teachers and leaders) of Chassidim there was an argument about how much of the inner dimension of Chassidic teachings should be shared with the masses. Reb Pinchas Koritzer, an elder student of the Maggid was insistent that these mystical teachings be kept to the inner circle and not shared broadly. R’ Schneur Zalman, the Alter Rebbe, founder of Chabad, saw it exactly opposite and wanted to share and teach it as much as possible to whomever interested. One day R’ Pinchas Koritzer came across a publication of holy Chassidic teaching floating about in the street gutter. He was terribly upset, and rushed off to the R’ Schneur Zalman (later to become the Alter Rebbe) and said, “Look what happens when you share this out in the open! I found this floating about in the gutter!”
The Alter Rebbe responded to R’ Pinchas with a parable (that ties back to our lost gemstone): There was once a king who had an only son. The prince fell ill and doctors were called from all over the kingdom to heal him, but to no avail. The prince just got sicker and sicker. Then one specialist recommended a certain mineral as a cure. It could only be found in very rare and precious gemstones. The stone would have to be ground to a pulp, mixed with water and a small portion of the mixture fed to the prince. The king lost no time and began a search for such a stone. As it turned out the only such stone available was the crown jewel of the king’s crown. Ordinarily, the crown is treated with great respect and has tremendous national symbolism, not to mention the cost and value etc. But here the life of the crown prince was at stake! Immediately, the king ordered the stone be removed from the crown, ground up to a pulp and mixed into a solution. Most of the jewel never made it inside the prince, but just enough got in to save his life – and the future of the kingdom!
Indeed, the Alter Rebbe explained, Chassidic teaching and the inner mystical dimension of Torah is a crown jewel in G-d’s crown. And it must be treated with the utmost care and respect. But the crown prince is at risk! The Jewish People need droplets of this inspirational teaching to revive and uplift them. We can not stand on ceremony. We can not fret about waste. We must do whatever possible to share and inspire and teach, even if only a few drops make it in, so that a Jew can internalize this teaching and it can be a spiritual revival.
Based on this story, and the missing gems from our Simchas Torah, here’s one more thought. Usually, we think of Simchas Torah as it means literally – rejoicing with the Torah. This celebration is about the Torah. But as the Rebbe often insisted (based on Moses breaking the tablets and the last Rashi of the Torah, and in many other talks) Simchas Torah celebrates the Jewish People!
Am Yisrael Chai!
And even though we were all danced-out, and it was at the end of a long stretch of holiday, many of the students at this Friday Night dinner post Simchat Torah got up to dance! It was beautiful and so heartwarming…