Simchat Torah and Hamas

It was one year ago, on Shmini Atzeret (which in Israel is also Simchat Torah) that Hamas did its evil deed.

Should we mourn for those lost and held captive? Should we rejoice, because on this holiday there is a mitzvah (commandment) to be happy?

I remember the Yom Kippur War. I was a Yeshiva student. Everyone was worried, as Egypt broke through the Bar Lev line at the Suez Canal. Things looked very scary.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed that, with the festival of Sukot approaching, it is important to rejoice, because on Sukot and Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah it’s a mitzvah to be happy.

He quoted the words from Psalm 121: “G-d is your shadow,” and he related the explanation of the Baal Shem Tov, that just as your shadow does whatever you do, so too G-d (our ‘shadow’) does what we do. So when we are happy, G-d also is happy and defeats our enemy.

So we Chassidim did what the Rebbe asked us to do. While others cried, Lubavitchers danced and sang and rejoiced.

Later on the Rebbe said, that people asked, where were the miracles of this war? The Six Day War was miraculous. But where were the miracles of the Yom Kippur War?

The Rebbe answered, that there was a huge miracle. Egypt had broken through Israeli lines. And then they stopped for three days. Why did they stop? There was nothing between them and Tel Aviv. Some said that they stopped in order to mop up and solidify their position. But there was a clear lesson from military history to keep going. In World War Two, the Germans broke past the Maginot Line, and they quickly continued into France, conquering territory, and only afterwards did they return to mop up. So why didn’t Egypt’s generals do the same?

The Rebbe explained that this was a miracle. G-d confused the Egyptians, so that they stopped for three days, giving Israel the opportunity to mobilize and counterattack.

The lesson that I learned then, is that even when things are sad and worrying, then, especially on Sukot and Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, we need to be joyful. Because when we are happy, G-d reciprocates and joyfully helps us defeat our enemies.

So let’s pick up our feet and dance. Let’s dance and sing and rejoice with G-d.

And let’s watch the miracles unfold, as G-d protects His people, and redeems us forever.

May it happen very soon.