Simchat Torah — and October 7

I asked AI: Did the Lubavitcher Rebbe say that on Simchat Torah we dance with joy and tears, from two parts of the heart?

AI answered: Yes, this concept is central to Chabad philosophy, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe emphasized it deeply — drawing directly from the foundational Chassidic text, the Tanya.

The specific idea that “joy is lodged in one side of the heart, and weeping (or bitterness) is lodged in the other side of the heart” originates in the Zohar and is elaborated on by the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe in Chapter 34 of the Tanya.

It states that a person’s heart is expansive enough to simultaneously hold two seemingly contradictory, intense emotions, provided they stem from two different spiritual dynamics.

The Rebbe [of our generation – Y.J.] often spoke about how this paradox manifests during the high-energy dancing (Hakafot) of Simchat Torah.

• The Two Dynamics: Simchat Torah serves as the culmination of the High Holiday season. It follows the awe, intense soul-searching, and serious repentance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (which bring a brokenness and tears of yearning), immediately transitioning into the explosive, unbridled joy (simcha) of Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
• Dancing with a Whole Heart: The Rebbe explained that when a Jew dances with the Torah, the joy does not erase the tears, nor do the tears dampen the joy. Instead, the “two sides of the heart” operate at the same time. The person feels an acute, bitter awareness of their personal shortcomings or the brokenness of the world, yet simultaneously experiences a boundless, ecstatic joy in their essential, unbreakable bond with G-d and the Torah.

This Chassidic truth has taken on profound and poignant resonance for Jewish communities globally in recent years, serving as a framework for how it is possible to dance through pain, holding deep grief in one side of the heart while choosing ultimate joy in the other.

The above is all from AI.

I then wrote two words to AI: October 7.

AI replied: October 7, 2023, tragically collided directly with Simchat Torah in Israel, forever linking the darkest day in modern Jewish history since the Holocaust with the happiest day on the Jewish calendar

Because the horrific Hamas-led massacres occurred on this specific holiday, the Rebbe’s teachings on the “two sides of the heart” have transitioned from a profound mystical text into a literal roadmap for survival.

Chabad emissaries and Jewish leaders globally have pointed directly to this philosophy to answer an agonizing question: How can we dance on the yahrzeit (anniversary) of such unspeakable slaughter?

1. Reclaiming Joy as Defiance

Under Chassidic philosophy, choosing to experience the joy of Simchat Torah in the shadow of October 7 is not an act of forgetting or ignoring the victims. It is an act of spiritual defiance. The attackers targeted the Jewish people on a day of commanded celebration to crush their spirit and turn a permanent festival of light into eternal mourning. Continuing to dance with the Torah declares that while the body can be harmed, the ultimate Jewish spirit and the bond with G-d cannot be extinguished.

2. Mourning and Dancing Simultaneously

The concept of the two separate chambers of the heart explains that a person does not need to achieve “closure” or stop grieving to celebrate. In communities worldwide since the tragedy:

• The weeping chamber holds the immense agony of the lives lost, the families shattered, the missing hostages, and the soldiers in harm’s way.
• The dancing chamber holds the eternal pride of being Jewish, the celebration of the living Torah, and the resilience of a people that always chooses life.

As detailed in Chabad’s guidance on ‘How to commemorate a Simchat Torah massacre,’ the Jewish response to catastrophe is never commiseration—which traps people in paralysis—but a purpose-driven commemoration that pushes forward into the future.

When Jews around the world circle the synagogue to perform the Hakafot post-October 7, they explicitly carry both. They do not dance instead of crying; they dance with their tears, fulfilling the reality that the human heart is broad enough to hold the ultimate depth of both emotions at the exact same moment.

The above is all from AI.

May we soon experience the ultimate joy, when Moshiach redeems us, and those who passed away will rise, and the world will be filled with everlasting peace.

May we see it now.