“Trink Schnapps un Byse Herring”

Historic Treasures — Episode 15: "Trink Schnapps un Esse Hering"

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel archives.

As we prepare ourselves for Yom Tov, Yom Tov Sukkot, Zman Simchaseinu — a time of dancing, a time of joy, a happy time — I want to share with you an article that Rabbi Mindel wrote called "The Significance of Chassidic Dancing." Now, it's ten pages, but we're not going to do the ten pages; we're just going to take out a nekudah from this. And this has the Rebbe's notations, the Rebbe's hagahos, on it.

But before I do that, I just want to say: the Rebbe said that how does a person know that the Eibeshter was mechaper on Yom Kippur? By dancing on Sukkot. When a person dances and is b'simcha gedolah in Zman Simchaseinu, that is a proof that everything with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur went through 100%, went through fine, and he was forgiven for everything.

So I want to say, before we start this, there was a farbrengen that Rabbi Yochanan Gordon — he was the gabbai in 770 — he farbrenged with us once. It was Simchas Beis HaShoeivah, and he farbrenged with the bochurim. And he said, "We just went through teshuvah — teshuvah of Selichos, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. Now we're also in teshuvah. What's the teshuvah now?" Teshuvah, he says, is an acronym: trink schnapps un esse hering — drink schnapps, eat herring. And he started to smile, and he said, "I'll explain it to you."

Something that the Frierdiker Rebbe said — he says it's written, but I didn't see it, but I'll just repeat the way he said it. Every morning, when a Yid wakes up, he says, "Modeh ani lefanecha melech chai v'kayam, shehechezarta bi nishmasi b'chemlah rabah emunasecha." He thanks the Eibeshter that the Eibeshter returned the soul to him, to her. Because when a person goes to sleep, part of the neshamah goes up, to Gan Eden, and in the morning we thank the Eibeshter that He returned the neshamah to us.

While people are sleeping, the malachim, the angels, in the ma'alah, have to say shirah every morning. But before they say shirah, they go around and they search for nishmos Yisroel. And they have a lot of pleasure, because they don't do mitzvos, but to see Yidden do mitzvos, they have pleasure. So on Simchas Torah in the morning, they don't dance with the Torah — they also say shirah. They go around to search, and they can't find anybody. No Yidden, no neshamos. What happened to the Yidden? They're up — they didn't go to sleep. They're dancing all night with the simcha. So they can't find the neshamos because they're dancing.

What do they find in Gan Eden? They find in Gan Eden a torn pair of shoes — meaning, the dancing, the Yidden's dancing with the Sefer Torah. They dance so much that the shoes tore, and they find the torn shoes in Gan Eden, in a way. That's how holy the dancing is.

So the Baal Shem Tov said that Malach Michoel and Malach Gavriel are much happier to find, on Simchas Torah in the morning, a torn pair of shoes, than the whole year's avodah of Yisroel. So when a person takes a bissel mashke and he dances, and the mashke makes him even happier, that's the biggest teshuvah — this is the teshuvah of Sukkot and Simchas Torah, the dancing.

And I remember, I think the Rebbe mentioned, that at the hakafos of the Baal Shem Tov, all of a sudden he started to cry. He saw a Yid sitting and learning Torah. And he already had hakafos — which was a very fast hakafos, or maybe he didn't have hakafos, because on Shmini Atzeres, Nusach Ashkenaz [unclear] doesn't have hakafos. So the Baal Shem Tov cried, and he said, "He's learning Torah and he forgot about the Nosein HaTorah." By dancing, by doing the [unclear] of the mitzvah, now is a time to dance, not a time to learn. The Nosein HaTorah is what's important.

Now we'll go back to the article that Rabbi Mindel wrote. The article goes from a simple explanation of dancing of Yidden, and then it goes to a deeper explanation of dancing.

He explains what is the definition of dancing. Dancing means a person shows on the outside what's inside — the joy, the feeling inside. You can see it in how a person dances, just like a panim, a face, he says. Panim, you see — a face is outside. Panim also means pnim, inside. You want to tell a person's feelings, you can always look at his face, and you can always see how the person feels and what the person feels — that's also the pnim, the inside. The outside, the face, reflects the emotions. The more simcha, the more you can see it on the outside.

When a person, let's say, is happy, you can see it on his face — a person smiles. When a person is happier, you see the person laughs. When a person is even happier, a person can clap with his hands. When a person is even happier, the whole body jumps — the head and the feet, everything jumps. So you can see on the outside what's inside.

Now in Torah, he says, there are a few words for dancing. Let's say he writes: mecholos. Miriam danced by Kriyas Yam Suf, he says — "u'tetzena kol hanashim achareha b'tupim u'vimcholos." Mecholos means in a circle. Now at Sukkot it says in the Torah "chageicho" — that also means circle. Chug means a circle; they dance in a circle.

Then there's another type of dancing: rikud. Rikud means jumping up and down. And the Rebbe makes a hagahah here. The Rebbe says, like at a farbrengen — at a farbrengen people jump up and down because there is no room, but when there is room, people go around. That's how he describes it.

Then he writes that some chassidim — the chassidim of the Mezritcher Maggid — used to dance to an extreme, with no self-control. The whole avodas Hashem was just dancing all the time. And the Maggid didn't like it. That's why the chassidim used to be called the Freilichen. But the Maggid didn't like it, and the Maggid said to them — and I'll read it here, and the Rebbe made a hagahah on this — the Maggid said: "Dancing should not become an end, but be used as a means in serving Hashem. Dancing is not a goal." This is a basic chassidic principle — that means the head, the intellect, rules over the heart, over the emotions. Chabad is stronger than the emotions. So dancing is not an end in itself, but it is to be used as a means to serve Hashem. This is what he wrote.

Now, in a deeper sense, what does it mean to dance — to jump, to dance with the whole body, the head and the feet? So he says there are four levels. Number one: the physical body has a head and feet. The neshamah, the soul, has a head and feet. The Jewish people have a head and feet. And the Shechinah has a head and feet.

The physical body — the head is supreme, both in position and in quality, and the feet are the lowest. But in a way, the feet are superior, for two reasons: the feet are the base of the body, and also the feet carry the body everywhere. A wrong move can even damage the head. This is in the physical body, the head and the feet.

The soul also has a head and feet. What is the head? The head is the intellect, the qualities. And the feet are the emunah, as we once mentioned — simple faith, emunah in Hashem. So when a person dances with his head and his feet, and they're equal — it has to be equal, the head and the feet — then the dance is a dance of emes. Then he realizes the Chabad, and he realizes the emunah, that you have to have emunah. You cannot have emunah without Chabad, and you cannot have Chabad without emunah, without belief.

Now, every Jew is a ma'amin. But we're talking here about [unclear]. A person can see the Eibeshter — you have to have yedias Hashem. The higher level in emunah is the yedias Hashem — how? Through Chabad. So Chabad and emunah come together. But the emunah carries a person all the time.

The Jewish people also have a head and feet. What are the head of the Jewish people? The head are the scholars, the roshei yeshivos, the mashpiim, the teachers. The feet are called the ordinary people. To be complete as a nation, as Yidden, we have to have the head — we have to have scholars — and we have to have ordinary people.

And as a matter of fact, the Baal Shem Tov said that am ha'aretz doesn't mean what we use the term am ha'aretz for. Am ha'aretz means people from the ground — and the most precious things come from under the ground. And that's what we see on the Yom Tov of Sukkot also. You have an esrog — this represents people who have both smell and taste, as we all know, meaning people with Torah and mitzvos. The lulav is only Torah — more Torah. The hadassim, more mitzvos. The aravos, chas v'shalom, have neither. And a Hoshana Rabbah can never fall out on Shabbos, because we need the Hoshanos — very important, these people, the ordinary people. So we all have to be united, and this dance shows the meaning of unity.

The Shechinah also has a head and feet. The Eibeshter's manifestations also have a head and feet. How? There is sovev kol almin and there is memaleh kol almin, he writes. Sovev kol almin is the Eibeshter the way He is above nature. Memaleh kol almin is the Eibeshter the way He is within nature. L'gabei the Eibeshter, everything is the same, but l'gabei the way we see it, it differs. So the unity is represented by the circle — no beginning, no end. And the Alter Rebbe says the Eibeshter converts from ruchniyus to gashmiyus, from the spiritual to the physical, and we, in turn, convert from the physical to the spiritual — and that's called a Godly circle. And that's the union of dancing and the Yom Tov of Simchas Torah. That's the meaning behind the circle that we dance.

Now, there's more to it, but I didn't touch upon that — I just wanted this one nekudah.

Since simcha, happiness, brings everyone together, it breaks down all fences. Now we're getting towards the end of Tishrei, the end of all the Yomim Tovim of Chodesh HaShvi'i that gave us everything. Now we're going out after Yom Tov, so we go with the simcha. When we have simcha [unclear], then the Eibeshter will give us a happy year, and we should be zoche this year to the coming of Moshiach.

Gezunterheit un freylicherheit. Gut Yom Tov.