What is the Significance of Dancing With Joy

Welcome to our weekly Mivtza Shabbos program.

We are now in the time of Zman Simchaseinu, the happiest time of the year.

Now, it's after — it's the time of Chag HaAsif, and I'm sure everybody knows why it's called that: that's when we gathered the crops, so that people should have what to eat. So it's a zman simchaseinu, and also the Rebbe said that when a person is [joyous], that shows that he was forgiven for everything that we asked for, and that [Hashem] will give us a good year. [unclear] And it's gathered, and [Hashem] gives us — and as it says in the posuk with a gimmel — and we should have a good year and a happy year, and we should only hear besuros tovos.

At this time, I want to share with you an article that Rabbi Mindel wrote, and the Rebbe made hagahos on it. The Rebbe made many, many notations on this article. This is called "What Is the Significance of Dancing," and Rabbi Mindel begins — he writes: "The face mirrors the heart."

One can tell the feelings of another person by looking at his expression, at his face. His face tells what's in his heart. Feelings of pleasure, feelings of joy, or anger, or a person is surprised, or a person is disappointed — you can see on the face what's in a person's heart.

Even if a person carries a secret, you can see on the face that the person has [something] — we don't know what it is, but you can see on the face; the face tells everything. And it's not a coincidence that in Hebrew the word panim, face, comes from a word meaning "inside" — we see from the face what's inside the person, what's in the person's heart.

Now, these expressions are natural. It's hard to control, and the person doesn't realize that it's on his face. This is a natural thing. So the face tells what's in what's in a person's heart. I think there was a well-known story — I think I remember that Napoleon thought that [a certain person] was a spy, so he put his hand on his heart, and he could control it — he couldn't tell. But not everybody is that type; usually people can't. That's the way it is. That's what's called panim.

Now there is an even stronger emotion, such as the voice, or people clapping with their hands, or dancing from joy — that's also natural. It manifests in dancing and clapping. The whole body dances, everything, from the joy, and the person doesn't even realize it, but this is an even stronger emotion — through the voice, singing, or dancing.

Now, dancing for joy is the highest manifestation of the most intensive feelings of the inner happiness. A feeling that manifests in the entire body, head and feet.

The Simchas Beis Hashoeivah of Sukkos shows the highest level of happiness, meaning a circle — they danced in a circle. Sukkos, the dance was in a circle; that's one way of dancing. Then there's another way of dancing — this dancing is called "jumping" — people are dancing up and down, not in a circle. In a circle, people dance in a circle; they can also dance up and down at the same time. So why is that called [differently]?

Because a circle is done in a closed circle, with one hand holding another person, or on the shoulder of the person in front of him, and that's how they dance around. There is no limitation on the number of participants — in a circle you can have five people, then you can have more, ten people, twenty people, a hundred people, a thousand people can make a big circle, but you need room — you need room to dance in a circle.

But when a person dances up and down, it's more often when it's crowded. When it's crowded, you can't have a circle — it's too crowded, you can't make a circle. So people dance up and down, like by a farbrengen. Remember, we saw by the Rebbe — everybody, it was thousands of people — they were dancing, they were singing, up and down. There's no room. But when there's room, that's the difference. That's why — even though you dance up and down, you can make a circle when there is room, and when there's no room [you dance up and down].

Now, as a side point, the Rebbe goes on — he mentions that dancing is hardly done during davening; during prayers they don't sing and they don't dance. Nowadays — this happened lately — I mean they sing, but [not during davening]. By the Poilishe [Chassidim] — meaning even though they're Hungarian, or they come from other places, but I'll call them the Poilishe — they sing and dance much more during davening than Chabad does. Chabad dances all the time [at other times, but not so much during davening].

Now, at the beginning, in the time of the Baal Shem Tov, there were those who were against them — the people were against them. The only way they served Hashem then was through dancing and singing, through the heart, not the intellect — that was how they served G-d, because they felt the intellect is cold. So when you daven, you have to sing and you have to dance. But this custom, that was then by the [early chassidim], went out of control. They saw that singing and dancing could not last too long, so you also need intellect.

So today, I mean, you don't have it like then, but they sing more songs, they dance — dancing in the middle of davening is more [limited]. [unclear]

It says in Tanya that the physical and the spiritual are blended, that everything in the physical world has a counterpart in the spiritual world. This is the way. So I just wanted to point out the difference, and now let's go back to the dancing.

When a person dances, the entire body moves from head to foot, absorbed in joy. The legs, however, play the principal part, because the whole body moves, but what makes it move are the legs.

So the concept of head and feet is not only in the physical body, but the neshamah, the soul, also has a head and feet, and this concept is in the neshamah, and also the entire Klal Yisroel has a head and feet, and also [Elokus] has a head and feet.

In the physical body, the head is supreme, both in position and in quality — the head is on top. That's why we once said there are three important organs in a person's body: there is the head, and in the middle is the heart, and on the bottom is the liver or kidneys. A person is a melech over his body — a king over his body. So the head is on top because the head rules over the heart. By animals, the head and the heart and the liver are on the same level.

So anyway, the head is on top, and the head has a special quality, while the lower part of the body is different. But there is something in the feet over the head: the feet serve as the base for the entire body, to carry it from place to place. If the head wants to go somewhere and the feet cannot go, it won't go. So the head is important, but the head must have feet.

The head can decide where it wants to go, but the legs must carry it to the desired destination. The Rebbe wrote here, in English: "Without the power of the legs, the whole body, including the head, would be handicapped. Moreover, should the feet stumble, even lightly, the whole body, including the head, crashes." So the feet — even though the head is [primary] — the head and the feet, the feet are also important. This is in a body.

The same thing in a neshamah, in a soul. The soul has a head and the soul has feet. The head of the soul is the intellectual qualities, and the feet are the faith, the emunah — the simple faith, which is the basis of the entire Jewish spiritual life. This is true of every single Jew, that the emunah is the feet.

Therefore, when Yidden dance, it emphasizes the greatest quality — simple faith, which is the feet, and the feet carry the whole body. So you need the head, but without the emunah, everything else doesn't count for much.

Now the entire Jewish people as a whole also have a head and feet. It's like a single organism, as the Rebbe put it — it's one. What does it mean, "one"? What's the head? The head are the Chachamim, the gedolim, the sages — these are the head of Klal Yisroel. The ordinary Jews are the legs.

Obviously, the legs cannot be separated from the head, nor can the head be separated from the feet. They have to be together. You can't say, "I'm only the head," or "I'm only the feet." No — in order to be one, you have to have both. There must be complete unity and harmony within the organism. There must be unity and harmony among all Jews to be one healthy organism.

So when they dance together, in a circle — everybody is the same. I mean, in a circle there is the top of the circle and the bottom of the circle, but there's no end; it's one, it's united. And that's how they dance together, the head and the feet. So the head is the [scholars], and the feet are the plain people.

As for here, the Rebbe has more — so let me read what — that's the original. As for G-dliness as it is manifest in the world, there is a head and feet. So the Rebbe says the head is Kallim [above nature] and the legs are Malim [within nature] — both, of course, are unified in the oneness of G-d, of Atzmus.

The distinction is only valid in our human concept, but not in reality. It's we who distinguish between the divine attribute as it manifests in nature and that which is over and above nature. The unity of G-d is represented by the circle, which has no beginning and no end. Though we can speak of an upper part, the Rebbe writes, and a lower part of a circle, but it's round.

The mystical cycle — the Alter Rebbe says — that the aleph converts the spiritual into material, and the yud converts the material into spiritual. Creation is a descent of the spiritual into the material, which then divines a service and specifies the fulfillment of a mitzvah [with] material — tzitzis has to be [wool], it's holy, but it has to be wool; tefillin have to be leather; the esrog has to be a fruit. So, in other words, to elevate the gashmius, the Jews complete the cycle. That's what he writes here.

And here again we have the significance, the meaning of dancing in a circle.

So anyway, there's much more to talk about, but since Sukkos is coming up, and as it is said that there are forty-eight hours of [simcha at the start of the Yom Tov], we should dance with [joy] — so there will be Hakafos together, and Hashem will give us a good [year]. And we are not going to have a program next week; we never have a program [during the Yom Tov]. So our next program will be after [the holiday]. Thank you.