I usually spend several hours preparing my sermons, and for Yom Kippur I put in even more time and effort than usual. I know that the crowd will be much larger and will include many people whose only Jewish affiliation is this one day a year in the synagogue, and I work to make my sermon meaningful to all.
Come Yom Kippur, I began speaking and within minutes someone in the front row fell asleep. Now, normally it wouldn’t bother me if someone dozed off during my speech, but he was sitting right in the front and snoring loudly. I found it hard to concentrate and maintain my train of thought.
I considered telling some of the age-old Jewish jokes about rabbis and sermon-snoozers:
A congregant falls asleep during the rabbi’s sermon. The rabbi instructs the gabbai to wake him up, but the gabbai says, “Rabbi, you put him to sleep, you wake him up!”
Or: A regular shul-goer falls asleep exactly 10 minutes into the rabbi’s speech each week. This goes on for years, until one week he falls asleep before the rabbi even begins talking. After services, the rabbi approaches him. “I can understand falling asleep during my sermon because it’s obviously boring to you, but why did you fall asleep before I even began?” he asked. With a hearty chuckle, the man replied, “Rabbi, I trust you!”
As tempted as I was to try and “joke” him out of reverie, I refrained. I remembered that once Rabbi Hillel Paritcher asked the Mittler Rebbe (the second Chabad rebbe) whether it was appropriate to give over words of Torah and mysticism to people who would not understand it. The Mittler Rebbe responded, “The soul hears words of Chassidus (Torah mysticism).” So, we know that even when the brain doesn’t comprehend words of Torah, they nevertheless have an important and positive effect on the soul. And I understood that while this man in the front row may have been snoozing through my sermon, his soul was listening intently and absorbing every word.
We are on the eve of Simchat Torah, the festival where we rejoice in the Torah. Considered the happiest holiday of all, on Simchat Torah we hold the precious Torahs and dance with unbridled joy. One may think that the celebration of the Torah would involve studying its text and many commentaries, or awarding those who have mastered certain section on an expert level. But no. In the synagogue on Simchat Torah, there is no way to differentiate between the venerable scholar and the one who has only heard of the Torah a week ago. All dance equally.
While of course we should aim to increase our study and depth of knowledge of the Torah, on Simchat Torah we remember that the Torah speaks to every single Jew, regardless of his comprehension, affiliation, or interest. And this is why we dance with the Torah closed. We want all to celebrate it equally, without limitation. Even a Jew who has slept soundly the whole year round and has not studied Torah, can dance with the Torah on this joyous holiday.
L’chaim! L’chaim! Let’s celebrate together this Simchat Torah!