Part II -- Succos
The first part discussed
teshuvoh and the yomim
noraim.
Zeman
Simchoseinu
There was one great principle upon which Volozhin -
- the
Mother of all Yeshivos -- was founded. That is, as Reb Chaim
explains in Nefesh HaChaim, " . . .that if the world --
even
for one split second -- would be devoid of talmud
Torah, the
universe would collapse entirely on the spot."
Because of this, Reb
Chaim set up shifts in the yeshiva, that
there be continuous learning
twenty-four hours, seven days a
week! Even on motzei Yom
Kippur, when everyone went
home to revive themselves after the
fast, Reb Chaim himself
would sit and learn, reviving his soul with
talmud
Torah. As a matter of a fact, Volozhin Yeshiva did not
have bein hazmanim over the yomim tovim. The
zeman continued. "Shabbosim and yomim tovim were
given
to Klal Yisroel to busy themselves with talmud
Torah" --
and Volozhin upheld that firmly.
Yomim noraim, Succos,
Shemini Atzeres-Simchas Torah and
all other yomim tovim, were
celebrated together with
the talmidim within the walls of the
yeshiva. Every Yom
Tov had its own signet which Reb Chaim impressed
upon his
talmidim. It continued thus throughout the years of
Volozhin's existence.
As was the Vilna Gaon's custom, his closest
talmid, Reb
Chaim Volozhiner, celebrated Simchas Beis
Hashoeva with
great pomp and ceremony. Every night of chol
hamoed
Succos, the talmidim and their rebbeim would
celebrate for hours on end.
They began by reciting the fifteen
Shir Hama'alos posuk
by posuk and then they would break
out in dance, which
would last until the wee hours of the morning.
Divrei Torah
be'inyonei deyoma were said by the roshei
yeshiva.
During the term of the Netziv (son-in-law of Reb
Itzele, the
son of Reb Chaim), Simchas Beis Hashoeva would at
times
begin in the afternoon and stretch past midnight, or even
until daybreak! At the peak of celebrations the
talmidim
would go out into the streets, dancing their
way to the homes of the
roshei yeshiva. Singing and
clapping, they would escort their
rebbeim to the beis
medrash, where the festivities
continued.
"One who did not witness Simchas Beis Hashoeva
in
Volozhin, has never witnessed true joy," said those who were
indeed privileged to feast their eyes upon that remarkable
sight.
The oft-repeated songs were "Atoh bechartonu"
and "Boruch
Elokeinu," "Mas'eis Nafshi," and
"Yoma Tova lecho,
Rebbe." They would also sing the
famous "Volozhiner
niggun," and piyutim from the
Yomim Noraim. When
they got to the niggun of
"Yachbi'einu betzeil yodo,"
they would break out in
their famous chain-link dance, which was a
sight to behold.
All the specialties for the occasion, such as the
delicacies
that gladden one's heart, and so on were seen to by select
talmidim of the yeshiva's finest. They had been
especially
elected before yom tov at the general
assembly of the
talmidim.
Among the many things that Reb Chaim used to
retell his
talmidim, especially Succos time, was the contents
of a
precious letter which he held in his possession. It was a
handwritten letter from the gaon, the Bach, av beis
din of Cracow. He had written this letter to his son-in-
law,
the great gaon, the Taz, the rov of Ostrow. It read as
follows:
"Hashem has granted me the opportunity to have a new
suit made
especially for Yom Tov. However, I lack the sum
needed to pay for its
completion. I know that I have four gold
coins that are in your
possession, which I need at this time.
I am therefore asking you to
please send the money to me.
Beforehand, however, please take off six
pennies and give them
to your wife, my daughter shetichye, so
that she may
buy nuts for Yom Tov and gladden her
heart."
Whenever Reb Chaim read this letter to his
talmidim,
tears would stream from his eyes as he drew the
following
lesson: From this letter, one can appreciate how the
geonim of the previous generation learned Torah. Amidst
such
poverty and privation they managed to be content with
their little
bit, and satisfied with their lot.
Rejoicing with the
Torah
Simchas Torah too, with all the customs and practices of
Volozhin - was patterned after the Vilna Gaon's
hanhogos. At
the hakofos, both Simchas Torah
night and after
Shacharis the next morning, the
talmidim danced in
honor of the Torah until their
energy was spent. Thereafter, when
they got to the
tefillah of Oleinu Leshabei'ach, the
Oron
Hakodesh was opened and Oleinu was recited in the
musaf niggun of Yom Kippur! At "va'anachnu
korim," all
the talmidim would bow, falling upon
their faces, actually
prostrating themselves on the floor, as
was the Gaon's custom on
Yomim Noraim.
A talmid of the yeshiva during its
second era -- in the
time of HaRav Rafael Shapiro (son-in-law of the
Netziv), wrote
the following: Even during his time, years and years
later,
this minhag was still adhered to. When he tried to
research the reason for it he could not come up with any
concrete
answer, other than that it was the Vilna Gaon's
custom. He also heard
that in other communities which followed
minhagei haGra, they
did likewise.
The Gaon on Simchas Torah
On the
topic of Simchas Torah, it would be in place to
digress in
order to briefly describe the great joy experienced
by the Vilna Gaon
on this day. It is worth retelling, although
such madreigos
are far beyond our comprehension . .
.
One of the Gaon's
talmidim tells over the following:
The Gaon was intensely
joyful on Succos, yet increasingly so
on Simchas Torah. He would walk
before the sefer Torah,
displaying such ecstasy, with such
vigor, that it was amazing
to witness. When the sefer Torah
was returned to the
Oron Hakodesh however, the Gaon's
intensified
simcha was reduced to the ordinary joy experienced
during the rest of Yom Tov.
Both simchas haTorah
and simchas Yom Tov are
opportunities for happiness, yet
each unlike the other. The
Gaon's fine-tuning was so perfect that he
differentiated
between the two types of simcha, setting each
one at
the degree he felt it should be. Obviously, this great level
is far, far beyond most. Yet with the great gaon and
chossid of Vilna, his evaluation of and ability to
determine the
degree of joy to be experienced was in
proportion to his great
stature. While the Volozhiner
talmidim were taught to aspire
to this
madreigah, they could only yearn to climb to these
lofty heights.
Getting back to Volozhin, it is not coincidental
that every
Succos night's festivities ended in the beis medrash.
The celebrations would continue past midnight, and
occasionally
till the early hours of the morning. Yet, after
hours and hours of
true simcha, dancing, and exertion,
the talmidim would
immediately go up to the beis
medrash and begin learning
diligently! This occurred after
every Simchas Beis Hashoeva,
and on Simchas Torah as
well. Even on Pesach -- after the
Seder had ended with
Reb Chaim's extraordinary niggun of
"Chassal Siddur
Pesach," the bochurim left Reb Chaim's
home. Yet,
they did not head to their lodgings, but turned towards
the
beis medrash instead. It had been hours since they had
last seen their gemoras, and they fell upon them like
starving men. Starving not for bread, "ki im lishmo'a es
divrei
Hashem . . ."
This was not unusual for the Volozhiner
bochurim. It
was simply another manifestation of joy, of
Simchas Torah
expression. And shouldn't it have been so? Didn't Reb
Chaim
exhort and demand that all Torah learning take place amidst
joy?
He did so for two reasons: First, for the great purpose it
accomplished: One who learns in a joyous state will learn and
accomplish far, far more in one hour than he would have after
learning for hours in a downhearted state. Second, for the
learning
in and of itself: "The Torah is the treasure of
Hakodosh Boruch
Hu, and one should rejoice with this
great prize," as Reb Chaim
would say in his Pirkei Ovos
shiur.
This interesting
practice, which puts the priceless value of
limud haTorah in a
different light, was typical of Reb
Chaim's beis medrash. Be
it from days of teshuva
and cheshbon hanefesh, as in
the yemei hadin
vehorachamim, or from days of happiness and
exultation, as
in Succos -- zeman simchoseinu, and Simchas
Torah,
Volozhin always returned to that principle of Truth; the
principle which is so eloquently phrased in the Nefesh
HaChaim: "One who is oseik beTorah . . . becomes a
partner to Hashem Yisborach, the Creator of the
Universe. For
by his learning Torah he upholds the very
existence of all the
world."
The above appeared in the Tishrei, 5750 edition of the
biannually published Kol HaTorah journal. The material
was
later incorporated into the author's two-volume, Avi
Hayeshivos about Volozhin. This article has been translated
with
permission.
