Following the heart and the hands [clapping], the nigun travels to the feet; this is dance.
In many ways, the ultimate purpose of the nigun is to reach the realm of dance, for it
is then truly all of the physical body is attached to joy. The nigun extends to the whole
body; it lifts the feet, and in that raising of the feet one is in absolute joy and shakes
off the evil (the impure husks) within him. The dancer jumps and dances in supreme
cleaving to the sublime purpose the clinging to his Maker.
The dance of holiness is the dance directed towards Heaven. When a person dances
for the sake of filling himself with joy, joy in Hashem and the Holy Torah, this
is a great mitzvah, for it is a great mitzvah to always be in simcha, in joy, as
it is written: "Serve the L-rd with joy". Joy brings a person closer to the Holy
One and to act according to His Will. Dancing assists a person to be saved from
iniquity and to free us from the sadness and evil within us, as Rebbe Nachman teaches
in Likutei Moharan II: Torah 23. In this teaching Rebbe Nachman illuminates his
teaching through a parable, how sometimes a group of people gathered together in
joy and dance will bring in to their circle a person who is standing outside,
someone who has fallen into sadness; they may pull him into their circle of dance even
if at first it is against his will, and compel him to join in the dance, etc.
(The rule being that one has to make a great effort with all one's strengths
to overcome any and all obstacles in order to be in happiness, to be always
in a state of joy. For the nature of a person is really to draw himself towards
melancholy and sadness consequent to the events of time, his trials and tribulations;
and therefore it is only with great effort that we can coerce ourselves to be in constant joy).
Therefore, when we dance in the presence of a bride and groom in order to make them happy,
this leads to the couple's building a home rooted in happiness. This is a great mitzvah;
this is the dance for the sake of holiness. Therefore we find in Talmudic literature many
examples of great Torah scholars dancing wondrous dances in front of the bride and groom
for the sake of their joy.
Dance brings a person to self-nullification; a person, while dancing wildly, swiveling,
leaping, etc. is not in a position of honor. In the Holy Tongue the word kavod [honor]
shares the root of the word kaved [heaviness], i.e. heaviness, lethargy. So we find King
David dancing in the attendance of the Holy Ark as it was being brought to the City of
David. And as it is written: "Michal the daughter of Saul peered through the window,
and she saw King David leaping and dancing before the L-rd; and she loathed him in her
heart." And therefore King David said: 'Before Hashem, who chose me above your father,
and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of Hashem, over Israel;
therefore I have made merry before Hashem. And if I be demeaned more than this, and
be abashed in mine own eyes, [yet] of the maidservants of which you have spoken, with
them will I get me honor." That in fact the dancing and leaping and hopping before Hashem
is his honor.
And for this reason the Rambam teaches in Hilchot Lulav that it is a great mitzvah to be
joyous. The great sages, the Heads of Yeshivot and the Sanhedrin, the Chassidim and the
elders all sang and danced and made merriment; and in contrast those who restricted
themselves in concern over their own self-honor erred and sinned. He who is willing
to humiliate himself is truly honorable, and serves Hashem in joy. And that is why King
David said " And if I be demeaned more than this, and be abashed in mine own eyes
" for
there is no true greater honor than rejoicing in front of Hashem.
Hence the genuine purpose of dance is to bring a person to a state of joy, to attain
true self-nullification before G-d. The true dance is the dance for the sake of Heaven,
through which one merits worshipping Hashem in sincere service. This is why the great
sages wrote: "in the future The Holy One Blessed be He will make a circle of Tzaddikim
and He will sit with them in Gan Eden." For the true Tzaddikim have attained absolute
self- nullification before Hashem, have reached the level of the aspect of the holy dance;
and therefore they will merit dancing in the presence of Hashem in the World to Come.
And through dancing b'kedusha [in holiness] it is possible to rise above reason and logic.
Within the circles of dance it is possible to attain higher levels of emunah [faith] and
devekut [cleaving to Hashem] beyond the realm of logic and intellect, just as the dancers'
feet are functioning without intellect. When one dances for a purely holy purpose, for
the sake of Heaven, and merits consequently to achieve devekut, then through his dance
he can indeed go beyond reason and intellect and reach a higher level of holy faith and
cleaving to Hashem.
Through dancing for the sake of Heaven one conquers the primeval snake that has hold
over the feet, as it is written: "
He will crush your head, and you will bite his
heel." When the dancer lifts his heels for the sake of Heaven, with his dance he
crushes the head of the snake. Through dancing on behalf of holiness he indeed
conquers the snake, the physical body made of the skin of the snake. Through nigun,
through the swirling and holy dancing to the nigun, he transforms his body from
corporal skin to purified untainted light. And, G-d forbid, the opposite is also
true if one dances a dance connected to his evil inclination, a dance of impurity,
it is as "and satyrs shall dance there" {Isaiah 13} .
Yet the escalation of the rikud d'kedusha' [the holy dance] in the world, the level
of 'feet' will be rectified until the words of the Holy Zohar shall be fulfilled:
"Until the feet come to the feet," which is, in truth, the final and complete redemption.
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