Simchas Torah

The Rama brings that on Simchas Torah we make a mishteh, a seudah, in honor of finishing the Torah. One source for this is from a Midrash on Shir HaShirim which states: Hashem came to Shlomo HaMelech in Giveon in a dream and said, “ask what you want and I will give it to you.” Shlomo responded, “You shall give a heart that understands.” Hashem granted Shlomo his request and the passuk states, “Shlomo brought Olos and made a feast for all his servants.”

Rav Shimon Schwab asks: The comparison between Shlomo and Simchas Torah is very difficult. Shlomo received a present of new wisdom from Hashem, and he therefore made a mishteh to celebrate. How does this apply to finishing the entire Torah and making a mishteh on Simchas Torah?

Rav Schwab explains that the excitement and joy at a siyum when finishing a mesechta is the “hadran alach, returning to you.” One who finishes a mesechta has gained much understanding and clarity. Now, with all this acquired knowledge, one can start over again while being more capable of understanding the mesechta even more and a lot better! This is exactly the essence of the mishteh of Shlomo. His celebration was about being able to have a better understanding; for the Torah and mitzvos to become clearer. So too, this is what we celebrate on Simchas Torah. We have gone through the whole Torah, and had a full year of learning the Parshiyos and much more.  Now we can take all that knowledge and understanding to restart while being smarter, and enable us to delve into the holy Torah better and more thorough than before.

May we be zoche to new achievements in Toras Hashem!