Dancing Alone - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

because one year ago in Sim succeeded in murdering our bodies but if we allow them to to get us down and depressed if we allow them to keep us from serving Hashem with joy and dancing well then we are handing them another Victory on a silver platter we're handing them a spiritual Victory and as my wife Shaina said as we're approaching Sim Tora that this year we are not only dancing for the victims of last year's Massacre we're not only dancing for those who are still captive we're also dancing ing for them meaning in their stead they can't dance but we we're dancing for us and we're dancing for them and we will dance with more passion and love and vigor and joy than ever for them and so ironically it appeared that there wasn't going to be a minion at the farm for Sim Tora Jeremy spoke about this last Shabbat but I want to speak about you know Sim Tora which was strange because I don't I can't remember the last Shabbat or holiday that we didn't have a prayer service at the farm and to not have one on simat Tor seemed tragic but it but you know like I'm just trying to put my hands up for everything and Jeremy said you know fine it's okay we will go and walk with our families to the nearby Village of Ian nakal who we love over there and we'll celebrate with them and they're very special people and we went there at night and uh I mean it looked like it was an Armory there were maybe I don't know how many rifles and guns and it was just all these guys that got out of the Army just for that day and came to dance with their families and their children it was really special but when we were walking home we saw that apparently there had been a miscommunication that there was a prayer service a very unique prayer service that was Dan that dancing in our house of prayer were maybe 11 or 12 people nearly half of which appeared to be mentally disabled in wheelchairs and the others appeared to be their caretakers and it turns out that they were a last second group staying at the farm and they warmly hopefully invited us to join them the next day so they wouldn't just have a quorum of 10 you know but they would be we'd be able to and of course like if that that is an opportunity Jeremy and I both said of course we're going to do that no question and prayers were called to begin at 900 a.m. and 9:00 am came and no one was there okay that happens fine 9:30 nobody there 10 o'clock nobody there keep in mind this is a year since from SIM Tor I have all of these expectations and Visions in my mind of how I'm going to dance and what this is going to be and then 10:30 nobody there nobody there and I was getting increasingly upset but then that spiritual immune system kicked in and said no no I'm not going to let that happen this too is from Hashem Gamul this is for the good a there's nothing other than Hashem and the Spirit came over me giving me the strength to just dispense of the expectations and the feelings of anger and embrace what was and so I just went into the house of prayer and grabbed the Torah and started dancing and singing with all of my heart and all of my soul on the top of my lungs as I danc Around the House of Prayer all alone I was just alone there was people outside Shaina was outside with the kids talking to neighbors and they all just looked what is Ari doing dancing with such fervor all alone and uh you know my kids came in and they started a little bit and then a few other people showed up and danced and within the next hour or so they all came and and more than that we all danced for hours with these holy mentally disabled Jews and you could tell that the Physical Realm they were disconnected from and the spiritual realm they were hyperconnected to and they were just with smiling and joy and prayers and blessings and and the the just you know the Sweet Holy people that were taking care of them we were all dancing together and more people came many more I don't even know where they came from and we we just it was like aidic story and we danced until nearly 3:00 I really believe it was the most exalted Sim Tor that I've ever had I was even honored to bless the Torah for what is known as the children's blessing When the Children all congregate under the prayer Shaw and uh then there's one person that comes up and blesses the Torah and the children are all around them and they all say amain and it's so exciting for them I got to be that guy and I think Jeremy made that happen I'm not sure if you did Jeremy that was very kind and if not you could have tried to make that happen I would have appreciated that but anyways um you know you know when we read the Torah on Sim Torah we finish the last verses ofarim Deuteronomy and then we begin bit Genesis immediately thereafter so there's not one moment without our being immersed in the Torah and uh and I always felt like a little cheated because that means that Genesis which is arguably the most powerful and mystical of all portions we don't even get an entire week to study it but that is Sim T and that's the nation of Israel and we celebrated and danced like never before