A vort from the Rebbe בנוגע שמיני עצרת ושמחת תורה. Shemini Atzeret comes after the seven days of Sukkos, and the Midrash says, and Rashi brings it towards the end of פרשת פנחס, that it's a mashal of a melech, a king who made a party for a lot of his friends and he celebrated many days. And then at the end, after that's finished, he says to his best friend and he says, we were celebrating a lot with everybody, but now בוא ונתגלגל אני ואתה במה שנשאר, let me and you specially have our own little party with whatever is leftover. The same thing here, during Sukkos it's something that's noge'a to the whole world. The קרבנות that they brought added up to 70, showed that this is connected to 70 nations. When it comes to Shemini Atzeret, the קרבן was one because that's the time when the Aibershter and the Yidden are together, and the Aibershter says that I want you to be with me extra because, as he says there, קשה עלי פרידתכם, it's hard for me that you're leaving. When you're leaving me, you're nifrad, separating, it's hard for me. So let's stay another day. And that's when the Aibershter said, that's why the Aibershter said the mitzvah of Shemini Atzeret, and now מדרבנן we also have Simchat Torah, that is the day that Aibershter says now, because it's hard for me to separate myself, we should be separated, so therefore I'm asking you to stay another day.

But the Rebbe asks the question that if the problem is that it's hard for him to separate from the Yidden, what's going to help another day? If it's hard to separate, and you would do something that they shouldn't be separated, that we would understand. But here, they're going to be separated the next day. So what do they gain that you have another day? So it's another day, but it doesn't accomplish much. So we must say the Rebbe says that Shemini Atzeret, the fact that we don't separate on Shemini Atzeret, is not just something that's noge'a to that day that we'll be another day together, but this makes it that later on after that, we're also not really separated.

And the Rebbe explains it like this. When we say there's a separation between the Yidden and the Aibershter, it's not מצד the Aibershter's side. The Aibershter is always connected to the Yidden. It chas v'shalom could be מצד the Yidden's side. A Yid could turn away chas v'shalom from the Aibershter. What really makes a Yid be chas v'shalom separated from the Eibershter? That's if there is a separation amongst Yidden themselves. If the Yidden don't have achdus, there is a separation, that is a form of a way what that leads to a Yid should separate from the Eibershter. And this is the pshat that after Sukkos, the Eibershter says that קשה עלי פרידתכם, it's hard for me that we separated, and by being another day, the day, the way at Shemini Atzeret, this will make that you will not be separated. How is it? The reason the Yidden are not separated the Yidden during Sukkos are not separated from Hashem, cuz we said a Yid is separated chas v'shalom from Hashem if the Yidden within themselves are separated. Sukkos the Yidden are b'achdus. The whole inyan of Sukkos represents the inyan of achdus. The sukkah represents achdus, in theory all the Yidden could be in one sukkah, but mainly the four minim. The four minim are the ones that represent achdus. It represents four kinds of Yidden, and we put it together, we make one mitzvah out of it, that's achdus. But since this is an achdus that comes because of the mitzvah, so the mitzvah is מאחד them, the mitzvah combines them. But after Sukkos, when that mitzvah is over, then it's possible that the פירוד should come back. So the עצה is, in order the פירוד should not come back, so the עצה is that on Shemini Atzeret we are with the Eibershter, and that guarantees that we will not be separated. Meaning what? Because the achdus that there is Shmini Atzeres is a greater achdus than the achdus that's there during Sukkos. Since the achdus of Sukkos is connected to a mitzvah, so it's not בעצם that the Yidden are all united. It's the mitzvah that unites them. And even more than that, even when they're united, we don't take all the מינים and mix them together and make them into one. They remain four separate מינים. אלא מאי, we put them all together in one group. So it's not really that that's real achdus. But the achdus of Shmini Atzeres, when you brought one korban which represented all the Yidden, that's an achdus among the Yidden, so it's not an achdus, a unity of details of specific things, separate things. It's לכתחילה one thing. And therefore, when you dance on Simchas Torah, all the Yidden dance and they all dance equally. It's not a time when the עיקר ענין is to learn. You always have to learn. Simchas Torah you also have to learn, but that's not the mitzvah of the day to sit and learn. When you sit and learn, then there's a difference. One guy learns better, a guy learns not so deep, there are differences. We're dancing with the Torah, there's a connection of Yidden to the עצם of the Torah. The Torah is cloaked with a גארטל, and it's closed with a מענטעלע, covered with a מענטעלע, and we're all dancing together, so that's a type of achdus that's not limited to anything. When you have that achdus, that helps that even later on the achdus should continue.

And that's what the Eibershter is saying. We were seven days together, and there was achdus, and ממילא if there's achdus among Yidden, so the Eibershter and the Yidden, the Yidden are connected to the Eibershter, we're one. Now that Sukkot is over, the mitzvah is over, so who knows what's gonna be? So let's have another day, and that day will be a type of achdut that is not dependent on anything. And if it's not dependent on anything, that is a type of achdut that will continue. And that's the inyan that's gonna be at Shemini Atzeret, that we brought one korban, and we dance with the Torah all together as one, and that brings that the achdut should be for throughout the whole year. And that's the peshat when the Eibershter says, we celebrated seven days, קשה עלי פרידתכם, the פירוד that's going to be between us, which comes because the פירוד is between Yidden themselves, because there's could be a פירוד after Sukkot is over, when that type of achdut is finished, let's do another type of achdut, which is gonna be a real achdut, beyond any details, beyond any specific things, and mimela if it's be'etzem one, then that lasts longer. And that's what Shemini Atzeret Simchat Torah is. It's a time when we're happy with the Torah, but we have to remember that it's not only that we're happy that we have the Torah, it is through the Torah that we become one nation, a nation that's united between ourselves and a nation that's united with the Eibershter. And that's how we get all the berachot, because we say in davenen, ברכנו אבינו כולנו כאחד, which means bless us all, our Father, together, but the Alter Rebbe in Tanya says what it really means is bless us, our Father, when we are all together, then we get the blessing. So we have the achdut, first of Sukkot, but then the real achdut of Shemini Atzeret Simchat Torah, we will get the real berachot of Hashem in all the inyanim that we need, and hopefully the main berachah, which is the berachah of the coming of משיח בקרוב ממש.