"You have turned my mourning into dancing; You have loosened my sackcloth and girded me with joy. " (Psalm 30:12)

"All my limbs shall say, 'O Compassionate One, who is like you.' " (Psalm 35:10)

"Praise Him with drum and dance...Let all souls praise God, Halleluyah!" (Psalm 150:4,6)

Prayer is often understood as an expression of the soul's yearning for its Source; yet from the perspective of Jewish tradition, prayer is an expression of the yearning of the entire human being - the soul and the body - for the Creator. An example of this idea is found in the following verse from the Book of Psalms: "My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You" (Psalm 63:2). There is therefore a Jewish custom to sway with our bodies when we pray, for our bodies are also yearning to come close to our Source. In this spirit, the women of Israel - those who were liberated from the bondage of Egypt - taught us a joyous form of prayer which unites body and soul:

"When Pharaoh's cavalry came with his chariots and horsemen into the sea and the Compassionate One turned back the waters of the sea upon them, the Children of Israel walked on the dry land amid the sea. Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aharon, took her drum in her hand and all the women went forth after her with drums and with dances. Miriam spoke up to them, 'Sing to the Compassionate One, for He is exalted above the arrogant" (Exodus 15:20).

After the Compassionate One had saved us from our pursuing oppressors, Moshe and the men sang a joyous prayer of thanksgiving (Exodus 15:1); yet, as the above passage indicates, Miriam and the women not only sang the prayer; they "danced" the prayer! The Midrash teaches that just as Miriam and the women praised the Compassionate One through dance, so too in the messianic age, we will all praise the Compassionate One through dance, as it is written (Psalm 149:3), "They will praise His Name with dancing" (Midrash Tehillim).

The above Midrash finds another allusion to the dance of the messianic age in the following Divine promise concerning the future redemption: "As in the days when you left the land of Egypt I will show him (Israel) wonders" (Micah 7:15). Just as the women who left Egypt experienced the "wonder" of prayerful dance, so too in the messianic age we will experience this wonder. Why, however, does the Midrash refer to prayerful dance as a "wonder"? The Hebrew term for "wonders" in this prophecy is "niflaos"; and we have a tradition that this term also refers to another wonder: the harmonious union of the physical body with the spiritual soul. This is why our prayer of thanksgiving for health concludes with the words, "Blessed are You, O Compassionate One, Who heals all flesh and acts wondrously" (Rama, Shuchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 6:1). Just as health is one expression of this great wonder - the union of body and soul - so too is prayerful dance. And just as we experienced the wonder of this dance when we left Egypt, so too we will experience this wonder during the final redemption.

King David revealed another aspect of this wonder when he danced before the ark carrying the Torah:

"David then went up and brought the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David with joy... David danced with all his strength before the Compassionate One" (II Samuel 6:12,14). David taught us to dance before the Torah. What is the connection between dancing and the Torah? The path of the Torah emphasizes movement and activity in this world; thus, it can be viewed as a sacred "dance" which contains various "steps" - the 613 mitzvos of the Torah. And through this sacred dance, our souls elevate all areas of our physical existence on earth.

The idea that the Torah is a dance with 613 main steps can help us to understand why the mitzvos given at Mount Sinai were first taught to the women who danced at the sea. When we first arrived at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the Compassionate One said to Moshe: "So shall you say to the House of Jacob and relate to the Children of Israel" (Exodus 19:3). The Midrash Rabbah explains that the first phrase "the House of Jacob" refers to the women, and the second phrase "the Children of Israel" refers to the men. The wording of the verse indicates that Moshe was to first teach the mitzvos to the "House of Jacob" - the women! Why were the women given this honor? According to one answer in the Midrash, the women were spoken to first because "women move quickly to fulfill the mitzvos." They intuitively understand that Torah is a Divine dance; thus, they are eager to perform the "steps" of this sacred dance. They therefore merited to hear the "dance instructions" before the men.

May we all merit to experience the life and the joy of this sacred dance.

Shalom,

Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen

Related Teachings:

1. Dance is often viewed as a way to express the physical drives of the nefesh, the life-force which animates the physical body. Jewish tradition, however, views dance as a way of using the physical strengths of the nefesh to express the spiritual drives of the neshamah - higher soul. There is a danger, however, that dancing can evoke our physical lusts and cause us to ignore the spiritual yearnings of our neshamah. If dancing is to serve as a form of sacred prayer, then we must strive to both protect and enhance the spiritual nature of our dancing. We therefore have an ancient and sacred tradition of men and women dancing in separate circles. Miriam and the women danced separately, and other references to this sacred tradition appear in our Sacred Scriptures. For example, regarding the joyous praise of the Compassionate One in the messianic age, it states, "young men, as well as young women, old men together with lads" (Psalm 148:12). The rejoicing of the old men and the lads is "together" - in one circle; while the phrase "young men, as well as young women" indicates that they form separate groups. Biblical references to this tradition are cited in Sefer Chassidim (168) - a 13th century classical work on ethics and holiness.

2. There is another reason for men dancing with men and women dancing with women: the way men dance with men and the way women dance with women is not exactly the same. If one closely observes a circle of men dancing and a circle of women dancing, one will became aware that each group has a distinct energy and beauty of its own. In fact, a number of my friends who have rediscovered their spiritual Jewish roots have also rediscovered the spiritual energy and beauty of our traditional way of dancing. In addition, they have become aware that our traditional way of dancing gives men and women the opportunity to bond with the members of their own sex in a joyous, spiritual way.

3. In Biblical Hebrew, the term for dance is usually "machol" - a term which also refers to a "circle-dance." In fact, the "circle-dance" is the main form of dancing at Jewish celebrations. Why does our tradition encourage dancing in a circle? This form of dancing helps us to connect to our Creator through connecting with each other. Each soul is a spark of the Divine, and the circle-dance reminds us that all our souls are connected.