Let My People Know

"When we dance, we stamp our feet on the earth in order to ascend to heaven"

 

What is dance? 

In dance, people join one another. 

No one is left alone. 

There is music, overt or hidden, which envelops everyone, unifying them all. 

When we dance, we stamp our feet on the earth in order to ascend to heaven. 

Again and again, the dancer kicks the floor of the world, because he does not want to remain there. 

He wants to rise an inch, half an inch, whatever. 

It is as if the dancer were saying: "I refuse to remain with the lower waters that do not want to rise; I still want to rise!"

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From an essay, "Simchat Beit HaSho'eva" by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz