The מליץ יושר asks the famous question, why is the primary rejoicing with the Torah now on שמחת תורה when we complete the Torah, & not on שבועות when we received the Torah?
He answers simply that now that we finished learning the Torah our joy is much greater than at the start.
He then continues to ask, why didn't the sages originally schedule the reading of the Torah to culminate at שבועות time instead of now so our joy could be complete & at the right time?
He answers that even though our joy is more complete when we finish reading the Torah than when we start it, even now, it's still not complete. Now that we learned the Torah we became obligated in all the laws. Since we fell short doing some of the mitzvos, part of what we gained by learning the Torah, we lose from the sins that we did. Therefore the sages wanted the reading of the Torah to end after יום כיפור when we are cleansed of all our sins. Then all we are left with is the reward for learning the Torah & doing the Mitzvos, so our joy can be complete.
That's also the reason, says the מאור עינים, that on שמחת תורה every male is called up to the Torah. Now that we are all cleansed from our sins we can reconnect with the Torah. As the יחאנחין פאר says, we go up to the Torah to receive the blessings that Moshe gave at the end of his life to each & every one of us, so that on this holy day of שמחת תורה when we are still pure from sin, we receive these ברכות straight from משה רבנו.
How can we retain this status? How do we stay free from sin? Or as ר' יוסף בר מבריסק says, it's not enough for us to be שמח בתורה, we have to make the Torah be שמח with us!
There's a posuk in קהלת that says ושבחתי אני את השמחה, and I praise the rejoicing. The gemara in shabbos asks, it also says ולשמחה מה זה עשה and rejoicing what does it do? Do we praise rejoicing or is it worthless? The gemara answers, when it's שמחה של מצוה then its praiseworthy. However, when it isn't, then it's worthless.
How does one know if the joy he's experiencing is that of mitzva or not, asks the שער בת רבים ? He answers if after one indulges in pleasure he's still happy about it then it's שמחה של מצוה. If one feels bad after and says ולשמחה מה זה עשה what did I do, then you know its not שמחה של מצוה.
Just as there are two ways to get simcha, there are two ways to connect to Torah. One is as it says in the posuk תורה צוה לנו משה which is the basic mitzva to study torah. Then there's the שירה of the Torah as it's referred to in וילך where it says, ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת where it calls the Torah a song.
Explains the פוניבז' רב that when the Torah is more than just an obligation for you, when it's your whole life & you're consumed by it, then it goes from being just a commandment to study to being your lifeline - your שירה.
Perhaps this is how we can make the Torah happy with us. If we take our mitzva to learn & transform it into our very essence, then we will be protected from sin & will be able to retain our exalted status throughout the year, ensuring that all the brochos of משה רבנו will fall upon us, enabling us to strengthen our commitment to Torah, bringing prosperity & happiness into our lives!
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