From the Holidays to the Next Step

Bnei Baruch Internship Cohort - October 2026

Yesterday, on Simchat Torah, we reached the end of a remarkable period of connection that has taken us through the entire sequence of the Tishrei holidays.

We began with Rosh Hashanah, got through Yom Kippur, shared the festive Ushpizin meals and special Sukkot lessons, and came together for a major Unity Day event with the Israeli Kli joining in person in Petach Tikvah. Along the way, we also had the opportunity to learn from the lessons of the Citrin Convention - an experience that many friends felt was almost like a Citrin Convention of 2026.

Then came Simchat Torah. The peak of this entire process. After all the connection we've built throughout the holidays, we reach the point where we stop and gather everything together.

The lessons and festive meals we share represent something much deeper than celebration. We're trying to build a common vessel - a shared desire composed of all those who aspire toward the same goal. Through our connection, we create the conditions for the revelation of the Creator within us.

This is why the joy of the holiday is not simply about being happy. We're happy because, through all these stages of connection, we've begun to feel something shared between us. The more we connect, the more sensitive we become to the common force that brings us together, surrounds us and holds us. This is what we're grateful for.

We should also remember that we can't always hold the entire group in our awareness. Sometimes it's enough to think about a small group of friends who share the same aspiration. Even that can be sufficient to begin developing the feeling of belonging to something much greater than ourselves. Gradually, we learn to include the entire group in our thoughts and feelings.

The entire period of the holidays can therefore be seen as one continuous process: gathering, connecting, strengthening the common vessel and preparing it for the next stage.

And that next stage is already approaching. In just 25 days, we'll gather for the “Awakening from Below” Convention. This isn't simply another event on the calendar. It's the next step in the process we've been building together.

Most of the convention will be spent in tens, with friends from our local areas. The purpose is very simple: to strengthen the connection within our own ten and to arrive at the convention not simply as individuals who are attending, but as a connected group ready for the next level.

So as the holidays are now officially behind us, the important question is not only what happened during the past month. It's what we take with us.

What touched us most? What did we discover about our connection? What do we want to preserve? And, most importantly, what can we do now - individually and together - to strengthen our ten before the next gathering?

The holidays have come to an end, but the work does not end with them. As Rav put it in one of the lessons when someone asked what we come out of the holidays with - he replied: "We never come out of the holidays." We've gathered something. We've built something together. Now we have to continue developing it.

That is the real joy of Simchat Torah: not simply celebrating what we've received, but being grateful for the new level of connection we've achieved - and using it as a foundation to accelerate our advancement toward the goal.