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The Chassidic circle dance is done in a closed circle, with one hand, or both, resting on the shoulders of the dancer in front. It usually, though not necessarily, moves counter-clockwise. There is no limitation on the number of participants.

In professing the unity of G-d, as we Jews do daily and repeatedly on the daily prayers, we have to comprehend what G-d's unity means, and in contemplating this, we cause the infinite - divine light of G-d to irradiate our person, our soul, and the world round us. This is a profound and abstruse subject which is fully discussed in Chabad philosophy. But let it be said here that the unity of G-d is symbolically represented by the circle, which has no beginning or end, though we can speak of the "upper" part of the circle and "lower" part of it.

The "mystic cycle" also recalls the famous saying of the founder of Chabad: "G-d converts the spiritual into the material, and the Jew converts the material into the spiritual." In other words, creation is a "descent" of the spiritual into the material, while Divine service, particularly the fulfillment of G-d's commandments with material objects ('fringes' — with wool; phylacteries — with leather; 'citron used on Sukkoth — the fruit, etc.), constitutes the "elevation" of the material into the realm of the spiritual and holy. Jews complete this "cycle" in the scheme of creation, and make the unity of G-d a reality in our own experience. Here, again, we have further significant meaning in the Chassidic circle dance.

Pictured here is a dance at the conclusion of a successful "Encounter with Chabad" at Lubavitch World Headquarters.

Photo: Shmuel Rivkin. Courtesy of Lubavitch Youth Organization Archives