When harsh decrees threaten the Jewish people, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov prescribes an unexpected remedy: dancing and clapping hands.
The logic runs through a teaching about what constitutes God's greatest glory. According to the Zohar (II:69a), when Yitro, a pagan priest, arrived at the Israelite camp and declared, "Now I know that God is great" (Exodus 18:11), God's name "grew greater and more exalted above and below." In other words, God's greatness reaches its fullest expression when those who are farthest away come to recognize Him.
But the nations of the world can only encounter God through the spiritual pathway of Jacob. "O House of Jacob, come let us walk in God's light" (Isaiah 2:5). And Jacob's unique contribution, compared to the other patriarchs, was making God accessible. Abraham called the place of worship a "mountain." Isaac called it a "field." Jacob called it a "house" (Pesachim 88a).
A mountain is remote and forbidding. A field is more accessible but still exposed. A house is where people actually live. Jacob elevated prayer from something awe-inspiring but distant to something intimate and inhabitable. "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations" (Isaiah 56:7).
When prayer reaches the level of "house," even those who were far away can enter. And when those far-away people praise God, that is when "God is great and highly praised" (Psalms 48:2). The Hebrew word me'od (מאד), "highly," is linked by the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) to the Angel of Death (Bereishit Rabbah 9:5). God's greatness is most fully revealed when even the realm of death praises Him.
Dancing and clapping hands accomplish this elevation. The feet, the lowest part of the body, are lifted up. The hands, which represent judgment, strike together and sweeten the harsh decrees. Physical joy transforms severe judgment into joyful recognition, turning the mountain into a home.