Rabbi Yaakov ben Meir Tam, known as the "Rabbenu Tam," was one of Rashi's illustrious grandsons. During the Second Crusade, on the second day of the holiday of Shavuot, the Crusaders entered his hometown of Ramerupt, and pillaged and massacred many Jews.
They broke into Rabbenu Tam's house, plundered all his wealth, and seriously wounded Rabbenu Tam. On the next day, the 8th of Sivan, Rabbenu Tam escaped Rameru and the clutches of the Crusaders.
Two years later he completed his famous treatise on Jewish ritual and ethics, Sefer Hayashar.
The day following a festival is called Isru Chag ("tied to the festival"). Tachnun (confession of sins) and similar prayers are omitted through the 12th of Sivan.
On Isru Chag, It is customary to hold a kinus Torah, a public gathering in which Torah thoughts are shared and discussed.
The words and the stories of Torah are but its clothing; the guidance within them is its body.
And as with a body, within that guidance breathes a soul that gives life to whoever follows it.
And within that soul breathes a deeper, transcendental soul, the soul of the soul: G‑d Himself within His Torah.
Grasp the clothes alone, and you are like the student who hears the words but not the thoughts. Grasp straight for the soul—or even the body—and you will come up with nothing. They are not graspable; they are G‑dly wisdom, and you are a created being.
Instead, examine those words and those stories; turn them again and again. As words from the heart are one with the heart, every word of these stories is Torah. As fine clothes and jewelry bring out the beauty of their wearer, so these words and stories will open your eyes to the G‑dliness within them.
This is what Torah is meant to achieve: that we should discover G‑d in simple stories. Because once we will find Him there, we will find Him in the simple stories of our own lives as well.