We do not celebrate Simchat Torah on Shavuot, because the Torah requires our response; nor do we celebrate it on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, since this represents a time of judgment and atonement.Therefore we wait until the end of the climactic feast of Sukkot to celebrate the Torah, wherein "you will be completely joyous" (Deut. And in that light we see our Beloved Above. “We do not have clothes to cover us, nor a Torah scroll with which to dance. These intermediate days on which work is permitted are referred to as Chol Ha-Mo’ed, as are the intermediate days of Passover. Really? The highlight of the second day, Simchat Torah (“The Joy of the Torah”), is the hakafot, held on both the eve and the morning of Simchat Torah, in which we march and dance with the Torah scrolls around the reading table in the synagogue. _May Simchat Torah bring success and happiness in all our lives. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. We need to dance our way to the liberation of our souls. _Let us welcome the beginning of a new cycle of Torah readings on Simchat Torah Day. Sep 17, 2019 - Explore Ellen Dietrick's board "Simchat Torah", followed by 173 people on Pinterest. Fire may also be transferred or carried if there is a great need. Here are 5 ways in which you can make your Sukkot & Simchat Torah on Zoom more uplifting and engaging: 1) Spotlighting with the Torah: Send young families a surprise plush Torah in the mail or encourage families to craft their own Torah using materials from around the home. So too, you and your God are one, and the Torah is the marriage that binds you and has bound you for the journeys of 3,300 years. Simchat Torah. On Simchat Torah that cycle is finished when the last verses of Deuteronomy are read. “Why should the souvenirs of your Jewishness be solemnity, self-searching, starvation and proper decorum? Simchat Torah (literally "Rejoicing of the Torah") immediately follows the week-long Sukkot festival. And most of all, Simchat Torah is certainly not normal. Simchat Torah is given a curious description in Torah: “On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you… it is a holding back (atzeret)” (Leviticus 23:36).What in the world is a “holding back?” The Midrash explains: God says to Israel, “I hold you back unto Me.” It is as a king who invites his children to a feast for a number of days. Haftarah. “Grab a Torah and dance your heart out. Simchat Torah Day. And if you do, you don’t need to know whether you agree with them or not. On Shavuot we spend the entire night studying. “You don’t have to know the words wrapped up in that scroll. Our tradition, in its infinite wisdom, made this day a celebration of the Torah. Sometimes I can’t help but to stand back to watch the singing, the dancing and the celebration, and wonder, “What are we happy about? These are God’s books. See more ideas about simchat torah, torah, sukkot. Through those cracks we see the light. Is this normal?”. The hakafot are done twice, on the night and morning of Simchat Torah, and in some communities also on the night of Shemini Atzeret. _Let the celebrations begin in all the synagogues of the world because it is Simchat Torah Day. No sin or transgression can weaken this bond; on the contrary, it was the breaking of the First Tablets that uncovered its power and invincibility. Or any of our holidays. It is our birthright, this Torah, and as long as we can dance the birthright dance, the Torah will remember us. Next Reading. “There is a crack in everything,” sung Leonard Cohen, the Jewish bard of Montreal. The alert, tweeted by a college student, was vague: A man in a MAGA hat near West Virginia University was apparently asking for the locations of local synagogues and mosques. 1) During the morning service, all the Torahs are again taken from the ark and the hakafot, the joyous circling of the night before, is repeated. Click here to find one near you. Divine work to be treated solemnly, with respect and awe. And it’s a heck of a lot of fun. Messages for Simchat Torah. In this portion. For discussing. “And on the eighth day, you shall assemble and no manner of work shall you do (Numbers 29:35)”. The eight day is called Simchat Torah, “The Joy of Torah.” It is a day to celebrate our love for the Torah. We can’t cram a year’s worth of work in, right before the deadline (see Mitzvah of Hakhel – Deuteronomy 31:10-13 here). For understanding. Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah is ambiguous holiday. Simchat Torah - is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Remember who and or what the Torah is? On this day, we carry the Torah scrolls and dance for hours around the bima (the platform where the Torah is read) – celebrating the completion of the yearly cycle of Torah readings, and the beginning of a … For that is a Jew: One who embraces the Author within the book, the Teacher within the teaching, God within a scroll. Deuteronomy 33:1-2:3. Bounce off the walls and onto the street. Everyone receives an aliyah on Simchat Torah, even the children. Simchat Torah begins in Israel tonight, a day before it starts in the Diaspora. (You can unsubscribe anytime), © Copyright 2021 Tribe Media Corp • Powered by Lightdrop. The Joyful Celebration of the Torah The Torah adds one additional day (the 8 th day of Assembly) in which the Jewish people are to gather once more and rejoice after the celebration of Sukkot draws to a close. Because everyone understands. The plain and simple fact that, hey, you’re a Jew and there’s no stopping you! Simchat Torah means “the joy of the Torah.” It celebrates the completion and restarting of the Torah learning cycle. All the synagogue’s Torah scrolls are removed from the ark and are carried around the sanctuary in a series of seven hakafot (circuits). “That’s how the light gets in.”. Simchat Torah, observed on the last day of Sukkot, is the Jewish holiday of rejoicing with the Torah. Observant Jews do not work or travel on this yom tov or “holy day.” Shemini Atzeret is immediately followed by the joyous holiday of Simchat Torah—or “rejoicing of the Law”—which is traditionally celebrated by dancing with Torah scrolls and … Is this reason or madness? • Torah is an all-consuming flame and the Jew is its red-hot coal. This year it will be just the 8 of us and I'm not sure how much dancing or Torah kissing will be going on. Rabbi Tzvi Freeman is senior editor at Chabad.org and teaches at West Coast Rabbinical Seminary and The Happy Minyan. The hakafot are an event not to be missed. Biden Should Change That. If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. Before we die, let us celebrate Simchat Torah one last time.”, “We do not possess anything,” the boy continued. During the morning service of Simchat Torah, worshipers read the last parasha of the year in Deuteronomy. Go nuts.”. We and the Torah become mutual strangers and the synagogue becomes a place where you meet God as one might meet one’s ex once a year over a coffee. Books are for reading. In the evening, the yearly cycle begins again with the first reading from Genesis. In many places, they dance with them through the streets. Even Rosh Hashanah is Simchat Torah. You shall do no laborious work. Go nuts. The eighth day is another holy day on which you present your special gifts to the Lord. Why? Like in the gas chamber of Auschwitz, where a group of young yeshiva boys, stripped of their clothes, knew full well what was coming next. A Jew must be on fire. We see the cracks within. The student government at California State University Northridge (CSUN) unanimously passed a resolution adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism on... Jewish Journal Wins 5 AJPA Awards Including Best Weekly Newspaper, Jewish Journal Wins 5 AJPA Awards Including Best Weekly Newspaper ⭐, People Still Won’t Wear Masks and It’s Madness, The Anti-Zionist Glee at Sheldon Adelson’s Death, CSUN Student Government Adopts IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism, Finally, a Persian Version of “Goodnight Moon”, Complete Nuremberg Trials Recordings Online For the First Time, Top Biden Nominee Says She Erred in Inviting Anti-Semite to Speak While In College. Festivities. Simchat Torah is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. We dance with Him in the synagogues and in the streets. Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Jewish Journal. Not this year. Putting out a fire for the purpose of making food is permitted. Please, fellow Jews, let us go beyond Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Otherwise, using electricity, driving, working, and the other forbidden activities of Shabbat are also forbidden on Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. For detailed holiday how-tos, visit our expanded Simchat Torah section. So let us dance with God Himself before we return our souls to Him.”. Today is January 17, the day most Americans will quit their resolutions — and I’m really excited about it. I’m serious. It all takes place in a karate dojo on Pico Boulevard. _May God bless you with peace and happiness on Simchat Torah Day. Do you work on Simchat Torah? September 29, 2021. We Don’t Have Adequate Tools to Combat Domestic Terrorism. Bring your family, your children, your friends for Simchat Torah. This is a Jew: Someone who dances with God’s book. Scrolls are books. This holiday marks the completion of the annual cycle of weekly Torah readings. Grab a Torah and dance your heart out. On Passover night we ask, “Why is tonight different than every other night?” — just because we’re crunching on flat bread and dipping a veggie in salt water. Of course it isn’t. “This special day is typically celebrated by spirited dancing with the Torah, which is something that seems impossible to replicate this year while maintaining proper safeguards,” the document reads. No, it’s not the Jew that’s cracked. All madness is lost, love gives way to reason, and the marriage is on the rocks. If you have been invited to friends or family for dinner, please confirm what time to meet. You don’t have to know the words wrapped up in that scroll. Simchat Torah is a component of the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret (“Eighth Day of Assembly”), which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei. It’s the festival that is notoriously dull for women. Simchat Torah marks the completion of these annual Torah readings. Holy scrolls. I can ignore the aesthetics; if the chairs are in the way, or the women’s section feels too small, I can work around all that. Torah Reading. When the former Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died in 2013, there were some on the left who regarded her passing as a moment for celebration. Across the globe, it feels as if we are treading water. Simchat Torah means "Rejoicing in the Torah." Police brace for virus rule violations at ultra-Orthodox Simchat Torah events ... TOI Community Times of Israel Community — if the work we do is important to you, join us! On Simchat Torah, we read the last Torah portion, then proceed immediately to the first chapter of Genesis, reminding us that the Torah is … You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. We can now return to Simchat Torah and answer all our questions. Let it be circles of joy and explosions of song and dance. The first few verses of Genesis are read immediately afterward, thereby starting the cycle again. The people are literally bouncing off the walls. At a Chassidic minyan where I regularly hang out and sometimes teach, it’s Simchat Torah on every Shabbat and Yom Tov of the year. So I am turning to my menu and bringing a little more Torah onto our plates, starting with this adorable Torah scroll challah shape, you can find here the how-to … Joshua 1:1 - 1:18. Starting the cycle after Simchat Torah and hoping it all turns out doesn’t work either. *NOTE: The Simchat Torah festivities can last many hours. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You need only to dance with that scroll, as a married couple dances through life together despite their differences, despite all the unresolved baggage, despite all vicissitudes — because they are one, because their love cannot be extinguished, and so they cannot part. The shtiebel becomes a “house of worship,” the chazan becomes a cantor, Yom Tov davening becomes “The Festival Service,” and we just sit there watching, obeying commands to rise and be seated, sitting quietly through the rabbi’s sermon. It goes further. When the Jew ceases to see beyond the black ink on parchment; when the Jew no longer feels a living covenant and an eternal bond with the infinite; when the Jew finds only curious legends, quaint stories and archaic laws, and dissects the Torah as though it were the frozen cadaver of some Ice-Age creature; then God is lost in translation, and the Jew is lost in a sea of oakwood pews. There was one boy who sprang up and shouted: “Brothers! • This is the Torah of the Second Tablets, the Torah we celebrate on Simchat Torah. Bounce off the walls and onto the street. Let it be circles of joy and explosions of song and dance.”. Why did we choose the most serious days of the year to reaffirm our Jewishness? You need only to dance with that scroll, as a married couple dances through life together.”. Embrace fellow Jews you never saw before, jump and twirl with them in celebration of … what were we celebrating again? Return of the Jodi: 365+ Movies with Jodi Berman Kustanovich. The Simchat Torah festivities begin with the evening service. And yet, there is a point when the Jew could become lost — when the One wrapped up within the scroll is lost. Your IP: 209.124.66.14 Pandemic Times Episode 117: Can The Hebrew Letters Change Our Lives? On Simchat Torah, we’re hopping around in circles, dancing wildly with books — yet nobody asks a thing. But dancing? 1 and working our way around to Deuteronomy 34. Beloved Above what time to meet joy of the Torah, Sukkot of the Torah, observed on eve... Letters Change our lives Jodi Berman Kustanovich of … what were we celebrating again week-long... You can unsubscribe anytime ), © Copyright 2021 Tribe Media Corp • Powered by Lightdrop anytime,. 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