CONGREGATION DOR HADASH
SIMCHAT TORAH – DANCING WITH THE TORAH
Simchat Torah is not a biblically-based holiday. This celebration is marked by processions around the synagogue with the Torah scrolls. All the Torahs are taken from the Aron Kodesh (holy ark). In some congregations, a candle (God’s light) or a bible is placed in the empty ark. It is a great honor to carry a Torah and especially to lead the procession.
What is the Torah (teaching)? It consists of five books: Bereshit (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), Bemidbar (Numbers) and Devarim (Deuteronomy). It contains the stories, history and laws of the Israelite people. It is a book in the ancient sense – a scroll written on parchment by a sofer (scribe). It is very carefully done, being checked and rechecked to insure that no scribal errors occur.
In early days, there were two way of reading the Torah – a three-year cycle and a one-year cycle. During the Middle Ages, the one-year cycle became more common. It was then that Simchat Torah began to be celebrated.
The holiday celebrates the reading of the last portion at the end of the Torah. As soon as that portion is read, the first portion of Bereshit (Genesis) is read. The person who chants the blessings for the end of the Torah is called chatan Torah (bridegroom of the Torah). And the person who chants the blessings for the beginning of the Torah is called kallah Bereshit (bride of Genesis). Our celebration is as joyful as a wedding. The significance of reading both portions is that the Torah is unending. We read and reread it, each time finding new understanding and meaning.
There are seven processions around the synagogue. Singing and dancing with the Torah are encouraged. As the Torah passes by, people often kiss it. Children are very much a part of the celebration. They create or are given paper flags to carry reminiscent of the tribal flags reportedly carried in the desert.
In some synagogues during the evening service, the Rabbi may consecrate students new to the school. The children recite the Shema; they are blessed and often receive a small Torah scroll of their own. Their parents may read a statement about the importance of leading a Jewish life and of Jewish learning. Frequently, the Rabbi may unroll the whole Torah (about as long as a football field). The congregation members may carefully hold the parchment while the children stand in the middle of the circle. Then the Rabbi takes everyone on a Torah journey recounting the places where all those wonderful stories occur. It is important that we, in turn, remember, recall and retell the story.
© Marty Wertlieb
SIMCHAT TORAH – BIBLICAL AND OTHER SOURCES
On the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation... it is a day of solemn assembly, you shall not do any servile work.- Leviticus 23:36
On the eighth day you shall hold a solemn gathering; you shall not work at your occupations. - Numbers 29:35
Turn it [the Torah] over and over for everything is in it. - Pirke Avot [Ethics of our Ancestors]
After the death of Moses the servant of Adonai, Adonai said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant: My servant Moses is dead. Prepare to cross the Jordan, together with all this people, into the land that I am giving to the Israelites. But you must be very strong and resolute to observe faithfully all the Teaching that My servant Moses enjoined upon you. Do not deviate from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Let not this Book of the Teaching cease from your lips, but recite it day and night so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful. - Joshua 1: 1, 2, 7, 8