Simchat Torah—Rejoicing with the Beloved Even in Sorrow

October 28, 2024

by: Ilse Strauss

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 | Thousands of years ago, King David poured out his passion for the Word of God in a skillful song. “Oh, how I love Your law!” he sang, “It is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 119:97).

Today, some three millennia later, the same heart of love still beats within the descendants of Israel’s famous shepherd king. God did, after all, invite the Jewish people to weave the Torah (Gen.–Deut.) into the very fabric of their existence. His Words were to be tucked safely into their hearts as a treasure, to be mulled over as day flows into night, the delights thereof shared with their children and their children’s children (Deut. 6:6–9).

The Children of Israel took these instructions to heart. Even now, generations after Moses received the instructions from the Almighty and millennia after King David penned his famous Psalm, the joy of the Torah is clearly on display in the Land of Promise. It is a passion woven into every hour of every day.

Yet once a year, the Jewish nation sets aside a day devoted specifically to this purpose. On Simchat Torah, which literally means “Rejoicing in the Torah,” hearts in Israel is dedicated to delight—with joyous laughter, dancing and singing—in the Torah that God gave His people on Mount Sinai.

This year, Simchat Torah in Israel starts at sundown tonight (October 23) and finishes when the sun sets again tomorrow evening (October 24). The jubilant day follows directly after Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles. As the sun sets after the seventh day of celebrating Sukkot, Israel prepares for the festival of rejoicing over the fact that the great and mighty God in His infinite love and mercy, deemed to share His instructions with fallible man.

The timing makes perfect sense. Sukkot is, after all, the most joyous of the biblical feasts. The initiative for the time of merrymaking comes directly from God Himself. “And you shall rejoice in your feast,” He teaches in Deuteronomy 16:14. No wonder that Sukkot is known traditionally as “the Season of Our Joy.” Simchat Torah offer a fitting culmination to the days of jubilation.

Yet Simchat Torah is about more than ending a joyous time on a joyous note. The culture and traditions of the people of Israel are, after all, born from the threads that weave through Scripture. And Simchat Torah is no exception. On this day, the Jewish people mark the conclusion of the annual cycle of Torah readings—and signal the start of the new sequence.

Every week, in synagogues in every city from Jerusalem to Johannesburg, from Berlin to Beijing, the same portion of the Torah, called a parashah (or parashat for plural), is read. With roughly one parashah for every week of the year, this ensures that everybody reads the same parashah every week—and that the Torah is read in its entirety once per year.

On Simchat Torah, the Torah scroll is opened to the last parashah for the final reading in the yearly cycle. Yet as soon as the last words of Deuteronomy echo through the synagogue, the scroll is rolled back to the beginning, ready for the next cycle. Simchat Torah thus marks a full circle. It celebrates a completion—and delights in the expectation of a new beginning.

An infectious joy usually settles over the Jewish state for Simchat Torah. In synagogues, the Torah scroll is taken from the ark—its ornate storage cabinet—and paraded around the synagogue seven times in an exuberant procession to the rhythm of triumphant praise songs and shouts of rejoicing. Every member of the synagogue will have the opportunity to carry the precious scroll. On Simchat Torah, the words of King David’s skillful song are brought to life as the hearts of his decedents sing, “Oh, how I love Your law!” (Ps. 119:97).

Children have a special part to play during the festivities and are called to a place of honor under a gigantic tallit or prayer shawl. Here, they recite the traditional prayers and blessings while parents and friends shower them with candy.

The joy of the festival is often difficult to contain within the four walls of the synagogue and celebrations are known to spill out into the surrounding streets. As passersby are swept up into the merriment and rejoicing groups merge, the land of God’s promise is filled with adoration for His Word.

Rejoicing obviously does not come naturally for Israel this year, particularly not on this day. On the Hebrew calendar, Simchat Torah marks the one-year anniversary of the horrific massacre on October 7, 2023. Hamas purposefully chose this day of rejoicing to breach the border, swarm into communities and brutally murder more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Walking through the ravaged communities in the days after the attack last year, one would often be struck by the evidence of the efforts Hamas’s victims made to prepare for this special holiday they would never celebrate. Burnt remnants of frilly new dresses and shiny shoes laid out in a destroyed family home. Bags of candy and a giant tallit left behind in a synagogue.

The horror of deeds so evil that it shocked even hardened soldiers, medical workers and journalists is still fresh in Israel’s heart. And on the first commemoration of the attack on the Hebrew calendar, it is easy to wonder whether this day set aside for rejoicing will forever be marred by sorrow and trauma.

Yet perhaps more than other years, on this Simchat Torah, Israel chooses to rejoice despite the sorrow. They intentionally make the decision to be glad, not for the sake of merriment, but over the joy this day represents.

“Simchat Torah is a day of rejoicing with our Beloved,” explains Moshe Kempinski. Over the years, Moshe, an Orthodox Jew, has gained significant experience explaining Jewish beliefs to Christians eager to understand. His biblical gift store, Shorashim, offers a haven in the Old City—not only for those on the hunt for the perfect keepsake from Jerusalem, but also for many, a seeking Christian heart longing to know more about the Land and people of Israel.

The most joyful thing we as humans can often do for our beloved, the person we love most on earth, is to fulfill the desires of his or her heart, Moshe explains. He recounts the tale of his heavily pregnant wife craving an orange, during a time when no oranges were to be found anywhere. Yet Moshe remembers scouring every nook and cranny of the city on the hunt for an orange to fulfil the desire of his beloved’s heart.

The same holds true for humans and God, our ultimate Beloved, he continues. “What is the most joyful thing you can do for your Beloved?” Moshe asks. “To do that which you know your Beloved wishes, to fulfill His desires. That is the greatest joy.”

And that is what the Torah is to Israel: a blueprint of how God desired the people of Israel to walk in relationship with Him. The Torah provides Israel with His instructions, His heart and desires. “Anybody who assumes that the Jewish people consider the Torah a burden just has to see Simchat Torah,” he concludes.

That is what Israel celebrates on Simchat Torah. And that is why Israel will celebrate on this Simchat Torah—despite the sorrow, despite the horror of deeds so evil that is still fresh in Israel’s heart and despite the threats of annihilation that has hung over Israel through every age.

Israel’s most famous shepherd king has indeed given us the secret to joy: “Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!” (Ps. 144:15).

Posted on October 28, 2024

Source: (Bridges for Peace, October 23, 2024)

Photo Credit: Avital Pinnick/Flickr.com

Photo License: Flickr