Back to the Beginning

Simchat Torah literally means the celebration of Torah. It’s not what we usually associate with Torah, something we study and examine from multiple perspectives. A simchah is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a wedding, or even a circumcision. These are celebratory life cycle moments in people’s lives. But a celebration of our precious scroll and all that it contains, that is truly experienced only by a small percent of the Jewish community. If you belong to a synagogue you will know about Simchat Torah, for it will be a scheduled event, a time to gather, and experience the rituals associated with this moment in our calendar. It has become the icing on the cake in the High Holy Day cycle, after deep introspection, baring our souls, touching our fragility, and then sitting in a simple structure, a Sukkah, finding peace in nature and G-d’s mysterious universe.

Simchat Torah is truly a beginning, for it marks the cycling back to the start of the Torah, reading it all over again, either in one year or divided into thirds over three years. And like all beginnings in our tradition, the beginning of Jewish adulthood at Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the couple entering into their marriage contract, or even the moment an infant is brought into the covenant, it deserves attention and joy, with singing and dancing, as we all do at these magical moments in our family’s lives. Torah, like one of our children, is precious to us, beloved, and we want to shower it with the same kind of honor and unconditional love.

At such an event we read the final passage in Torah, about Moses, whose life ends but is remembered for how he served G-d and the people, and then we go back to the beginning and read the first few paragraphs describing the Creation of the World and our first connection to time – night and day and the seven day week. An ancient tradition was to read the story of Isaac’s marriage, a reflection of what this holiday symbolically represents – the marriage of our Creator to the Jewish people, a commitment like no other.

The Torah is like a heart, pumping life into each person who engages with it. Her stories inspire us opening pathways of new understanding and expanding the levels and depth of wisdom. 

The last letter of Torah is a ‘lamed’ and the first letter of Torah is a ‘bet’. Like a never-ending circle, the last letter joins with the first forming the word ‘lev’ which is a heart. The Torah is like a heart, pumping life into each person who engages with it. Her stories inspire us opening pathways of new understanding and expanding the levels and depth of wisdom. Both the right and left side of our brain are jolted into awareness – critical, intellectual learning and creative, innovative expression. She is like a shot of vitamins, a booster elevating our immunity to withstand some of life’s harsh realities, giving us the tonic that creates more balance and greater well-being.

For the mystics she is Shechinah, the bride, the foundation of the world. She is wisdom herself, who teaches how to live, what to value, and the importance of both religious and civil comportment. She offers stories of people, who are both exceptional and scarred, to enlighten us about behaviors and choices as both a warning and a guide for our own discernment on how we should lead our lives. Our most treasured possession is the Torah for it is how G-d speaks to us, cares for us, and teaches us. It is viewed as an expression of G-d’s love and so we return that love by celebrating in joy just as we celebrate a wedding anniversary. The reader of the Torah is called Hatan, the bridegroom, and in the middle ages he was walked to the synagogue with torches like a groom to this wedding canopy.  

Rejoicing with the Torah, which is filled with mitzvot, the many rules we follow, is a testament to the Jewish value and respect for the law. At a time where we see such disrespect and complete anarchy how exceptional is it that we celebrate the foundation of order and communal responsibility. ‘She is our strength and our guiding light.’ And when such insecurity is rampant, how gratifying it is to share in a Simchah, holding and dancing with our most precious possession.

Eva Robbins is a rabbi, cantor, artist and the author of “Spiritual Surgery: A Journey of Healing Mind, Body and Spirit.”