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Simchat TorahFrom: Mike Freedman [mfreedman@portables1.ngfl.gov.uk] Shalom Bectans, As
those who have read my earlier messages will know, Saturday is Simchat Torah (or for
orthodox Jews - Sunday is Simchas Torah). Simchat Torah Means The Rejoicing of the
Law and is the only Jewish festival to have the word Rejoicing in its name.
Simchat Torah marks the end of Sukkot. It is, perhaps the happiest of all the festivals
and is the time when we celebrate the end of one annual cycle of reading the Torah and
immediately begin the next cycle. Whenever a Torah Scroll (technically a Sefer Torah - Sefer means book) is taken out of the Arc (the special cupboard where it is kept) for a reading it is paraded around the synagogue and the congregation pay it respect as a symbol of God's word (many people will touch it with their tallit (prayer shawl) and then kiss the tallit - Jews love the Torah). On Simchat Torah all the scrolls (most communities have at least 2 and many have more - ours has 4) are taken out of the Arc and are paraded 7 times around the congregation. This parade is known as Hakkafot. In orthodox communities the scrolls will be carried only by men each man taking one circuit and then handing the scroll on to another. In many progressive communities both men and women will take turns at carrying the scroll and in at least some communities (ours for example) the 7 circuits are a minimum and Hakkafot continues until everyone who wants to carry a scroll has done so. Normally the procession of the scroll around the synagogue is accompanied by the singing of a suitable psalm (usually ps. 29). On Simchat Torah the extended Hakkafot is accompanied by singing and dancing. The youth of the community (and sometimes the not so youthful) who are not carrying a scroll will dance in rings, in any available space, singing Hebrew and Yiddish songs (eg. Chava Negila). Those who are carrying a scroll may join in a dance or just dance as they walk (and remember, a scroll weighs as much as a small child). The scrolls are "dressed" (as they always are) with a cloth cover, a silver breast plate, a silver pointer on a chain, a silver scroll cap on each of the two upper handles, each of which are adorned with several silver bells. Dancing with a scroll is quite a noisy business! As the people sing and the scrolls process the children (those under 13 are considered too young to carry a scroll) follow the procession and join in the fun. The children are usually given a flag to carry bearing some appropriate message in Hebrew which will have an apple or something similar on the top of it. (In my youth we also had candles stuck in the top of the apples). Of course the apples tend to get smaller as the procession goes on! In our community it has become traditional for adults to hand out sweets to the children as they go past (to encourage them to keep going, I suppose). Two scrolls are opened to be read from (if the community has two). From one scroll we read the final part of the Book of Deuteronomy (We call it Devarim, which means Words, because it is the first significant word in the first verse of the book - These are the words that Moses spoke....). To be called to read the very last part of the scroll is considered a great honour and the person thus honoured is known as the Chatan Torah (Chatan means Bridegroom). The second scroll is then opened at the very beginning (a community with only one scroll would have to wait while the scroll was rerolled - all 100 yards or so of it!). It is considered an equal honour to be called to the reading of the first portion which is the very beginning of Genesis (or, as we call it Boreyshit, meaning In the Beginning - the books of Torah and indeed the weekly portions are always named for their first significant word) and the person called is the Chatan Boreyshit (Orthodox Jews would more likely say Chazan Boreyshis). Some progressive communities will give this honour to a woman who would then be the Challat Boreyshit (you guessed it - Challat = bride). The two people honoured will dress appropriately (Top hat and tails, perhaps but, oddly, not a wedding dress - a bit too frivolous, maybe). Another aspect of the service on this and the other pilgrim festival (Pesach and Shavuot) is the singing of what we call Hallel. This is a sequence of psalms (113-118) which are considered particularly praising of God's bounty. Hallel means Praise, as in Halleluia (Praise God). I have one website to recommend on the subject of Simchat Torah. Why not have a look at http://www.joi.org/celebrate/simchat/index.shtml and while there why not have a look at http://www.joi.org/celebrate/simchat/paintings.shtml where you can see thumbnails of two paintings showing aspects of the celebrations. (2003 - you can find a larger version of the 2 Rabbis painting at ort and a larger view of the Chaim Goldberg painting at the George Glazer Gallery). Well, my friends, this is the last of my Jewish Holiday messages, because the year has turned full circle and the next festival is Chanukah, which is where we came in. (actually, I must check whether I did any for Shavuot, which is the early harvest festival in June - it may have been while I was unsubscribed. If not I will probably catch up with it next year!). If anyone would find it worth reading I would be happy to send out occasional messages giving my explanations of other Jewish topics, such as Shabbat, Kashrut etc. Let me know.... Meanwhile, when I get a chance I shall probably reproduce the whole canon of messages on my website for future reference.
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