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Why We Dance on Simchas Torah
Confirmed
In Short: Jews in Crown Heights and around the world celebrate Simchat Torah with hakafot, despite recent tragedies.
The Third Annual Simchas Torah Achdus Hakafos will take place Sunday, 1:00–1:45 PM, at the corner of Albany Avenue and Crown Street in Crown Heights, building on the success of previous years.
In accordance with the directive of the Beis Din of Crown Heights, Sifrei Torah will not be taken out onto the street, emphasizing the importance of communal guidelines.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and taking 251 others hostage, casting a shadow over the celebration of the Torah-reading cycle’s completion.
An answer to the emotional complexity of Simchat Torah can be found in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, where Jews gathered to perform hakafot despite the horrors around them.
In the Warsaw Ghetto, about 15 men gathered in Rabbi Menachem Ziemba’s apartment, taking Torah scrolls in their arms and beginning the traditional hakafot, reciting verses mournfully.
Rabbi Orlean saw a Jewish child standing beside a Torah scroll, understanding that the Germans had not yet managed to destroy the possibility of a Jewish future.
For many Jews, Simchat Torah has become one of the most emotionally complicated days on the calendar, as they grapple with how to celebrate amidst tragedy.
Hillel Seidman, a religious Jew who kept a diary of life inside the ghetto, recorded the poignant scene of Jews celebrating Simchat Torah amidst the horrors of the Holocaust.
Jews today continue to find ways to celebrate Simchat Torah, with some lamenting the loss of traditional pomp and circumstance.
Jew in the City blogger reflects on her evolving relationship with Simchat Torah, noting that her connection to Torah sustains her joy in the day.
The blogger emphasizes that her concerns are not about being a woman, but about being a lover of Torah and ensuring that celebrations reflect the true spirit of the holiday.
The hakafah tradition, where people carry Torah scrolls around the synagogue and dance around them, symbolizes the joy and unity of the Jewish community.
What's confirmed
- The Third Annual Simchas Torah Achdus Hakafos will take place Sunday, 1:00–1:45 PM, at the corner of Albany Avenue and Crown Street in Crown Heights, building on the success of previous years.
- In accordance with the directive of the Beis Din of Crown Heights, Sifrei Torah will not be taken out onto the street, emphasizing the importance of communal guidelines.
- On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and taking 251 others hostage, casting a shadow over the celebration of the Torah-reading cycle’s completion.
- An answer to the emotional complexity of Simchat Torah can be found in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, where Jews gathered to perform hakafot despite the horrors around them.
- In the Warsaw Ghetto, about 15 men gathered in Rabbi Menachem Ziemba’s apartment, taking Torah scrolls in their arms and beginning the traditional hakafot, reciting verses mournfully.
- Rabbi Orlean saw a Jewish child standing beside a Torah scroll, understanding that the Germans had not yet managed to destroy the possibility of a Jewish future.
- For many Jews, Simchat Torah has become one of the most emotionally complicated days on the calendar, as they grapple with how to celebrate amidst tragedy.
- Hillel Seidman, a religious Jew who kept a diary of life inside the ghetto, recorded the poignant scene of Jews celebrating Simchat Torah amidst the horrors of the Holocaust.
- Jews today continue to find ways to celebrate Simchat Torah, with some lamenting the loss of traditional pomp and circumstance.
- Jew in the City blogger reflects on her evolving relationship with Simchat Torah, noting that her connection to Torah sustains her joy in the day.
- The blogger emphasizes that her concerns are not about being a woman, but about being a lover of Torah and ensuring that celebrations reflect the true spirit of the holiday.
- The hakafah tradition, where people carry Torah scrolls around the synagogue and dance around them, symbolizes the joy and unity of the Jewish community.
What's still developing
- How do you dance on the anniversary of a massacre?
- Instead, we can all consider how much of what I’m saying might describe any shul in any of our communities, and what we can do about it.) I used to cry at the beautiful words, the sheer pomp and circumstance with which the chatan Torah and chatan Bereishit would be called up.
- If I ever give up on Simchas Torah celebrations, it will be because I’m no longer sure what it is I’d be joining.
- As an adult, that connection to Torah sustained the joy I felt in the day.
- I refused to see women as sidelined, and made a point of dancing with however many women would join me, even if it was just my own reluctant toddler and even if it was just me – because I knew that appearances aside, Torah is as much mine as it is any man’s.
- In more recent years, I’ve begun to worry that I might lose my connection to Simchat Torah.
- (Before I go on, let me be clear that I’ve been to multiple shuls on Simchas Torah, sometimes more than one in the same year.
- “With the permission, blah blah, honor of Torah, yada yada…” Where’s the pomp and circumstance that befits the Torah?
- “Hakafah means to encircle,” Matalon said, explaining the tradition that takes place the night of the holiday and continues the next day to celebrate starting the reading of the Torah anew. (Simchat Torah literally means “Joy of the Torah.”) “Basically, the people carry a Torah scroll around the synagogue, encircle the synagogue with the Torah scrolls, and then people encircle the Torahs by dancing around it,” Matalon explained.
- By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org Lamenting the loss of a Simchat Torah tradition that doubled as a unique show of Jewish unity.