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About
Shmeini Atzeret/Simchat Torah
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Building
Jewish Life
SIMHAT TORAH
Jews read a piece of the Torah every week. It takes a year to read from
every one of the 54 portions into which the Torah is divided. On Simhat
Torah we read from the last portion and then the first portion in the Torah.
It is a time of "Mobius Torah", a practical exercise in showing that the
cycle of Torah learning never stops. A simhah is a happy time, the time
to give a party. Simhat Torah is the Jewish tradition's annual Torah party.
Simhat Torah is a Jewish holiday which experienced spontaneous generation
sometime after the Talmud was complete and sometime before the major law
codes were written in the 12th century. We know nothing about how it came
to be. In this period, the rabbinic scholars of the Babylonian diaspora
evolved the cycle of annual Torah readings. It was part of the process of
making the synagogue the center of Jewish life. Simhat Torah was the crown
of this system. With the Temple gone, with no more sacrifices taking place,
Shemini Atzeret was the perfect place on which to graft a new practice.
Simhat Torah ranks with Purim as the time to come to services for fun. We
sing and dance. There are parades (called hakafot). Flags are waved and
having fun is encouraged. In The Jewish Holidays, (Harper & Row, 1985) Michael
Strassfeld explains it this way, "The dancing calls upon us to throw ourselves
completely into rejoicing with the Torah. It is a time of dropping our defenses
to express joy, when for most of us letting go takes place only at times
of tragedy. To be able to express a fullness in relationship to Torah on
this night will help us to express unmitigated love at other moments in
other relationships. To dance like Zorba is a challenge to us all."
Copyright (c) 1988 by Torah Aura Productions. 1-800-BE-TORAH All Rights
Reserved.
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