Shalom Temple Beth Shalom,
Every night, when I put Delilah to bed, we listen to an audiobook from the Harry Potter series. Which one of the seven books do we listen to, you may ask? All of them, in a row, then…we start over. We have been doing this together almost every night for her entire life (a whole 10.5 years), and I never need to ask her, “Do you want to listen to Harry Potter, or should we try a different book?” Oh, we have tried other books…but we both just love Harry Potter (and Jim Dale’s delightful narration) and find it both endlessly entertaining, meaningful and comforting. And thankfully, because of our familiarity with it (we practically have it memorized), she can even drift off during the scary bits…eventually.
Maybe some of you have a book or series you read over and over…for me, in addition to Harry Potter, of course, it is the Torah (big surprise). Thankfully, the Torah is also endlessly entertaining and meaningful, and with familiarity, even the scary bits can bring us comfort. This weekend, on Saturday, October 3, we will celebrate Simchat Torah by reading the final verses of Deuteronomy, and then immediately read the opening words of Genesis: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” How blessed are we to have Grant Pickering, our first bar mitzvah boy of 5787 (we have four!), chant these verses? You are ALL invited to celebrate with Grant and his family during his bar mitzvah service, which is also our communal TBS Simchat Torah celebration. In addition, you have the blessing of hearing Carter Greenwood also chant these words the next week, October 10, during his bar mitzvah, which you are also invited and encouraged to attend. If you do not know either family, supporting them by attending these awesome simchas is a great way to start!
When we come together for Simchat Torah, we will dance around the synagogue with the Torah seven times, so do not forget your dancing shoes! Why seven? As both Grant and Carter will read, God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, thus creating Shabbat. Seven symbolizes peace and completion, and so we celebrate our Torah with seven complete circles. As the rabbis teach in Pirkei Avot: “Turn it and turn it again, for everything is in it.” The Torah does not change from year to year. The words we read on this Simchat Torah are the same words Jews read last year, a hundred years ago and many hundreds of years before that. The Torah has not changed, but we have. We come back to the beginning carrying another year of wisdom gained, grief experienced, laughter, poor choices and wrestling with uncertainty. Because of these experiences, as we begin 5787, the Torah becomes fresh to us again. A verse that barely resonated with us last year can suddenly feel as though it was handwritten for us at this exact moment.
This is especially why I am excited to be back in Genesis, as sibling rivalry is a prominent theme in the Durbin household (if I hear “Mom said I am her favorite” one more time…). Yes, I am a self-identified Torah nerd, so you will not be surprised to hear me say how excited I am to revisit my favorite of our five books, Genesis. Let all the juicy family drama and intrigue, the backstabbing trickery, the deep love and heartbreaking losses of our matriarchs and patriarchs begin! We return to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and his sister wives, Rachel and Leah and the great saga of Joseph and his brothers. “Turn it and turn it again” is not only an instruction about how to study Torah. It is an invitation to continue the work of cheshbon hanefesh, the accounting of our souls we just took during our High Holy Days, by reflecting on our lives throughout the year as my favorite soap, “How the Torah Turns,” unfolds.
This year, as we celebrate our Torah with joy, we will also mark the third anniversary of October 7. So together, as we celebrate our beloved Torah communally, let us also mark this horrific attack communally; for what happens to our brothers and sisters in Israel also happens to us. On our most joyful day, our enemies attacked, and yet we double our resolve to hold our Torah near. This is the Jewish way, so let us come together in memory and in love.
On Rosh HaShanah, Sam Block told us something remarkable about the “Block Torah”: when the Blocks donated it to TBS, the scroll was already one hundred years old. Let the image of our (at least) 140-year-old Torah sit with you for a moment. Think of all the hands that have held its wooden handles, all the generations that read this Torah before we even received it. And now we come together to celebrate the next generation of TBS families who have this sacred opportunity. This is the real joy of Simchat Torah. We do not rejoice in the Torah just because it is old; we rejoice in the Torah because it has never stopped being handed forward. So, on Simchat Torah, come dance with us as we re-enact the receiving of the Torah that WE received at Sinai…together.
Chag Sameach!