torah1024

By Rabbi David Sebbag, Lincoln Park Jewish Center, Yonkers

Shalom! This year Simchat Torah will be celebrated with G-d’s Help on Friday, October 25. The question I’ve been asked and I’m sure is asked elsewhere is how are we going to celebrate it? In past years, Simchat Torah was celebrated with lavish dinners and daytime luncheons with singing, dancing, laughter, and honors. This past year, a lot of synagogue functions had been canceled early on due to the hostage situation and the war in Gaza. Our own synagogue, Lincoln Park Jewish Center in Yonkers NY, canceled the annual fall cocktail party in November because nobody was in the mood for a celebration knowing that our brothers and sisters were fighting in Gaza, and especially knowing that the hostages were somewhere in Gaza and not able to be with their loved ones. But we are now almost a year later…And the question still stands… How do we or better yet, how CAN we celebrate the holiday of Simchat Torah like before knowing too well that our State of Israel is in turmoil with threats from Hezbollah and Iran plus the ongoing war in Gaza, and as well knowing that the remaining hostages are still not known as to their whereabouts and status. 

It was WWII. The German Reich was raging a world war. Jews were being sent to their deaths by the thousands every day. Who would ever think about getting married? Well, according to sources by Yad Vashem, Jewish couples got married throughout the Holocaust period, in the shadow of anti-Jewish policies, dispossession, hardships, uncertainty, pervasive hunger and deprivation, and the omnipresent threat of death. During the war years, weddings took place in occupied countries, in the ghettos, the concentration and labor camps, and in hiding. Even when no one knew what the next day would bring, people felt the need to get married. Some married for love, while many others married in order to overcome loneliness, to share a common destiny, and sometimes – in order to save their lives. The bond between two individuals in difficult circumstances became a source of stability and at times the key to survival. That’s exactly it! Survival. Our enemies think that they could break our spirit and our raison d’être. Well, we have news for them…Not in a billion years!!! 

We find the passuk in Parshat Haazinu… “When I will proclaim the Name of Hashem, ascribe greatness to our G-d.” (Deut. 32:3). This passuk is best known as the halachic source (Talmud Bavli, Brachot 21a) for our mitzvah of saying Birchot HaTorah before we learn G-d’s holy manifest, but the Meshech Chochmah brings to light for us a whole new, much deeper, perspective. The Meshech Chochmah writes that it defines for us our entire raison d’être as a people and a nation: Our purpose is to live within the natural world but to demonstrate and declare G-d’s providence and His supervision over our individual and our nation’s lives. 

Yes, I say! We must continue to celebrate G-d’s Torah and its completion as it were before Oct 7th with dinners, luncheons, dancing, laughter, and honors. We are telling G-d that we are here to celebrate your holiday even in the midst of war. If not, our enemies would win in breaking our raison d’être. 

And in the midst of our holiday prayers and celebrations, our thoughts should always be with the hostages and the citizens and defenders of the state of Israel. Am Yisrael Chai!

Kativa Vechatimah Tova and a Chag Sameach to all.