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Simchat Torah
Sep. 27th, 2002 02:45 pmTonight/tomorrow is Simchat Torah for congregations that follow the Israeli calendar. [1] The name of the holiday means "rejoicing [with? in?] the Torah". It is when we finish the annual Torah-reading cycle and then immediately start again at the beginning. It's supposed to involve lots of singing and dancing and just plain fun. Generally, all the torah scrolls (sefri torah) come out and people carry them around the room and dance around them and stuff.
That's the theory, anyway; I have yet to witness a complete implementation. I wonder if I have to go to Chabad [2] for that -- but being (1) an outsider (to them) and (2) a woman, I've never dared.
My congregation makes this a very family-centered holiday. That's great for the families with kids, but it kind of leaves younger adults, single people, and people without kids kind of out in the cold. I have never felt "simcha" at my congregation's celebration of Simchat Torah. After three years (six services) I decided I'd had enough of that.
Last year I went to my "auxilliary" congregation for this holiday, and that was better. No one danced, per se (so I would have felt silly doing so), but it was inclusive and it was fun -- and yes, it still remained friendly to kids too, but without excluding those of us who don't have kids. I'll be going back there tonight.
I had hoped to check out New Light, the shul a block from my house, for this holiday. I visited there once for Shabbat and they were very friendly. But alas, they do not follow the Israeli calendar, so they won't be observing Simchat Torah until tomorrow night/Sunday morning. Tomorrow I will be at an SCA event; I suspect I won't go on Sunday, but who knows? (It feels weird to attend holiday services on what I believe is the "wrong" day, though.)
( footnotes )
That's the theory, anyway; I have yet to witness a complete implementation. I wonder if I have to go to Chabad [2] for that -- but being (1) an outsider (to them) and (2) a woman, I've never dared.
My congregation makes this a very family-centered holiday. That's great for the families with kids, but it kind of leaves younger adults, single people, and people without kids kind of out in the cold. I have never felt "simcha" at my congregation's celebration of Simchat Torah. After three years (six services) I decided I'd had enough of that.
Last year I went to my "auxilliary" congregation for this holiday, and that was better. No one danced, per se (so I would have felt silly doing so), but it was inclusive and it was fun -- and yes, it still remained friendly to kids too, but without excluding those of us who don't have kids. I'll be going back there tonight.
I had hoped to check out New Light, the shul a block from my house, for this holiday. I visited there once for Shabbat and they were very friendly. But alas, they do not follow the Israeli calendar, so they won't be observing Simchat Torah until tomorrow night/Sunday morning. Tomorrow I will be at an SCA event; I suspect I won't go on Sunday, but who knows? (It feels weird to attend holiday services on what I believe is the "wrong" day, though.)
( footnotes )