“How will we ever dance again on Simchat Torah?” is a question that I have asked myself, since last October 7th, the day that coincided with the Festival of Simchat Torah.  I asked colleagues around the country what they were planning, but I kept coming up short, until one day, several weeks ago, I reached an Orthodox colleague in Westchester, NY, a friend through the Israel Bonds Rabbinic Advisory committee. He directed me to the Simchat Torah Project, (thesimchattorahproject,org) an initiative out of Israel, recruiting congregations across the globe to purchase a special edition Torah Mantle, inscribed with the words, “A Time to Mourn, and a Time to Dance”, a quotation from the book of Ecclesiastes, which is read on the Festival of Sukkot.  Their organization remarks: “Simchat Torah is a day of joy, celebration, and hakafot- we dance – but Simchat Torah 5785 will also mark the first yahrzeit of the 1200 victims of October 7th. How do we, the Jewish people, respond? On Simchat Torah, will we dance? Should we dance? How do we commemorate this poignant and difficult anniversary?” The answer they provide, is the inclusion of this special “me’il”, the Hebrew word for a Torah cover. I immediately knew that project would help us through this year’s observance. On the back of the Torah mantle, is inscribed a name of an Israeli soldier,  who had fallen since since October 7th. The me’il cover would serve as a visual anchor, helping our community express our grief, but also providing us with the means to celebrate Jewish time by continuing to observe the sacred occasion of Simchat Torah, the one holiday where we are commanded to be joyous, a time of dancing and sweetness. 

Our October 7th Torah mantle will cover one of our congregational Torahs saved from the Holocaust, a double reminder of the terror our people have experiences. We will hold this special Torah as we complete the first of seven circuits around our sanctuary, accompanied by lament, poetry and sacred sadness. We will remember the Massacre of October 7th and the senseless loss of life since that day.  But, after we mourn and cry the bitter tears that are the necessary expression this year and for years to come, we will move forward with gratitude and resolve into the rest of the seven circuits, praying for peace, harmony, and better days ahead.  Simchat Torah will never be the same. But as a Jewish people, it is our mission to lead with resilience and hope, never forgetting the atrocities of the past, but at the same time, transmitting our rituals, even when Jewish life requires new ones, to the next generation.