D'var Torah

Every year at this time I think of Joni Mitchell’s song, Circle Game. Those words reverberate in my head:

“And the seasons they go 'round and 'round.
And the painted ponies go up and down. We're captive on the carousel of time…”

Here we are again as the seasons go ‘round and ‘round and we’re ready to start the cycle of Torah readings again. On Sunday evening, at our Simchat Torah festival celebration, we unroll the whole Torah, chant the ending of Deuteronomy, and immediately begin the chanting of the first words of Genesis. It is my favorite Jewish holiday, and such a great time for adults and kids!
 
The advertisements you’ve seen have emphasized the mixed drinks prepared for the adults before the service, and not so much on the main focus of Simchat Torah, which is to rejoice in the Torah. For many people, this is their only opportunity to carry a Torah, the most holy ritual object in our tradition which has kept Judaism alive for all these centuries. It wasn’t that long ago – only in our generation -- that women could even hold a Torah, let alone read from one.

I remember growing up in my congregation in Baltimore in the 1970s when my sister became the first woman there to carry a Torah on Simchat Torah. She asked the Rabbi after just celebrating her Bat Mitzvah a few months earlier why only men could line up to carry the Torahs in procession on Simchat Torah if she was allowed to read from it at her Bat Mitzvah? The Rabbi wasn’t happy with her request and said no! But the following year, 42 years ago Sunday, he called her up and put her first in line to carry the Torah, breaking an important glass ceiling for women at our congregation. We take for granted what we do now, but as those seasons have gone 'round and 'round, we’ve really changed quite a bit. Those changing seasons have seen so much advancement for social, political, racial, and cultural equality. Of course, we’ve also recently been reminded that while we’ve taken steps forward, we’ve also taken 2 steps backward in other areas of society.
 
I hope that you can join us on Sunday night to celebrate the Torah, join in a dedication reading of the new spaces in our building, and get to hold and dance with the Torah. Each of you should have that opportunity. And when you take the Torah, don’t be so quick to give it up. Hold it tight, remember its meaning, think about how our lives have changed, and yet how the Torah, the scroll itself and the letters inside, have not changed. The Torah is our rock that has kept us strong, saved us from tyrants, and preserved our people. May that opportunity to embrace the Torah remind us how far we’ve come, but how much further we need to go. As Joni Mitchell sings, “We can't return we can only look behind from where we came and go round and round and round in the circle game.”
 
Chag Sameach,
Cantor Michael Shochet