D'var Torah

Did you see it Wednesday? Wasn’t it just great? For me, it brought a smile to my face and I felt like the heaviness of the past several days lifted off my shoulders. Though it didn’t stay around for long, did it? I’m speaking about the sun. After several days of rain and gloom from the tropical storm and just after the heaviness of Yom Kippur, Wednesday’s bright sun truly lifted my spirits. I see this as a symbol of the approaching festivals: Sukkot and Simchat Torah. I remember Rabbi Buchdahl of my home congregation, Temple Emanuel in Baltimore, telling me how much he loved Sukkot because he could “let his hair down” after the weightiness of the High Holy Days, especially Yom Kippur. Sukkot and Simchat Torah, for him, and for me too, have been this opportunity to let the heaviness of the High Holy Days slide off our shoulders and embrace the joy and informality of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. After all, the traditional Hebrew name for Sukkot is Z’man Simchateinu: the time of our rejoicing. 

This year, Sukkot and Simchat Torah fall on Shabbat and so we expect a lot more of you will be celebrating with us at both holidays. This Friday night is our first 8 pm service in many years. Many of you have asked when are we getting back to 8 pm services as 6:30 pm services are sometimes hard to make. We are starting with having 8 pm services on any month where there is a 5th Friday. So, this Friday is our first 8 pm service. We’re excited to offer a dinner at 6:30, followed by the 8 pm service. (The dinner looks to be pretty popular as of this writing it’s sold out.) Since it’s the holiday of Sukkot, the service will feature special moments to celebrate the festival itself: the waving of the Lulav and Etrog, reciting Hallel, as well as (weather permitting) having our oneg in the Sukkah.

A week later, we celebrate Simchat Torah with a special band playing Israeli and Klezmer-style music as we take all our Torahs from the Ark and dance with them. If you’ve never held the Torah before, this is your opportunity to hold one and dance with it. Then we finish reading the Book of Deuteronomy and immediately begin again with the first few verses of Genesis. And, at the same time, we’ll have a special blessing for our Consecrants, those Kindergarteners and First Graders who are new to our religious school.

Let the rays of light of the holy festivals shine on us like this week’s beautiful and warm sun, as we celebrate the fun holidays together! Mo’adim L’simcha and Chag Sameach!

Cantor Michael Shochet