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October 25, 2024 - 23 Tishrei 5785 Sukkot & Shabbat - Starting All Over Again
Dear Friends, "When one door closes, another one opens." We've probably all heard this from someone close to us in our lives, in moments of transition or of ending. Perhaps a relationship or a job has come to a close, and we find ourselves in between. We are like our ancestors, wandering in the Midbar, the wilderness of life, neither where we were nor where we want to be. It is most especially in these liminal moments in our lives, where we feel a profound need for constants, for things that are structured or regulated. At times of uncertainty and vulnerability, we seek that which is familiar, reliable, and routine. I spoke last week about the Torah portion for the start of Sukkot, which gives us the Moadim, the "fixed times of Adonai" that, still to this day, comprise the Jewish calendar. I feel strongly that these fixed moments are what help guide us through the most challenging moments in our lives. They, like Shiva customs when we are in mourning for a loved one, are like holds in the climbing wall of our lives, things we can grab onto when we feel we are in freefall. When the world seems like it's falling down around us, family members and close friends, rituals and traditions are what keep us afloat and help to keep our head above water. They are central to our life experience. They are the eye of the hurricane of our lives. The Torah is, of course, the holy object at the foundation of our people. And for me, that is precisely its secret power: that the words of the Torah have never changed. For as long as Sofrim (scribes) have been putting ink to parchment and scrolling it around wooden rollers, the words they write are exactly the same. The power, then, comes from us, the world we live in, and the perspective we take. Simchat Torah, beginning on Thursday evening into Friday, is our unbridled celebration of that foundational text, the keystone of Jewish tradition. We are joyful that we have lived through another year of reading it start to finish, take a moment to rejoice, and then get right back to studying it from the beginning all over again. The Torah continues to remain relevant, as I believe it always will be, because while the text is never altered, we always are, every day and sometimes multiple times a day. On Simchat Torah, we do Hakafot, circular processions with the Torah, representing the circle of the year we have just completed, holding and parading the fixed word with our unfixed lives. Each time we return to a text from the Torah, no matter how many times we have studied it before, we always find something new, a passage or verse or even a word that speaks to us, that hits us in the heart and soul in a way we've never previously experienced it, because we have changed since we last read it. I know this is true for me. Every year I return to each week's Parsha and study it, both by myself and with the wisdom of others, and I inevitably learn something new, not in place of what I have learned, but in addition to it. That is the magic of Torah. That is why I love what I do and why I love being Jewish. And that is why, no matter what else is going on in the world or in our lives, Simchat Torah is a true moment of joy, accomplishment, and celebration. I look forward to seeing you for Shmini Atzeret (Thursday at 9:30AM with Yizkor at about 11AM), Simchat Torah (Friday at 9:30AM), and, as always, Shabbat (at 10AM). Chag Sameach & Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Joshua Strom
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