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BEHAR 5784
Dancing Through Tears
Rabbi Andrew Shaw Chief Executive, Mizrachi UK
Last week was one of the hardest weeks of work I can remember
Most nights the team was in the of ce till midnight, and 3am on Motzei Shabbat, preparing for the most ambitious Weekend of Inspiration yet It was worth it.
From the shiurim to 100s of people on Thursday night, to the Shabbat where 1000s in 50 communities were inspired, to Sunday’s wonderful gala of Torah where almost 1000 people attended the Day of Inspiration in seven different locations around the country – all surpassed our expectations
Thank you to our wonderful 34 educators who came and inspired us all.
Thank you to all the communities that looked after our speakers and made them feel so welcome.
And thank you to all of you who came and supported the weekend. We are already looking forward to next year – Thursday 8th – Sunday 11th May 2025.
Towards the end of the day, many people mentioned to me that at least after Sunday, we could all take a well-deserved break.
Little did they know
For months now we have been working on a global project which we launched on Friday morning in front of the Chief Rabbi and many Rabbanim.
It is called the Simchat Torah Project and you can learn moreabout it at www.thesimchattorahproject.org
It is a global project to unite the Jewish world and honour the memory of the 1,200 Souls lost on October 7th and the many hundreds since.
I am currently here in New York meeting with Shuls and leaders of the community as the project gains momentum. It is hoped that we will have 1600 shuls participating across the Jewish world in memory of the1600 kedoshim that were murdered on October 7th and the hundreds that we have lost since.
As we know, on the morning of October 7, 2023, Simchat Torah, the Jewish community faced its most horri c day since the Holocaust, with over 1,200 lives cruelly taken and many more held hostage. This tragedy has bonded us in deep collective sorrow.
October 2024 will mark the rst Simchat Torah since the devastating events of October 7, 2023. Traditionally a day of joy, dancing, and celebration, this Simchat Torah will also serve as the rst yahrzeit for the 1,200 victims and a time to honour the hostages and soldiers who have passed since that day.
The words of King Solomon in Kohelet, that we will read on Sukkot, offer us guidance: “There is a time for everything under the Heavens… a time a time to mourn, and a time to dance” Simchat Torah 2024 will be that time
The Hebrew for this verse is different from the other verses at the start of chapter 3 of Kohelet It read Et Spod, Et R’kod – rather than Et lispod and Et lirkod One of the reasons is given by the Telzner Rav - Avraham Yitzchak Bloch. He explained that unlike many of the examples given in Kohelet such as life and death, silence and speech, reaping and planting, mourning and dancing can also be experienced simultaneously. So therefore there is no letter lamed before them
As Rav Doron Perez explained. During the wedding of his son Yonatan, he was dancing with genuine joy for the simcha, while concurrently mourning the son that was missing presumed captured by Hamas, at that time.
So on Simchat Torah this year, shuls around the world will open their Aron HaKodesh on Simchat Torah night and take out several Torah scrolls. One, will be adorned with a new me’il (Torah cover), designed to mark the rst yahrzeit of October 7th This me’il will be identical to the ones which will be created for 1600 synagogues across the world. This beautifully designed me’il will have that phrase from Kohelet, Et Spod, Et Rkod and will also proclaim that this Torah is dedicated in memory of the 1200 souls and the many soldiers and hostages who have since died, Al Kiddush Hashem
EachTorah me’il, on the back, will feature the name of one of the kedoshim, embroidered onto it. Shuls around the world will dance with these Torah scrolls–thousands of communities, with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Jews being connected through this project.
The Jewish world will be unified, knowing that across the globe, Jews are dancing withTorah scrolls that collectively link us all with the events of October 7th, and
inspire us to realize that “Am Yisrael Chai.” Shuls will encourage their members to come and dance with the newly robed scroll, to remember the fallen, by holding their Torah high, so that they can say: “We will not forget what happened on Simchat Torah last year, but we are determined to dispel the darkness with light.”
This project will symbolize the Jewish People’s resilience, our ability to find hope in the face of tragedy.
From the Weekend of Inspiration to the Simchat Torah Project.
Both linked by a determination to inspire ourselves, by connecting to the Torah and to Israel.
It is hoped that each community will send two members to Israel on Rosh Chodesh Elul to launch the project at the Kotel.
It is also hoped, that just like at Har Sinai, we will be amechad, b lev echad – one people with one heart - and collectively we will remind ourselves and the world what the Jewish people truly are.
An eternal people bound by an eternal Torah.
Shabbat Shalom
WATCH: Dvar Torah from Rabbi Benjy Rickman >
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