How should we observe Simchat Torah this year? - opinion

On Simchat Torah 5784 – October 7, 2023 – we experienced one of the greatest disasters in the history of the State of Israel. Since then, hundreds of soldiers and civilians have been killed, there are still 101 hostages in Gaza, and the war continues in the South and North. In light of all this, how should we observe Simchat Torah this year?

Indeed, this is a difficult dilemma. After all, we are commanded in the Torah to rejoice on Sukkot (Lev. 23:40; Deut. 16:14-15) and on Shavuot (Deut. 16:11), and the Sages derived from these verses that there is a positive commandment to rejoice on the festivals (Pesachim 109a; Maimonides, Laws of Yom Tov 6:17-18; Sefer HaChinukh, Mitzvah 488).

Furthermore, “Simchat Torah,” as its name implies, is a festival of songs, dances, and supreme joy in order to celebrate the completion of the Torah reading. How can we bridge this gap?

A direction for a solution is found in a famous Talmudic passage (Bava Batra 60b). I quote the Baraita here without all of the Talmudic discussion:

Our Sages taught: When the Second Temple was destroyed, ascetics increased in Israel to refrain from eating meat and drinking wine.

Rabbi Joshua joined their discussion: “My sons, why don’t you eat meat and drink wine?”

They said to him: “Shall we eat meat from which sacrifices were offered on the altar, and now it has ceased? Shall we drink wine that was poured as a libation on the altar, and now it has ceased?”

He said to them: “If so, we should not eat bread, as the meal offerings have ceased!”

They replied: “It is possible to eat fruits.”

He said: “We should not eat fruits, as the first fruits have ceased!”

They replied: “It is possible to eat other fruits.”

He said: “We should not drink water, as the water libation has ceased!”

They were silent.

He said to them: My sons, come and I will tell you: It is impossible not to mourn at all, as the decree has already been issued. But to mourn excessively is also impossible, as we do not impose a decree on the community unless the majority can endure it… Therefore, the Sages said:

A person plasters his house with lime, but leaves a small part unplastered…

A person prepares all the needs for a meal, but leaves out a small part…

A woman makes all of her jewelry, but leaves out a small part…

And anyone who mourns for Jerusalem will merit and see its joy, as it is said (Isaiah 66:10): “Rejoice with Jerusalem…”

Indeed, this passage was codified by the Rambam (Laws of Fasts 5:12-13), the Tur, and the Shulhan Aruch (Orach Chayim 560:1-2), and this was also followed in practice – as can be seen in the photo I took in the central square of the Venice Ghetto 20 years ago.

Seeking a middle path for a new year

In other words, we need to seek a middle path between the usual joy of Simchat Torah and the mourning necessitated by the disaster of Simchat Torah 5784.

Thus far, in most synagogues around the world, it is customary to recite a “Mi Sheberach” for the hostages and/or chapters of Psalms every day, including on Shabbat and holidays.

I would like to suggest three additional things that we should do on Simchat Torah 5785, and justify each suggestion according to Jewish law.

We should add a Yizkor prayer for those who were murdered on Simchat Torah 5784 and for those who have been killed since then in the war.

Yizkor – which developed in Germany in 1096 when the Crusaders murdered thousands of Jews – spread slowly to Italy and Eastern Europe. They would “remember souls” on Shabbat and/or Yom Kippur and/or Shalosh Regalim (the three pilgrimage festivals), each place according to its custom.

But how did they recite Yizkor on Shalosh Regalim if we are commanded to rejoice on the festivals? Indeed, several later authorities asked this question and provided various explanations. However, none of the important halachic authorities who mentioned this custom from the 13th-17th centuries asked this question! They saw no contradiction between reciting Yizkor for the deceased and the commandment to “rejoice on your festival.”

Therefore, since many Jews have been reciting Yizkor on  Shalosh Regalim from the 13th century until today, and since the majority of the Jewish people from all streams (except for the ultra-Orthodox who oppose any innovation in Judaism) recite Yizkor for the martyrs of the Holocaust and for the soldiers and civilians who have been killed since 1948, there is no halachic problem in adding Yizkor for those who were murdered on Simchat Torah 5784 and for those who have been killed in the war until today. Indeed, two versions appear in an article by Liron Keshet in the Zikaron Yisraeli booklet, edited by Rabbi Ido Pachter, and there is a full Yizkor ceremony for the martyrs of October 7th edited by Rabbi Karen Reiss Medwed on the Rabbinical Assembly website.

We should reduce the joy of one Hakafah, during which we shall not sing or dance, or we shall sing quiet songs.

At first glance, it would seem that it’s required to dance seven Hakafot (circuits) in the evening and morning of Simchat Torah. However, we learn from Toldot Hag Simchat Torah by Avraham Ya’ari from 1964 that from the period of the Geonim of Babylon who instituted the Simchat Torah Festival for 1,000 years until the days of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the Ari, in Safed in the 16th century there were no Hakkafot with singing and dancing on Simchat Torah.

Thus, for example, in France, Germany, Provence, and Italy in the 11th-15th centuries, they used to recite “Atah Horeita” and many other verses in the morning, take all the Torah scrolls out of the ark, chant “Ana Hashem Hoshia Na,” and walk slowly, then place three Torah scrolls on the tower for the Torah reading, and return the other scrolls to the ark. In the Customs of the House of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, ca. 1300, it’s mentioned for the first time that a similar ceremony was also held at night. In all these descriptions of Simchat Torah, there is no mention of seven Hakkafot or of singing and dancing.

The seven Hakkafot are an innovation of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the Ari, who lived in Safed in the years 1570-1572. They are mentioned by his disciple, Rabbi Hayyim Vital, in Sha’ar Hakavanot (Jerusalem, 1873, folio 104a), but since that work was only printed in the 19th century, the custom of doing seven Hakkafot with singing and dancing only began to spread in the 18th century.

Therefore, in light of the terrible disaster of Simchat Torah 5784 and in the spirit of the passage about Rabbi Joshua, it’s advisable to reduce the singing and dancing on Simchat Torah 5785. Each rabbi or ritual committee can decide what is appropriate for their community. For example, one can perform one Hakkafah by reciting the piyut “Ana Hashem Hoshia Na” without any additional songs, or by singing quiet songs without dancing. Rabbi Robert Scheinberg has suggested doing this in the fourth Hakkafah, while Liron Keshet has suggested doing this in the sixth Hakkafah. The main point is not to celebrate Simchat Torah as usual, but to find a way to relate to the terrible disaster that occurred one year ago.

Finally, we should add a kinah or kinnot [elegy or elegies] in the Yizkor service in memory of those who were murdered.

At first glance, this seems like a very strange suggestion. After all, kinnot are usually recited on Tisha B’Av and similar occasions. So how can one recite kinnot on Simchat Torah?! However, as can be learned from Avraham Ya’ari’s comprehensive work about Simchat Torah, there was a widespread tradition to lament the death of Moses on Simchat Torah since we read about his death at the end of the Torah. Moreover, there were places where more kinnot were recited for Moses than piyutim in honor of Simchat Torah! Indeed, out of the 786 piyutim for Simchat Torah that Ya’ari listed in Chapter 37 of his book, 77 of them – or almost 10% – are piyutim or kinnot about the death of Moses!

If our ancestors lamented the death of Moses from the Geonic period until the 20th century through piyutim and kinnot, how much the more so is it permissible for us to recite a kinah or kinnot for the approximately 1,145 men, women, and children who were brutally murdered by evildoers on Simchat Torah 5784. The most appropriate place to include the kinnot is within the Yizkor service. Most of the kinnot published thus far were related to Tisha B’Av, but there is still time to compose additional kinnot related to Simchat Torah.

There are undoubtedly additional suggestions, but the main point is to find the balance between the traditional joy of Simchat Torah and the mourning needed to commemorate the terrible tragedy that occurred on Simchat Torah 5784.

May it be God’s will that together we will prevail and bring all of our hostages home in the near future.

Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin serves as president of The Schechter Institutes, Inc. in Jerusalem. An expanded version of this article can be found at https://schechter.edu/how-should-we-observe-simhat-torah-this-coming-year/. His latest book is Responsa in a Moment, Volume VI, Jerusalem, 2024.