Deuteronomy<\/em> 34:4). These are the last words spoken by God to Moses; in the next verse, Moses dies.<\/p>\nSimchat Torah is not only a day to celebrate the completion of the Torah; it is also a day to mark the tragic death of Moses, who never achieved his goal of entering the promised land. An ancient set of mourning rituals \u2014 placed right in the middle of the otherwise joyful service \u2014 marked Moses\u2019 death. In its oldest form, the person honored with the aliyah before the reading that included Moses\u2019 death would recite a special poem \u2014 later, for technical reasons, the poem moved to follow the Torah reading as a stand-alone ritual.<\/p>\n
Much of the poem \u2014 called \u201cAsher Biglal Avot\u201d \u2014 praises Moses as a leader and teacher. But toward the end, it reads:<\/p>\n
[Moses] let out a great and bitter cry when the Holy One said to him: \u2018Go up and die on the mountain!\u2019<\/p>\n
He tore his clothes and raised his voice: \u2018Joshua son of Nun \u2014 take care of my flock!\u2019<\/p>\n
Yaari dated this poem to the 6th century or earlier. Rav Saadia Gaon, a leader of the Jewish community at the turn of the ninth century, knew of this poem and decreed that it should be cut short \u2014 right before the lines quoted above (Orhot Hayyim #58). Apparently for R. Saadia Gaon, it was too sad a subject to recite on Simchat Torah.<\/p>\n
Dozens of other poems marking Moses\u2019 death were written over the centuries and recited on the holiday. One 14th-century Provence authority describes how following the Haftarah, the elders of the synagogue would remove all the Torah scrolls from the ark, stand on a platform and \u201cmourn the death of Moses our teacher\u201d through elegies. One prayer book from that time mentions a poem that begins: \u201cthis is a day of great crying, and rivers of tears.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dozens of these kinds of mournful poems were recited for hundreds of years in France, North Africa, Italy, Turkey and Aleppo. In Rome, they would intersperse sad poems between each verse at the end of the Torah. Some Jews \u2014 even up to the 20th century \u2014 would recite elegies to Moses after the synagogue service in their home, bursting into tears at certain lines, according to Yaari.<\/p>\n
Other rituals beyond poems marked Moses\u2019 death. The 10th-century rabbi Hai Gaon was asked about a practice to remove the Torah scroll from its protective case. He forbade the practice, yet added: \u201cBut if it is to mark the mourning of Moses, it is permitted.\u201d In other words, stripping down the Torah to its bare scroll gave expression to a feeling of loss and suffering \u2014 on Simchat Torah.<\/p>\n
It turns out that a holiday we consider as only suffused with joy for centuries has had an undercurrent of mourning running through it.<\/p>\n
How might we learn from these past rituals? First, it is clear that throughout Jewish history, Simchat Torah was not experienced as entirely joyful; these poems and practices show us that we can make room for our sadness on this day. Indeed, we might add a poem to the service to mark what took place last year at this time; many new heart-wrenching poems have already been written. We might consider a physical marking of our mourning \u2014 something akin to removing the protective covering of the Torah scroll \u2014 to give expression to our feelings. This could include something we wear, or a change we make to the lighting or layout of the service.<\/p>\n
We even might decide to make no direct ritual change, but take comfort in the fact that our ancestors who celebrated this day experienced sadness and gave voice to that.<\/p>\n
Mourning the death of Moses is of course different from mourning the death of the hundreds killed, wounded and captured last Simchat Torah. But as I read those lines from one ancient poem about Moshe\u2019s death, the phrase \u201cMoses let out a great and bitter cry\u201d (echoing Mordechai\u2019s great and bitter cry upon hearing Haman\u2019s decree) gave me pause. It is the voice I want to bring forth on Simchat Torah this year. Because we cannot celebrate this holiday with a full heart of joy, and we have to make room for our bitter cries.<\/p>\n
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