(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — When more than a dozen Jewish groups convened last year in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza for an annual celebration of Simchat Torah, tensions that would define the coming year were...
Last year’s October 7 attacks against the State of Israel by Hamas were perpetrated as Israelis celebrated Simchat Torah. 1200 innocents were murdered, hundreds taken hostage. Devastating war ensued. How we are properly to mark...
My father, of blessed memory, served for decades as Gabbai of his congregation. He set up Kiddush, called worshippers to the Torah for aliyot, and – notably – carried the Torah Scroll in its ceremonial...
(JNS.org) – As Succot draws to a close, the final day of celebration, known as Simchat Torah, engulfs the Jewish world in the celebration of the completion of the annual cycle of reading through the Torah from...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Everyone has at least a few creation stories: how they were born, how they came to the career they chose, how they met their loved one.
(JNS.org) – As we are about to celebrate Simchat Torah—a holiday defined by its communal gatherings, and the critical importance of physical proximity and traditions like dancing with the Torah—I find myself thinking of the...
In one of my family’s favorite movies, “The Princess Bride,” Inigo Montoya (played by Mandy Patinkin) avers: “You told me to go back to the beginning, so I have.” His statement represents a turning point....