Page 34 - HaMizrachi Sukkot 5783 USA

JEWS

with
VIEWS Rabbi Marcus Emma

Solomon Katz

very year, on the night of Simchat t was the fourth set of hakafot in a small
Torah, a good-natured and light-hearted upstairs classroom in the Gruss Kollel in
scuffle breaks out in shul between the Jerusalem. There, holding my four-month-old
mainstream adherents of the Ashkenazi baby boy, I connected to Eitan Katz’s Baruch
Eprotocol and those sympathetic to the IHu in a new way.
We asked five custom of Chabad Chassidim. וּנ ָלי ִדּ ְב ִה ְו ,וֹדוֹב ְכ ִל וּנ ָא ָר ְבּ ֶשׁ וּני ֵקלֹ- ֱא אוּה ךְוּר ָבּ
ם ָלוֹע י ֵיּ ַח ְו ,ת ֶמ ֱא ת ַרוֹתּ וּנ ָל ן ַת ָנ ְו ,םי ִעוֹתּ ַה ן ִמ
The Ashkenazi custom is to conduct a public
.וּנ ֵכוֹת ְבּ ע ַט ָנ
accomplished kri’at haTorah from the beginning of V’zot HaBer- “Blessed is He, our G-d, Who created us
achah, complete with aliyot. Chassidut, however,
contrasts our connection with the Torah on Sim- for His glory, and set us apart from those who
Jews from chat Torah with Shavuot. On Shavuot, we read go astray and gave us the Torah of truth and
implanted eternal life within us.”
the narrative of the giving of the Torah on Mount
Sinai, and spend the night studying the full spec- Today’s world is so jam-packed with
around the trum of the Torah’s wisdom. In stark contrast, our technology, information, and material items,
connection to the Torah on Simchat Torah reaches
but so many still find themselves feeling so
above and beyond our intellectual capacity. We empty. People wonder, “who am I, and where
world: celebrate our intrinsic and primordial connection do I belong? What purpose and role do I play in
this complex world?” The song is an expression
with the Torah which every Jew shares, regardless
Which Simchat of their intellectual capacity or scholarship. For of our gratitude to Hashem for choosing us as
that reason, we manifest our joy with physical
His nation, thanking Him for giving us direction,
dancing holding the Torah scrolls closed, with- meaning, and purpose in life.
Torah song do out opening them up in a way that exposes the gave us the answer to these deep existential
As Jews, we are fortunate that Hashem
distinguishing abilities of different people. It is
a distinctly unifying means of celebrating our questions. He chose us and gave us the Torah,
you find most integral connection with the Torah. For Chassidim, with the holy mission l’hagdil Torah u’l’ha’adira,
to spread Torah and sanctify His name in the
opening and reading the Torah on Simchat Torah
night would run counter to that spirit. world. We receive this charge as a blessing, in a
meaningful have their own beauty, there is something world in which so many are lost.
Although all customs are legitimate and
Listening to this song while holding my baby
and why? very profound about celebrating the unifying was deeply moving. I was filled with gratitude to
connection of everyone to the Torah without
Hashem, for my son, born into this complicated,
regard to their background, knowledge or confusing world, is already a part of our elevated
capacity. For that reason, my favorite song on mission.
Simchat Torah is a song without words. It is any
uplifting niggun, any wordless song, in which
everyone can join from the depths of their soul
– even if they do not know an aleph or a beit.
Rabbi Justice Marcus Solomon is the founding Mrs. Emma Katz is the Director of NILI – The
Rabbi of the Dianella Shule Mizrachi Perth. He was Women’s Initiative of the Yeshiva University Torah
recently appointed a justice on the Supreme Court MiTzion Kollel of Chicago and the Rebbetzin at
of Western Australia. Congregation Anshe Chesed in Linden, NJ.

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