Happy Simchat Torah! Celebrating the joy of the Torah and the cycle of learning and renewal.

#SimchatTorah #Joy #Renewal #Fediverse #ForteCelebratesCommunity

Today is שמחת תורה (Simchat Torah), celebrating the Torah reading cycle’s completion and renewal with joy, song, and dancing. Two years ago, on October 7th, tragedy struck. This year, with hostages home and the war ended, we dance with heavy hearts, hoping for healing from deep scars and PTSD. May this Simchat Torah bring peace and better days.
חג שמח 🇮🇱

#SimchatTorah #Renewal #Torah #LearnHebrew #Religion

The Jewish community has been bitterly divided over Israel now more than ever before. It’s been especially difficult for someone like me, new to the community, to navigate. I’ve witnessed some truly sickening discourse over the subject. Despite everything, I remained committed to this path.

It’s nice to see some semblance of unity in this year’s bittersweet celebration of #SimchatTorah. To look past our differences and share in the community is a great show of strength. To celebrate in spite of the pain & care for one another. At the end of the day we are one people.

#chagsameach #judaism #mazeldon

Never would I have believed I’d see such blunt, unapologetic antisemitism in my lifetime.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBgdEW9PWQ6/?igsh=MWtxcXB2eWZ0a3N0Mg==

Yet here we are.

The hatred that once seemed like a distant horror, confined to history books and far-off times, is back — right in front of our eyes.

Today marks one year on the Hebrew calendar since October 7. שמחת תורה Simchat Torah /seem-'khat to-'rah/

An entire year of Israel and the Jewish people being blamed, attacked, and denied truth and equal rights.

If you ever wondered what you would have done in Germany in 1939, this is your moment. (I have obsessed over this question my entire life)

We’re living in a time that forces us to ask ourselves:

What do we do, and what do we refuse to do in the face of such hatred?

Not hypothetically. Right now. For real.

#neveragainisnow #jewish #israel #simchattorah #nohate

Strange and Stranger: Reading Torah’s end and beginning on Simchat Torah

October 10, 2024

Elsie R. Stern, Ph.D.

Read Here: https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/article/strange-and-stranger-reading-torahs-end-and-beginning-on-simchat-torah/

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #Judaism #Jewish #Torah #SimchatTorah

To read and/or print the PDF file, go to: https://05f70274-3a87-4512-ab9b-1a933980ebbe.usrfiles.com/ugd/05f702_ea2bfcde15c7408b998c2d2aec66011b.pdf

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #SimchatTorah #SheminiAtzeret #Sukkot #Jeiwsh #Judaism

Haviv Rettig Gur has a good short essay on Simachat Torah carrying all the grief of 7 Oct, but it looks like he only posts on Twitter. I find that incredibly frustrating, but I am still going to share part of it and the link.

Haviv Rettig Gur: “How do we celebrate, how do we build, how are we happy in the midst of pain and mourning and adversity and fear? By adding the brokenness of things into our joy. By breaking a glass at a wedding, leaving a visible blemish on our well-plastered walls, leaving a piece of a meal unprepared — all ways the Talmud instructs us to incorporate mourning into our joy.

It is a way to make sure we don’t forget. But far more importantly - who among us can forget? - it is a way to clear a space in the pain for pockets of joy. It is permission for happiness by acknowledging the grief.” #SimchatTorah #Judaism #October7