Rabbi Rebecca Birk can remember news of the Hamas atrocities of October 7 trickling in as she held the Torah scrolls in synagogue last Simchat Torah.
As some congregants at Finchley Progressive Synagogue were trying to piece together information, which was arriving in “the most shocking way that it felt like it couldn’t be true”, Rabbi Birk immediately adjusted her shul’s celebrations to create a balance.
For a start, they left out the customary dance with the Torah.
Concluding the High Holy Day period, Simchat Torah is a time for joy and dancing, but this year’s festivities will be marked by an intensity that’s never been felt before.
All synagogues will be marking the fact that this was the very festival during which the attack took place in Israel last year. While prayers will focus on those killed, for many, the guiding theme will be “we will dance again” – a bittersweet tribute to the victims of the Nova festival.
While Israel has only one day of holiday, in the Orthodox and Masorti diaspora there are two days of festival, beginning with Shemini Atzeret and leading into Simchat Torah the following day. Some consider it a blessing to have two days of Yom Tov, as it allows the opportunity to have one day to reflect on the losses of the last year through the solemn yizkor (memorial prayer for the departed) and another to celebrate Simchat Torah.
A special prayer composed by the Chief Rabbi to remember those murdered and killed in battle since will be read during yizkor at synagogues such as Highgate. That synagogue is one of more than 500 communities across the world that are joining the Mizrahi Simchat Torah Project for the upcoming High Holy Day.
Each partaking shul will place a dedication on the cover its Sefer Torah to those who have lost their lives in the last year. On the back there will be a dedication to an individual who was killed.
“It’s a lot of introspection,” says Rabbi Nicky Liss. “And on Simchat Torah that then clears the way for us to celebrate Jewish life and celebrate the opportunity we have first of finishing one Torah cycle and then starting a new cycle afresh.”
While that will happen in a mostly typical way, he says it will be “a little bit toned down” with some of the dancing circuits themselves (the hakkafot) dedicated to Israel and the hostages.
Reform synagogues celebrate on one day, however, which means a day encompassing the full spectrum of emotion.
“It will be a hugely poignant day,” says Rabbi Birk, who is holding a joint service with Rabbi Danny Rich at Southgate Progressive Synagogue. “The anticipation of this festival is huge, even for those of us who have already marked the day and have shared beautiful prayers and reflections. What Danny and I felt, as I often do when I lead a wedding, is if there is grief in the family, to name it at the beginning, to give permission to continue and to celebrate under the chuppah.”
They will start the day with prayers focusing on the trauma, which will give way to celebrating Torah.
“We’re going to start the Torah again, finish it again. Birth and death have continued this year, despite the trauma we’re living through. I imagine that our dancing will be very different on the morning, if at all.”
At West London Synagogue a joyous Erev Simchat Torah will honour the Nova survivors whose motto was “we will dance again”, says Rabbi Helen Freeman. On the day, however, they are holding a sombre service, in keeping with the year anniversary. In yizkor, they will include a prayer Rabbi Freeman wrote for the victims of October 7 and end with the sung version of Acheinu, the 1,000-year-old prayer from Machzor Vitry for the release of hostages. And parading the scrolls will be in total silence to mourn those lost lives.
In line with their Israeli and Reform Movement colleagues around the world, Finchley Reform Synagogue also takes its lead from the message “we will dance again”. Its Erev Simchat Torah service will be full of joy and dancing, while the morning service will include an extended yizkor service at its start. The whole scroll will be unrolled around the synagogue, and there will be food trucks, entertainers, a bar, magician, face painting, singing. And dancing.
“It’s a really amazing opportunity for people to kind of embrace Jewish joy,” says Rabbi Deborah Blausten.
“We are going all out, and obviously with an understanding that Simchat Torah this year might feel difficult for people, it’s really important that we hold on to the fact that the Torah has kept turning throughout the ages of Jewish history, and that there’s something really beautiful about the text, that even when life feels difficult, the cycle of Torah carries on.” They too feel inspired by the words of the Nova survivors. “For us, that’s a really important statement of resilience, and why it’s so important to find ways to celebrate.”
