I’ve waited for 3 years.
The past 2 years we spend with Covid and the synagogues were closed. The smaller ones at least. Mine. 2 years ago all we had were Tfillot for Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. Last year we had just started having prayers on Shabbat, but for Succot and Shmini Azeret/Simchat Tora no prayers were planned.
This year things were going to be different. The closer we were getting to Simchat Tora the more excited and nervous was I getting. Would there be a Minyan? Would there be kids at the synagogue? Would women and girls attend the service?
On the one hand it was important for me to have a nice Simchat Tora, but I did have an ulterior motive. 3 years ago a question was raised. Not for the first time, and there was no real answer.
Why don’t women get a Tora scroll for their side during the Hakafot, so they can dance with the Tora?
The answers us women got were:
“What do you need that for?”
“We can talk about it after the holidays.” (Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen)
“We’ll need to ask the rabbi.”
The question kept us busy and was discussed with students during the meal which followed at my house. We all had enough knowledge to know there was no reason not to do so. The only reason: “It has always been that way.”
The following morning we still had no good reason from the people in charge, so one man took matters into his own hands and handed one of the Tora scrolls to the women. We were all surprised.
There were no protests, no screaming, nothing. The men were dancing on their side and one of the women did a few rounds on the women’s side, with the Tora in her arms.
Many things have changed in this synagogue since that day. Just like in a lot of synagogues all over the world. Now that Simchat Tora was approaching, I was wondering whether I should say something or simply wait and see. In the past year I did a lot of things which displeased the rabbinate and the rabbis. Maybe it would be better, if I didn’t provoke them more.
So I waited. And there was a Minyan, and there were children, and girls and women. Not many, but some. The moment arrived, the Tora scrolls were taken out of the ark. One man after the other was called to take one scroll. The ones left, were the ones which needed to be repaired. And one more.
The words of a friend ring in my ears, as I think about this moment: “You need Allies!”
Again one of the men took out the Tora scroll and brought it to the women.
Overwhelmed and a bit awkwardly one of the women took the scroll and brought it to the other women. The joy one could see was indescribable. While some had reservations and hesitated to actually hold the scroll, others couldn’t wait.
The most beautiful thing I witnessed that evening was my daughter. She danced with the Tora and all the way home and the rest of the evening she only spoke of that. She had held the Tora, she had danced with the Tora.
Simchat Tora – in the truest sense of the word.
That moment, that evening, and the following day made more of an impression on her Judaism than any Challa she baked or Mishna she learnt. She was part of something that happened in the synagogue. That was crucial.
The sparkle in the eyes of a teenage girl, who still is looking for her place in Judaism, the pride she felt – that are only two of many reason why that was needed.
The question was asked in the wrong way. It shouldn’t be: “What do you need that for?“
The question is:
What do we need that for?
For Chinuch, for the survival of Judaism, for us, you, the next generation.
The the joy of Tora.