What is simchat torah?

Simchat Torah is one of the holidays where children gets to actively participate in the service. This is the one time kids do not have to sit still – singing and dancing with the torah and waving flags are the order of the day. Children do not carry the scrolls of course (it’s way too heavy), but you can bring along a toy torah or paper torahs. The torah scrolls are taken out of the ark, seven times and carried around the synagogue. Can you imagine all the excitement and noise! It is a real parade in the synagogue and mom and dad joins in too.

Now before we continue, do you know what the torah is? The word torah means teaching. The Torah is best known as the five books of Moses. In it you have historical events (explaining things that happened a long time ago, our bible stories for instance), it explains families (just like a family tree), and it also contains all the commandments (and there are not only 10, in all there are 613 commandments), but we will learn more of this later on in the year. The torah scrolls we read from in the synagogue are called a Sefer Torah ‘(that’s more Hebrew).

Now the reason for this parade is because we celebrate a year of reading and learning of torah. Just like you do and are going to do during this year at Sunday Funday.
Simchat Torah simply means ‘Rejoicing in the Torah’. All through the year we read portions of the torah called parashot. At Simchat Torah we make a circle with the torah: that means we read the last words in the torah and start up again right from the beginning – just like a circle, just like for us the studying of the torah is never ending.

An activity to do at home
Make a simchat torah flag.
http://www.behrmanhouse.com/jam/pdf/simhattorahflag.pdf

Join us at Kehilat Gesher, KG 17, for Simchat Torah services this Wednesday evening at 7pm!

Venez nombreux à notre office de Simchat Torah chez Kehilat Gesher, ce mercredi soir, à KG17 à 19h00 !

Hag Sameach