This week, we hope with all our hearts that the Israeli hostages will return home beginning Monday and that and that the ceasefire agreement will lead to an end to the violence and suffering of Israelis and Palestinians. With all our souls we hope, pray and envision the coming year as a time when healing can begin for all who have lost so many loved ones. If that healing feels impossible to imagine, as it may for many of us, it can be helpful to look to Simchat Torah, the last of our fall season of festivals.
This coming Tuesday night is Simchat Torah, when we celebrate the Torah and read both the last and the first verses from the scroll. I hope you will join us for it. It is a holiday of rejoicing, but we will never again celebrate it without also remembering that it became the yahrzeit of 1200 Israelis and others in the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023. As Rabbi Elie Kaunfer wrote on the first anniversary of the massacre, “A day meant to celebrate our love of tradition, embodied in the Torah, was forever altered… [Yet we] cannot fully convert Simchat Torah to a time of sadness. We have to balance these two emotions — joy and devastation.”
We will mark the yahrzeit with a brief ritual, connecting us with Jewish communities all over the world who will be gathering both to celebrate and remember. The rest of our evening will include a casual dinner (please RSVP!) and joyful dancing to live music by the TBH troupe of musicians who have been excitedly rehearsing. Don’t miss it!
Simchat Torah – Big Enough for both Grief and Joy
October 10, 2025 by Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller • D'var Torah
This week, we hope with all our hearts that the Israeli hostages will return home beginning Monday and that and that the ceasefire agreement will lead to an end to the violence and suffering of Israelis and Palestinians. With all our souls we hope, pray and envision the coming year as a time when healing can begin for all who have lost so many loved ones. If that healing feels impossible to imagine, as it may for many of us, it can be helpful to look to Simchat Torah, the last of our fall season of festivals.
This coming Tuesday night is Simchat Torah, when we celebrate the Torah and read both the last and the first verses from the scroll. I hope you will join us for it. It is a holiday of rejoicing, but we will never again celebrate it without also remembering that it became the yahrzeit of 1200 Israelis and others in the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023. As Rabbi Elie Kaunfer wrote on the first anniversary of the massacre, “A day meant to celebrate our love of tradition, embodied in the Torah, was forever altered… [Yet we] cannot fully convert Simchat Torah to a time of sadness. We have to balance these two emotions — joy and devastation.”
We will mark the yahrzeit with a brief ritual, connecting us with Jewish communities all over the world who will be gathering both to celebrate and remember. The rest of our evening will include a casual dinner (please RSVP!) and joyful dancing to live music by the TBH troupe of musicians who have been excitedly rehearsing. Don’t miss it!