Matti Wagner
Times of Israel, Oct. 23, 2024
“This year, with so many men in reserve service, who will take the small children on their shoulders and dance with them?””
On the first anniversary of the most deadly attack on Jews since the Holocaust, rabbis of communities throughout Israel are grappling with how to balance the joy of Simhat Torah with the sadness of commemorating those who were lost.
“Strengthening the nation — not falling into depression and despondency — is so important both for soldiers fighting on the battlefield and for civilians, so we need the joy,” said Chief Rabbi of Safed Shmuel Eliyahu. “At the same time, in every community, in every synagogue, there is a mourner, a soldier on duty, someone who was injured.”
“It is a narrow bridge,” he said.
Simhat Torah, literally “The Joy of the Torah,” is a day on which Jews express gratitude to God for being chosen to receive their written and oral traditions through dancing, song and celebratory prayer.
And it was on Simhat Torah last year — which fell on October 7 — that thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border from Gaza into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault. The onslaught sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which has taken hundreds more Israeli lives and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, according to unverified tallies by the Hamas-run health ministry.
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