What Are We Celebrating on Simchas Torah?: Rabbi Michael Taubes, Sukkot-to-Go, 5783 — The joyous holiday of Sukkos, and indeed the entire Yomim Noraim season, culminates with our celebrating the completion of our yearly Kerias HaTorah cycle with the reading of Parshas VeZos HaBerachah, the last parshah in the Chumash.
ANICENT BOOK: MODERN QUESTIONS
WATCH: The Book of Ecclesiastes: A Philosophical Reading: Micah Goodman, Tikvah Fund, Apr. 4 – 20, 2022 — The preacher of Ecclesiastes does not ask small questions. What is the meaning of human mortality? How can we make sense of the finite time we have under the sun? If we are not remembered by our posterity, do our lives have any meaning at all?
Kohelet: The Earth Versus Humanity: Prof. Rabbi Marty Lockshin, The Torah.com, Oct. 9, 2022
Sukkah in the Skies with Diamonds: Gershon Winkler, Isranet.org, Oct. 14, 2022
Why Darkness Befell Me on the Bright Festival of Simchat Torah: Sholom Aleichem, Tablet, Oct. 9, 2020
The Mystery of Simhat Torah 1663, at the First Synagogue in England in 350 Years: Philologos, Mosaic Magazine, Sept. 20, 2018
Tiny Torahs: Jenna Weissman Joselit, Tablet, Sept. 28, 2022 — Topl Tutaritu was the proudest boy in his synagogue, maybe even the proudest boy in all the land.
The Ancient Jewish Practice of Hakhel Gets A 21st-Century Revival: Jackie Hajdenberg/JTA, Jerusalem Post, Oct. 10, 2022 — Every seven years, in ancient times, Jewish men, women, and children would gather at the Temple on the first day of Sukkot to hear the king of Jerusalem read aloud from the Torah.
The Children of Israel Dance With The Law: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Jonathan Sacks, October 2004 — Imagine the following scene. The Lord Chief Justice, together with his senior judges, decide that law is a wonderful thing. They resolve to set aside a day each year to celebrate it. They write poems and compose songs in its honour. When the day comes, they each take a weighty tome — Halsbury’s Statutes would do nicely — and dance round The House of Lords, singing the songs and reciting the poems.
Sukkot 5783: Welcome to Armageddon: David Israel, Jewish Press, Oct. 11, 2022 — These notes are being written on my laptop in my sukkah, having had a nice shot glass in honor of the sweetest holiday in our calendar, so I encourage the reader to take it with a few grains of salt. On the other hand, don’t dismiss it out of hand, and please, check out Zechariah 14, possibly the most exciting passage in the Bible for sci fi fans.
“The Koran calls Jews a “people of the book”, but this is an understatement. We are a people only because of the book.” – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
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