Dear Friends,
It is easy to celebrate when things are good. It is natural to celebrate when matters are happy, joyous and rosy.
How about when conditions are concerning, or difficult? How do we celebrate at those times?
I recall reading an account of prisoners at a Nazi concentration camp, facing the festival of Simchat Torah one year, and confounded over what to do. Jewish law dictates that one must celebrate with the Torah, and read its closing and opening sections, so as to renew the cycle of Torah reading once again. However, these Jews under the worst Nazi privations did not have a Torah, let alone much spirit to celebrate Simchat Torah. However, one wise inmate, noting a young teen in the barracks, asked the teenager if he knew the opening and closing words of Torah. When teen replied that he did, the man picked up the child, carried him about the dark, dingy room, and declared, “This is our Torah. This one gives us an ending and a new beginning!” And the men danced and sang.
This year, celebrating is difficult, ever since our recent Simchat Torah, when Hamas attacked Israel. Yet, this week, our Torah portion rolls to the Song at the Sea, Shirat haYam, the beautiful celebration with dance and song with which our forebears rejoiced upon their departure from Egypt. It includes a recounting of the victory over Egypt, the destruction of Pharaoh’s charioteers, and Miriam and the women dancing with timbrels to demonstrate their joy.
We might find such celebrating somewhat tempered, this year. The war with Hamas is still underway, over a hundred hostages are still held in Gaza, anti-Semitism has exploded, and politics in America and war in Ukraine darken the mod of life.
However, the Divine command to rejoice is not lifted when circumstances conspire otherwise. The Holocaust story reminds us that we can, and we must, celebrate passage of time and the renewing moments of life which still come with flipping the calendar’s pages. This is a secret of Judaism. When other religious systems might be dour, ponderous or morose – even at joyful times – our Tradition urges that we find the joys in each day and each season which continue to sustain us.
Ignoring joys is a violation of the commandments, as much as celebrating them is fulfillment of the commandments.
This Shabbat, let’s make room for a little celebrating, as well.
With Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
It is easy to celebrate when things are good. It is natural to celebrate when matters are happy, joyous and rosy.
How about when conditions are concerning, or difficult? How do we celebrate at those times?
I recall reading an account of prisoners at a Nazi concentration camp, facing the festival of Simchat Torah one year, and confounded over what to do. Jewish law dictates that one must celebrate with the Torah, and read its closing and opening sections, so as to renew the cycle of Torah reading once again. However, these Jews under the worst Nazi privations did not have a Torah, let alone much spirit to celebrate Simchat Torah. However, one wise inmate, noting a young teen in the barracks, asked the teenager if he knew the opening and closing words of Torah. When teen replied that he did, the man picked up the child, carried him about the dark, dingy room, and declared, “This is our Torah. This one gives us an ending and a new beginning!” And the men danced and sang.
This year, celebrating is difficult, ever since our recent Simchat Torah, when Hamas attacked Israel. Yet, this week, our Torah portion rolls to the Song at the Sea, Shirat haYam, the beautiful celebration with dance and song with which our forebears rejoiced upon their departure from Egypt. It includes a recounting of the victory over Egypt, the destruction of Pharaoh’s charioteers, and Miriam and the women dancing with timbrels to demonstrate their joy.
We might find such celebrating somewhat tempered, this year. The war with Hamas is still underway, over a hundred hostages are still held in Gaza, anti-Semitism has exploded, and politics in America and war in Ukraine darken the mod of life.
However, the Divine command to rejoice is not lifted when circumstances conspire otherwise. The Holocaust story reminds us that we can, and we must, celebrate passage of time and the renewing moments of life which still come with flipping the calendar’s pages. This is a secret of Judaism. When other religious systems might be dour, ponderous or morose – even at joyful times – our Tradition urges that we find the joys in each day and each season which continue to sustain us.
Ignoring joys is a violation of the commandments, as much as celebrating them is fulfillment of the commandments.
This Shabbat, let’s make room for a little celebrating, as well.
With Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
