Our Colorful Traditions (Oct 2011)
October’s glorious colors of seasonal transition accompany the most active days of our annual holiday cycle. This year, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah all occur in this month. The changing moods of the holidays mirror the changing seasons.
Yom Kippur is our most solemn day, a time of intense introspection. But once it concludes we immediately turn to the external world. The sounds of sukkah building and decorating replace the haunting melodies of our High Holiday period.
Sukkot recalls our impermanence, our desert wanderings, but at the same time it is intricately bound up with the bounty of the last harvest before winter sets in. It is a time of fulfillment, and in the words of our tradition is “z’man simchateinu – the season of our joy.” How joyful it will be when once again all take turns waving the lulav and etrog in our Temple’s Sukkah, and smell the refreshing fragrance of the etrog at our Erev Sukkot Service!
And then, we end and begin the cycle of reading our Torah on Simchat Torah. The mood this night is the total antithesis of Yom Kippur. At our Simchat Torah service we read of the death of Moses in one Torah scroll, and immediately follow it as we open our second Torah scroll and read the first verses of Genesis: the story of beginnings, creativity, and hope. It is a wonderful service each year when we parade our Torah scrolls around the sanctuary, giving everyone who desires the opportunity to draw near and carry the Torah. As in recent years, we will also include in the Simchat Torah service the Consecration ceremony when all the children new to our Shalom School will be called to the pulpit to recite the Shema and receive their own miniature Torah.
May the year we are now beginning be a year of health and laughter, of joy and peace!
Rabbi Arnie Fertig, MPA, DD
P.S. Over the summer, I've begun to Tweet on topics of Jewish interest. I invite you to follow me: @melroserebbe.
