One further Halacha for those who are Davening alone: The addition of Morid HaGeshem can begin in Musaf as long as one is Davening at the same time or after the congregation has done so. As there will be a reading of Kohelet and a recitation of Yizkor on Shabbat, one should assume that Mussaf is not beginning before 11:15 am.
Updated Simchat Torah Plan 5781
The celebration of Simchat Torah will be altered to accommodate Covid restrictions on singing and on physical distancing. Nevertheless, we are trying to introduce substitutions and variations to give the day punch.
The seven Hakafot on Motzai Shabbat and on Sunday morning will be one time around the Bima with a few people designated to carry the Torah for all of them.
In lieu of singing and dancing, we will have short Divrei Torah delivered by scholars from the community. When time allows, a leader will sing a song, with others following in the muted way we do during Davening.
The reading of VeZot HaBeracha on Sunday morning will take place once through. One Kohen will represent all of the Kohanim, and then one Levi, etc. Chatan Torah and Chatan Bereisheet will be added on. We will therefore not call everyone up for Aliyot. Anyone who wants to control Chatan Bereisheet can bid on it via the rabbi at rabbi@emekberacha.org.
After Davening Sunday morning, we invite families with small children to stand as a family under a Talit as R’ Evyatar Hacohen will read the section. Plan to get to Shul by 11:30 am for this. Depending on the number of children, we will either hold it in the backyard or in the parking lot. We will also have Pekalas for each child.
Derasha
Simchat Torah is not mentioned in the Talmud. The Minhagim that make up what we refer to as Simchat Torah only coalesced later. The reading of VeZot HaBeracha on the second day of the Chag is mentioned by the Talmud but the way we do it with Hakafot and dancing is not. These are customs from the period of the Geonim, meaning fewer than 1500 years ago.
Indeed, the celebration that takes place to mark the finishing of the yearly Torah-reading cycle could only apply in those places that actually completed the Torah every year. In the land of Israel, a triennial cycle governed the reading of the Torah for centuries; that custom still existed during the lifetime of the Rambam. (The reading of Vezot HaBeracha would not have applied in Israel anyway, for Israel has no second day of Yom Tov.)
Of course, the first issue for us this year in celebrating the end of the Torah is that we don’t seem to qualify. From Parashat Ki Tissa in mid-March until the first weeks of Bamidbar, we didn’t read the Torah at all at EB, and almost no one else did either. When Minyanim resumed, we did not “make up” the missed Parashiot for several reasons. According to many authorities, the rules about “making up” for lost Parashiot only apply when there was a Minyan that failed to read the Torah. That is, there was an obligation that was not fulfilled. During those many weeks, we did not even have a Minyan -- we were not allowed to have a Minyan -- and therefore we had no obligation to make up. Further, even when there is an obligation, no one holds that it covers more than one week that has been missed, and it never extends from one Sefer of the Chumash to another. Although there were groups that voluntarily took on this task -- I heard about one group that took more than two hours to cover the skipped verses -- it was never undertaken as an obligation.
But what then are we celebrating? Well, there were Jews who met for Minyan during the whole time. That is, the reading of the Torah is a communal obligation anyway. No one who misses a Shabbat in Shul has an individual obligation to hear the Parasha he or she missed. So even if one community had no obligation on a given Shabbat, there were Minyanim that carried on. (A Shul in Warsaw met throughout, as did a group in a nursing home in South Africa. Others met too but they weren’t always meeting lawfully.) To an extent, those who carried on did so for all of us, the general community of Jews.
Moreover, the Torah reading cycle includes not just the public reading of the Torah but also individuals. Many Jews keep up a cycle of two readings of the Parasha each week along with one reading of its Aramaic translation (or a quality English translation, like that of R’ Aryeh Kaplan, a”h). We have mentioned for many months in our instructions for those who are Davening alone that there is an opinion that this Halacha constitutes a genuine reading of the Torah for those who can’t participate in the public reading. Those who kept up with their reading are also finishing the cycle on Simchat Torah.
But there’s more to explore here in terms of Simchat Torah. This celebration seems to violate another rule: We aren’t supposed to mix Simchas. Here we are in the middle of Yom Tov and the Sages of those days decided to celebrate the finishing of the Torah. And, unfortunately, S’machot do not always work synergistically. Focus on one Simcha diminishes another, so Simchat Torah takes away from Shmini Atzeret.
The answer to this objection opens up an important understanding of why Simchat Torah is celebrated on this day. The three major Chagim correspond to the Avot, as cited by the Tur in Orach Chaim 417. For reasons easy to support, Avraham is associated with Pesach, Yitzchok with Shavuot, and Yaakov with Sukkot. But who goes with Shmini Atzeret? We mark it, after all, as a Chag unto itself and not just as an appendage to Sukkot. So to whom does it correspond?
The Midrashim are split on this but one set favors the idea that it corresponds to Moshe Rabbenu. For Moshe continued in the tradition of the blessings of the Patriarchs -- Avraham blessed Yitzchok, who in turn blessed Yaakov, who blessed the tribes. This is why we read VeZot Haberacha, Moshe’s continuation of these Berachot for the Jewish people, on Shmini Atzeret.
In other words, regardless of whether we would finish the Torah on this day, it is fitting on Shmini Atzeret to celebrate Moshe Rabbenu, and his contribution is the Torah. So there is no issue of mixing Smachot on this day; it is completely in keeping with this day to celebrate Moshe and the Torah. The ending of the Torah so poignantly describes Moshe’s death, and then celebrates his superb gifts.
It is also fitting, as we celebrate the Torah, for Shmini Atzeret to be a day in which we push forward. Just as we begin the reading of the Torah anew -- this time determined to cover it all again as a congregation -- we should all be thinking about the learning we want to do in the new year. What classes we want to ask for, and what goals in learning we want to pursue. Adult education this year can expand, in a way, as we can engage scholars from all over the world through Zoom. There is no greater honor for Moshe Rabbenu than to renew our devotion to learning the Torah he brought us.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach
Congregation Emek Beracha 4102 El Camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306
