Celebrating Simchat Torah 2023 / 5784
On Sunday 8th October 2023 corresponding to 22nd Tishri 5784, our community came together to celebrate Simchat Torah.
This year whilst it was a joyous occasion, as of course Simchat Torah is, the community celebrations were tempered with sadness and anger over the terrorist attacks the day before in Israel. Some 1300 people, mainly civilians, including many children and babies, were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists as they were about to celebrate Simchat Torah.
A call went out to Jews worldwide to ensure they celebrated Simchat Torah in defiance of the terrorist attacks on our people. Thus, our celebrations went ahead as planned.
It was wonderful to watch our community come together to sing and dance with the Torah. Our little ones for whom a traditional Scroll is too heavy were not left out, we have a small Sefer Torah kept for just this occasion. So, wrapped in Tallit, our smaller children took part in the dancing with their very own child sized Sefer Torah.
Following the traditional 7 rounds of singing and dancing, our Chatan Torah Cliff and Kallah Bereshit Jan read their parsha’s from the Scrolls.
Natasha, as is the tradition on Simchat Torah, blessed the children under a Tallit held aloft by 4 Shul members.
No Jewish celebration is complete without food, thus, the celebration was followed by a beautiful kiddish provided by Kaye’tering in Hainault.