Dear Friends,
Hope this finds you well. Right now we're dealing with prepping foods and plans for a limited distanced Corona-safe Simchas Torah in-person, but we were thinking of how many of you will be home for Simchas Torah this year and wanted to share the following with you. The earlier links in the information below are to online inspirational articles, and the 3-page PDF under "The Prayers, Verses, Sample Songs" may be helpful. If so, please download and print it before Shabbat and the holiday begins.
If you intend to attend Simchas Torah in person, please keep to all of the safety protocols listed here and announced in shul. To make sure we are properly prepared for Simchas Torah, registration is required here. Please let us know if you are attending the evening or daytime services or both.
MANY WILL BE HOME THIS YEAR
Even Synagogues that are now open for in-person services have many limitations and restrictions. We know that, for a variety of reasons, many of our local friends and those that are now living elsewhere will not be able to celebrate this most joyous holiday with the community in person. But community or not, synagogue or not, it is still Simchas Torah and we must celebrate. We'll try to list below a number of different ways, suggestions & resources along with inspiration to meaningfully celebrate at home with family, or even alone, as some of us will be celebrating this holiday alone in dorms, apartments, homes etc.
SAVE THE DATE!
Simchat Torah 2020 (5781) falls Saturday night October 10th through Sunday October 11th. Your festivities (and yes, no matter where we are or with whom we are - we should have festivities) can be either on Saturday night or Sunday during the day, or ideally both.
FIRST, THE FIRST QUESTION
In early August 2020, as we were preparing for Tishrei re-opening during Covid, a visiting young member came by to say hello. We were outside and he asked was: "Rabbi Chaim, what will be with Simchas Torah!?" I was blown away, uplifted! Imagine this being the first question of a young man, two months before the holiday... Indeed, Simchas Torah with its exuberant dancing, loud singing, increasing closeness - this is especially challenging during Corona.
NO TORAH SCROLL?
The vast majority of people don't have their own Torah scrolls at home (though we do know of rare examples of members who do!). But most do have a Jewish book of learning, perhaps a Chumash or even a Siddur, some book of Jewish texts. We can dance with a book like that. The current situation brings to mind a story about the Rebbe's father dancing with a Jewish text on a Simchat Torah night in a bitter lonely exile. Rebbetzin Chana wrote about it in her diaries. Our brother in law Rabbi Mendel Rubin, wrote about it here in this article about his Hakafot Niggun for Chabad.org but the whole article is actually really relevant now. So go ahead and dance while holding a Jewish book, it is most appropriate. For those who have children at home there's also this beautiful Abe Foxman's post-Holocaust story about dancing with children instead of a Torah scroll. And for couples, one of our favorite Baal Shem Tov stories is the story of the Friday night dance of Shabse and Mrs. Bookbinder, which tells the story behind the birth of the Koznitzer Maggid, an ancestor of one of our alumni. To see one version of the Bookbinder story, click on the Look Inside feature of this Amazon book, its on pages 3-5)
YOUR FAVORITE JEWISH SONGS
Whether you know many Jewish songs or just a few, there has to be a couple of Jewish songs that you know. Sing them! It doesn't have to be formally connected with Simchat Torah. The Sukkahleh Song will do. Sing Hoshiya es Amecha, David Melech Yisrael, Am Yisrael Chai, Al Tirah, whatever you've got. At Chabad of Uptown we like to change it up between fast songs and slow songs, old songs, newer songs, they can be in Hebrew or in English, some with interaction, some with added inflection, make it your own. See this 3-page PDF of Hakafot Verses with a list of sample songs to jog your memory.
DO DANCE!
They say a fancy term for solo-dancing is Pas-Seul. Even if just for a bit, we have to lift our feet and do a little dancing on Simchat Torah. Don't feel like it? Not in the mood? No matter! Dance a little anyways! If others are home with you, dance with them or dance alone, but a Jew has to dance a little on Simchat Torah - it is very good for our soul!
L'CHAIM!
Simchat Torah is one of those holidays when its traditional to make a toast, to drink a little something (healthy, safe, moderation, of course) to get your feet dancing. For those 21+ you can do 
this literally, for those under age 21, think of mental/emotional ways to let go a little, to throw yourself into it, to warm up and be energized. One method is "to get drunk on people's faces". Get excited and enthused from people's stories, their life experiences, their participation & involvement, their steps and movement in the complex dance of life. But whatever method, we can't stay on the observer sidelines on Simchat Torah, apathetic and indifferent. We have to throw ourselves into it, even if we are the one only ones present! -- Note that even in adult communities where alcohol is usually served on Simchat Torah many are holding back this year to ensure careful adherence to distancing guidelines, but if you're home anyways, and over 21+, a little (jelly-bean holder of) L'chaim could be in order. It can even be over a glass of wine, grape-juice, a even a celebratory cup of seltzer! As long as it is spirited!
THE PRAYERS, VERSES, SAMPLE SONGS
Here is a clear order of all of the Shemini Atzeret & Simchas Torah prayers to be said in quarantine with page numbers from the Kehot Annotated Siddur. See here for a perspective for those saying yizkor at home. To make your yizkor donation in memory of a loved one, click here. See the Simchat Torah page in a Siddur for the verses traditionally recited on Simchat Torah before the Hakafot, and the verses designated for each of the seven Hakafot. You don't need a Minyan to say them, and they can be said at home as well. See this PDF of Hakafot Verses, or try this 3-page PDF of Hakafot Verses with a list of sample songs to jog your memory.
a list of sample songs to jog your memory, and other Shabbos House Simchat Torah classics.- download and print for use before Shabbat and the holiday.
FLAGS FOR KIDS
This idea is for families with young children. An old tradition is for children to make Torah flags and wave them aloft on Simchas Torah. This year it may be even more energizing! These flags should be colored/made before the onset of the Shabbat and holiday weekend. Some of these flag templates can be downloaded online, but any Torah-related design will do! Personalized and homemade is best!
A FESTIVE MEAL
It is a Jewish holiday after all. Make it special, pull out the stops, eat and enjoy a festive holiday meal. It is the closing to the long holiday season and the sendoff to the year ahead!
May we all have a joyous and festive SImchas Torah, happy and healthy, uplifting and invigorating - we all need it!
RELATED:
On Simchat Torah, a Jew Never Dances Alone
No synagogue, no scroll, no circles of Jews whirling and twirling together, dancing with the Torah. Nope—just you and your lonesome, in the privacy of your own home, dancing with whatever book of Torah you might pick up off the shelf. more…
Tonight and tomorrow is Hoshana Rabba. The seventh day of Sukkot is called "Hoshana Rabbah" and is considered the final day of the divine "judgment" in which the fate of the new year is determined.
Hoshanah Rabbah observances include:
- The Psalm L'David Hashem Ori, which has been added to our daily prayer since the 1st of Elul, is recited for the last time today.
- It is customary to remain awake on the night preceding Hoshanah Rabbah and study Torah. We recite the entire Book of Deuteronomy and the Book of Psalms. In some congregations it is a custom for the Gabbai (synagogue manager) to distribute apples (signifying a "sweet year") to the congregants.
- In addition to the Four Kinds taken every day of Sukkot, it is a "Rabbinical Mitzvah", dating back to the times of the Prophets, to take an additional aravah, or willow, on the 7th day of Sukkot. In the Holy Temple, large, 18-foot willow branches were set around the altar. Today, when we take the Four Kinds and carry them around the reading table in the synagogue during the "Hoshaanot" prayers, we make seven circuits around the table (instead of the daily one), and recited a lengthier prayer. At the conclusion of the Hoshaanot we strike the ground five times with a bundle of five willows, symbolizing the "tempering of the five measures of harshness." Link: The Willow (on the deeper significance of the mitzvah of aravah).
- A festive meal (with kreplach) is eaten in the Sukkah. We dip the bread in honey (as we did in each festive meal since Rosh Hashanah) for the last time.
- It is the last occasion on which we recite the special blessing for eating in the sukkah. Let us know if you would like to come by to book your own private and social distanced time in the sukkah. The biblical commandment to dwell in the sukkah is only for seven days (though it is the practice of many communities -- and such is the Chabad custom -- that, outside of the Land of Israel, we eat in the sukkah also on the 8th day, Shemini Atzeret).
Hoshana Rabba, Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah
Friday. Oct. 9 - Hoshana Rabba
- 7:30 am Morning Service and Hashanos
Fri., Oct. 9 - Shemini Atzeret
- 6:39 pm Light Shabbat & Holiday Candles
- 6:40 pm Mincha & Evening Services Hakafot-celebratory dancing - This one is only the warm up - to connect with Israel! (See main hakafot below).
Shabbos, Oct. 10 -
Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah
- 10:00 am Morning Services
- 12:15 pm Yizkor
- Teffilas Geshem
- Say Goodbye to Sukkah
- 6:40 pm Mincha & Evening Services Grand Hakafot-celebratory dancing - This one is the real deal!
Corona-Safe Kiddush Sponsored by the Shamooelian Family
- After 7:32 pm Light Holiday Candles
Sun., Oct. 11 - Simchat Torah
- 10:00 am Morning Services
Hakafot-celebratory dancing
Corona-Safe Kiddush Sponsored by the Shamooelian Family
Mincha after Hakafot
- 7:30 pm Maariv, Havdalla & Holiday Ends