Simchat Torah, A Year Later

Simchat Torah, or rejoicing the Torah, literally is a celebration of completing the annual cycle of reading the Torah. This holiday marks the end of the Jewish holiday season by singing and dancing. However, it is hard to celebrate with such a heavy heart. It has been just over one year since October 7th, and as this holiday approaches, I keep thinking about an experience I’d like to share with you.

This past April, my husband and I traveled to Israel on a JNF volunteer mission. The most meaningful of all our experiences there was our visit to the Nova festival site. It’s hard to explain the feeling of seeing more than a hundred young trees planted for every person who were killed that day, with pictures and loving mementos of the victims surrounding each tree.

There was a young man there. His name was Noah, and his brother was killed in the October 7th attack. This was his first time visiting the site since that day. One of the rabbis with us asked him if he would speak to our group about his brother, which he willingly did. His presentation was heartfelt and filled with anger, sadness, and countless emotions. When he finished, he walked off. I watched him as he walked away from us, wandering by himself. I was wondering; he just spoke to a bunch of strangers and then was left alone to think about this experience. What was going through his mind? Perhaps he was thinking,  they don’t really understand, how could they? And we don’t; how could we? The group of us were visitors from outside Israel, wanting to help somehow. This is the struggle so many of us have: What can I do? I feel so useless. Right then, I decided to do something; I walked over to Noah and thanked him for speaking with us, a bunch of strangers, and told him it was a brave thing to do. He began crying. I asked him if I could give him a hug, and he nodded his head. We stood there hugging and crying for - I am not sure how long. He thanked me afterward and asked for my name. We then said goodbye.

I tell this story because I think about it often. It may have meant more to me than to him, but I just hope that he felt some comfort in his emotions at the time. Now that a year has passed since this tragedy, I think about Noah and others who have family members who were brutally taken from them. I am not saying that a hug cures pain, but it is one way to show a person that you are there and care about them. So, as we hug the Torah this year, dance, and celebrate its completion, let’s begin the Torah again, remembering to hug the ones we love and pray for a year of hope.