This year, Simchat Torah marks the Jewish anniversary of 10.7. All of us have been changed from the events of 5784. We have not only lost people, we have lost (and found) some of our perspectives and ideas. As such, we are required to rethink how we approach the holiday. 

In looking into our tradition, we note that we have a custom of saying Yizkor (our service for remembering those who have died, both personally and communally) on Shmini Atzeret / the last days of Sukkot. So we will begin our Simchat Torah this year with a Yizkor, remembering those who have died in the past year. 

Then, we will move through our seven hakafot (circuits / dances with the torah). Each one will be connected to a different prayer or plea or dream. We imagine the first ones will be connected to mourning, modern and mythic – historically, Simchat Torah is also the day we grieve the loss of Moses, as that is when we read about his death in the torah – and then, we hope the seven hakafot can help propel us to life, towards resilience, connection and reaching better days. 

In short: We will begin with a more reflective service, appropriate for all ages, and move into singing, processing with our torah, and maybe even, if it seems right, some dancing. 

As always, we will open the whole torah, connect to the letters and meaning, end our story and begin it again.