Shabbat Table Talk

Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah

Shemini Atzeret-25 October 2005
Torah: Deut. 14:22 - 16:17
Haftarah: 1 Kings 8: 54 - 66

Simchat Torah-26 October 2005
Torah: Deut. 33:1 - 34:12; Gen. 1:1 - 2:3
Haftarah: Joshua 1:1 - 18

Probably you have read the statement of Pope John Paul II made in Rome in 1999: In the dialogue with other religions, the church gives pride of place to the Jewish people, 'our elder brothers and sisters'.There is much that Christians and Jews share together, and it is vital now that Christians should learn more of that common heritage. In Cologne this summer, Pope Benedict XVI noted: Both Jews and Christians recognize in Abraham their father in faith and they look to the teachings of Moses and the prophets. Let us review the holy cycle of fasts and feasts in which our elder siblings have been participating these past weeks, and note the next steps in their liturgical calendar, and reflect on what we might learn from our awareness of their spiritual progression.

During the Jewish month of Elul (approximately the month of September,) the Jewish people began to prepare themselves for the celebration of their High Holydays. They added Psalm 27 to their daily prayer: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? These 30 days of prayerful preparation led to the occasion of New Year, Rosh Hashanah, (this year on 3/4th October.) Rosh Hashanah celebrated the birthday of Creation, a creation that is renewed for us each day upon our awakening. On this birthday of humankind, all humanity is present before Avinu Malkeinu, Our Father, Our King, who passes judgment on each person, .who shall live and who shall die, who shall perish by fire and who by water, who shall be humbled and who shall be exalted. The judgment is written on Rosh Hashanah, but it is not sealed, not made final, until 10 days later, on Yom Kippur, (Oct. 12/13.) These '10 Days of Awe' are a Divinely-gifted opportunity of compassion that precedes this most holy day of atonement. During the Days of Awe, through repentance, prayer and charity, and through personal reconciliation with God, neighbor and self, on Yom Kippur, a day of purest fast and highest blessings, each prayed that she or he might merit that their names would be sealed into the Book of Life.

With the inexpressible joyfulness of heart that comes from the assurance of our place in Divine favor, each person left the synagogue as Yom Kippur ended with sound of the shofar and the blessing, May the Lord bless your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. Then, a few days later, (on Oct. 17/18,) and continuing for 8 days, our Jewish sisters and brothers entered the time of Sukkot, the resting time, the thanksgiving time, the remembering time, the time of fulfillment. The full moon reminded them of the splendor and infinity of Divine mercy and compassion, and they sat together and gathered together their thoughts and prayers just as the farmers of Israel were gathering the final fruits of the harvest. So much had happened during those past 40 days, from the first day of Elul until the final shofar blast on Yom Kippur, that it was good and necessary to sit and contemplate: I am the Lord, the Lord, the God who is like a mother's womb, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love (Ex. 34:6).

So, now, following this intense round of reflection, action, and reconciliation, we ask if this sacred biblical cycle of holydays has ended? No, not just yet. Avinu Malkeinu bids God's people, 'Stay with me just one more day,' Shemini Atzeret, an 'eighth day of completion', one day more than the perfect seven, one day outside of the normal progression of time, a day of Simchat Torah, a day of 'rejoicing in the Torah.' (The two festivals are celebrated jointly in Israel, but on two separate days outside the Holy Land.)

For each of our Jewish sisters and brothers, and for us also, the Torah readings lead our thoughts and our hearts in these festivals. Come, present yourself before Me, the Lord, in the place of My own choosing. And do not appear empty-handed, but let each one bring his own gift, according to the blessing that I the Lord your God have bestowed upon you (reading for Shemini Atzeret, adapted from Deut. 16: 16,17). 'Yes, before you leave Me, let's visit one more time. Bring before me, as your gift, the choicest gift with which I have gifted you.' I came upon you at Sinai, with lightning flashing; I the Lover of all you people, and I have kept you hallowed in My hand (reading for Simchat Torah, adapted from Deut. 33:2).

Simchat Torah: We rejoice in the gift of Torah. "This is the Torah's blessing: it gives life to those who study it. That is why the blessing says: 'He implanted eternal life within us.' This is the oral Torah, that which gives forth blessing in the heart and bears fruit. Even what is added, the new interpretations offered by the sages, is a gift of God. This is the power that Moses left to the eternity of Israel through all generations, to the end of time." (Sefat Emet, p.374.) "The power of humans to create, and here especially to create through constant reinterpretation, is itself a divine gift. So Torah, the same Torah in its entirety, is thus God's Torah, the one we receive and accept each Shavuot (note: we celebrated this festival this year on 12/13 June,) and our Torah, the one recreated each year by the collective reinterpretations of all Israel, which we celebrate on Simchat Torah." (Green, in Sefat Emet, p. 375.)

On Simhat Torah, in all the synagogues throughout the world, the Torah scrolls are dressed as brides; the faithful take the scrolls in their arms and dance jubilantly seven times around the open spaces of the holy places. Now the liturgical year is complete, with this moment of dancing, and singing, and passing the bride from arms to arms.

And as the dancers pause, and the Torah portion read: no sooner has the death of Moses been announced (Deut. 34:5), then we inaugurate the saga of biblical wonderment over again: With the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1). The annual cycle of the Parashat HaShavuah begins anew, on October 29, Parashat Bereshit.

Reflection: What have I learned through my participation in the cycle of these High Holydays of my Jewish sisters and brothers? What have I experienced that will deepen my commitment to the gift of my own Christianity? What has come of '.much that Christians and Jews share together, and it is vital now that Christians should learn more of that common heritage'? First, I re-experienced the meaning and the action of reconciliation, of teshuvah: to recall that I have sinned; to repent of my sin to God and to the one against whom I offended; and to resolve that given again the same circumstances in which I offended in the past, that I will not repeat my sinfulness; that, with God's help, I will '.tear up the path that leads to my sin.' What else did I learn? I deepened my understanding that the cycle of Biblical feasts, and the Torah itself, the Divine teaching, both the written Torah, the Bible, and the oral Torah, the continuing revelation of authentic interpretation, are the light to my path for life and living, and a cause for my joy. This week in my commentary I reflected on the meaning of this cycle of feasts in the Jewish calendar rather than on the assigned Torah readings. In doing so I reminded myself that the essential goal of all good liturgy and Talmud Torah, scripture study, is continued growth in the love of God and the love of neighbor. That for me is the great call of the shofar blast. Otherwise it might all be but tinkling cymbals.

Bibliography: Green, A., The Language of Truth (Sefat Emet,) Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1998; and the vast resources of the internet links on our Bat Kol website.

~~~~~~~

This week's teaching commentary was prepared by
Jack Driscoll, C.F.C., Ph.D., Director, Bat Kol Institute