When we unroll the Torah on Simchat Torah – which we did this past Sunday for the first time since 2019 – I often sing the song: “I’ve got the whole Torah in my hands.” There is something so special about all of us, collectively, holding the entire length of our sacred scrolls in our hands, reading the very last words of Deuteronomy and the very first of Genesis.
The display shows both how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. What a relief it is to finish another year of readings and writings and how daunting it is to see the path we need to take in the year ahead. This is an experience you can’t have with a book or digital file, only with a scroll. After the service, one of my children asked me how big the Torah would be if it was in a book. I pointed to the books underneath the seats in the sanctuary, “we already have one of those, it’s called a Chumash.”
As we begin unrolling again this Shabbat, let us celebrate the uniqueness of this ritual, and what it truly means to have the whole Torah in our hands.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex