This Shabbat we (most Reform Jews) are celebrating Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah - the last day of Sukkot and the celebration of Simchat Torah, the completion of the Torah cycle that propels us back to the beginning of the Torah reading.
The Torah reading marks the celebration by first reading the conclusion of the end of Deuteronomy and then immediately jumping to the beginning of Genesis. We flow from end to beginning seamlessly, a bizarre tradition that fits with many other aspects of Jewish life — seemingly “backwards” from a secular American mindset. Hebrew is read from right to left… new days beginning in the evening, at sunset. First there was evening, then there was morning, the first day.
There are so many powerful lessons we can draw from these practices. I love the idea that we can’t begin something new without first grounding ourselves in the past. Of course we are eager to start the book of Genesis again - to enter this new Torah reading cycle and celebrate the joy of beginning again. But we can’t do that until we firmly ground ourselves in the conclusion. Beginnings are nothing if not for the end.
This can take us to many existential places about the concept of existence and the cyclical nature of time. Creation doesn’t come out of nowhere - God doesn’t create something out of nothing… God creates (again) from the stories of our past; whether we personally lived them or not.
This holiday is a great opportunity to not only celebrate the joy of Torah but to consider what it means to start something over in a new way. Every year the sacred words in the Torah scroll remain the same but when we read them again this year, we will have changed since the last time. I for one am celebrating the end of this cycle and can’t wait to approach Torah again this new cycle through a new lens.
