Simchat Torah, which begins this Wednesday evening, celebrates the ongoing cycle of the reading of the Torah. On Simchat Torah we finish reading the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, and immediately begin the first book, Genesis.
The Rabbis pointed out that the last word in the Torah is Yisrael (Israel), and the last letter
of that word is lamed. The first word in the Torah is b’reishit (beginning), and the first letter
is bet. When the last and first letters are combined, the word lev (heart) is spelled. From this
we learn that the Torah is the heart of the Jewish people.
The study of Torah is central to Jewish life. On Simchat Torah we celebrate the past year of
completed Torah study and joyously look forward to the coming year of study and learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment