The hardest part of Simchat Torah is not the dancing. It's the stepping up.
Every year, someone sits in the back, arms crossed, unsure whether they should join; whether they belong. Maybe they're out of practice. Maybe they don't know which customs this congregation follows. Suddenly a hand reaches out, and just as suddenly they're in.
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To my knowledge, no one at a Simchat Torah celebration has ever asked to what movement a visitor belongs. They do ask guests, however, to take a hand and to join in the celebrations. Within seconds dancers become part of the collective, only moments away from their previous “outsiders” or “loner” status, they now dance as part of the collective around a scroll that belongs to all of us. Some dance with abandon, some shuffle, but all of us dance. We may differ on how we pray, what we eat, and how we observe Shabbat, but the circle doesn't ask for one’s resume.
This week's Torah reading makes the same point: "You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter… the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities" (Deuteronomy 16:14). Look at the guest list. It includes everyone, especially those most likely to be left out.
But the first step is yours. Just as the man who stood at the edge of the village celebration year after year, watching the dancers, and telling himself, “When I'm good enough, I'll join.” But one year a child grabbed his hand and pulled him in before he had time to plant his seeds of doubt. Within a minute he'd forgotten he was ever "not good enough." Afterward he said only, "The invitation was open all along. I was the one who hadn't accepted it."
Once you're in the circle, everything changes. You can influence the tempo, suggest the next song, and help decide how long the dancing lasts. The circle doesn't change because of what the dancers believe about Jewish law. It changes because of who shows up, who grabs a hand, and who starts the next song. Belonging comes first, and influence follows. With influence comes responsibility: you become a role model and an ambassador. Someone at the edge is watching your face, and your joy is the invitation that tells them the circle is safe and there is room for them.
This weekend we roll the Torah from its last verse back to its first. We never finish; we begin again, and we begin together. The last letter of the Torah is the lamed of "Yisrael," and the first is the bet of "Bereishit." Together they spell lev, “heart.” That is no accident. It is in the act of bringing others in when we show our own lev and the lev of Israel, by never leaving anyone out, never letting anyone watch from the sidelines, and never assuming someone else will extend a hand.
That is the work of our Jewish Federation of Greater Naples all year long: keeping the circle open, welcoming, and growing through our programs, community relations, and family activities, so that no Jew has to dance alone or watch from the sidelines.
So, this Simchat Torah, stand up. Take a hand. Then reach for the next one. Because we are Stronger Together.
Shabbat Shalom and chag sameach!
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