Nadene Goldfoot
Another holiday appears on our Jewish Calendar which is called Simhat Torah. This is celebrated in the synagogue and marks the annual completion of the synagogue scheduled reading of the Torah (Pentateuch) or written law by Moses. According to our history, Moses was given this law at Mt. Sinai together with a detailed oral exposition of the Torah and its commandments. This year, on the calendar, it falls on the 25 October 2024-which is evidently deceiving, maybe according to where you live. See below.
It is observed on Shemini Atzeret-Yiskor, which means "outside Israel" as a separate celebration on the following day. This year it falls on the day before, 24 October 2024, Friday of this week, due to Simhat Torah falling on Friday which starts Shabbat at sundown.
Here is important information for Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah 2024. Let's begin with the dates: Shemini Atzeret 2024 begins at sunset on October 23, 2024. It is immediately followed by Simchat Torah, which (begins at sunset on October 24, 2024, and ends after nightfall on October 25, 2024.)
It is customary to take out all the Scrolls of the Law and carry them 7 times or more around the synagogue, sometimes with dances which may be continued for hours. All male worshipers are called up for an aliyah at the time of reading. The last section of Deuteronomy is read by (or for) the Bridegroom of the Law (a man called the Hatan Bereshit) who reads (or has read for him) the1st verses of Genesis.
Candies are usually distributed to the children and the "Bridegrooms" act as hosts to the community.
In Jewish commentaries, the Ten Commandments are numbers 25 through 39 of the Torah. Actually in Jewish commentaries, where the law is broken into 613 separate injunctions, the Ten Commandments constitute fifteen, not ten, of the 613 injunctions. They are numbers twenty-five through thirty-nine of the Torah, and the first Commandment is not the one about having no other gods at all.
1. I am G-d (Yahweh).
2. You shall have no other gods before me.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.
4. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness.
10. You shall not covet.
The Ten Commandments have a dual structure, with the first four commandments dealing with human relationships to God and the last six dealing with human relationships to each other. The fifth commandment, which honors parents, bridges the gap between the two. The Commandments are recorded virtually identically in Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21.
- In the earlier version, we are commanded to "Remember the Shabbat," while in the later version we are commanded to "Guard the Shabbat."
- In the first dibrot, the rationale for Shabbat is to remember the Divine creation; in the second, to commemorate the exodus from Egypt.
- In the second account, the mitzvot of Shabbat and honoring parents include the phrase, "as the Lord your God has commanded you," which is absent from the first account.
- The designation of a person who offers improper testimony changes from "eid sheker" to "eid shav."
- The prohibition against coveting a friend's possessions employs the phrase "lo tachmod" twice in Yitro but shifts once to "lo titaveh" in Va-etchanan.
- In the earlier version, not coveting your fellow's house comes first, while in the latter version, not coveting your fellow's wife appears first.
There are some other, more minor discrepancies.
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What's exciting to read are: the commentaries by the famous commentators at the end of each page; Exodus 20:5 children are punished only if they adopt and carry on the sinful legacy of their parents: or if it was in their power to protest, but they acquiesced to the life-style that was shown them (Sanhedrin 27b).
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Torah, The Stone Edition of; Tanach; The Torah/Prophets/Writings (Art Scroll Series)
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