Simchat Torah

Dancing with the Torah
(pic form Ynetnews)

Tomorrow is the last day of Sukkoth. That is also the feast of Simchat Torah - the joy of the Torah. It recalls God giving the Law to the Israelites though Moses. Jews today bring out the Torah scrolls and dance with it ... even letting pagans (non-jews) carry and dance with it. That's because they believe the Torah was first offered by God to the non-jews who rejected it, so God gave it to the jews. Once a year, on Simchat Torah, non-jews are allowed to carry the scrolls to remember that it was first offered to them. In Jerusalem the jews commence celebrating today. Joyful songs and dance continued through the night here in the Old City. Every synagogue and yeshiva had some form of celebration. Food and drinks were offered freely to anyone who passed by.

In the time of Jesus, there was also the water sacrifice which the High Priest presided. In a procession, he would draw water from the Pool of Siloam about 700 m. from the Temple and poured it on the altar of the Temple, praying for rain. The rainy season should then start ... when the autumn harvest has been completed.

Well Tuesday hopefully normal life will return to its routine. Public transport and offices and shops will reopen ... as no work is allowed on the last day of Sukkoth. Military presence will also be reduced, hence less tension in the streets. Roads will be reopened as well. Unfortunately for 4 palestinians, they were arrested by Palestinian police because they went to visit some jews to celebrate Sukkoth. This is ridiculous because the police wants to perpetuate hostility with the jews. For the 4 arabs, it was a peaceful gesture welcomed by the jews. http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/PA-detains-four-Palestinians-for-drinking-coffee-with-settlers-in-Efrat-succa-470691

Work continues for the rest of us. No holidays. Yesterday I was busy making photocopies, then catching up with some cataloguing of books ... and in the evening I had to teach some priests who didn't know how to sing the latin Mass. Tough job as one was totally tone deaf.