What To Expect This Simchat Torah

Posted on October 23, 2024

By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.

This Simchat Torah, we will dance through tears remembering a full year since October 7th, 2023. Many are wondering what, exactly, this is going to look like. The first three hakafot (circuits of dancing) will be recognizably similar to the past few years, with a focus on engaging the children and indulging in the joy that defines the holiday. The fourth hakafah, which is the exact middle, will be slow and somber allowing us to memorialize the yahrzeit of October 7th. We won’t dance. We may even cry. And we will highlight our special new Torah cover as we sing the familiar songs that have carried us through this painful year. The fifth hakafah will serve as a transition back into the joy of the holiday. We will dance again! And we will do so using melodies that inspire hope and celebrate Israel’s strength. Our final two hakafot, informed by the full breadth of emotions we’ve had to hold all year, will be traditional, and joyous with themes of redemption and Jerusalem. 

For an outline of the evening’s hakafot:

  • Seasonal melodies, joyful dancing
  • Torah melodies, unrolling a Torah scroll around the young children
  • The annual “Limbo Hakafah”

  • Memorializing October 7th, 2023 a somber hakafah
  • “We Will Dance Again!” songs of hope and strength for Israel
  • Classic melodies, joyful dancing
  • “The Final Hakafah: Songs of Jerusalem and Redemption”