Faith In Brooklyn for Oct. 26
Joy of Torah Was Present, Even in Lighter Crowds
Remsen Street was filled with dancers and the sound of joyful klezmer music on Monday night, part of an annual tradition on the block of Remsen between Henry and Clinton streets in which two synagogues — one Reform and one Orthodox — make their homes. The celebration was the closing holiday of a series that began earlier this month with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Simchat Torah (the very word simcha denotes joy and celebration) means “to rejoice in the Torah.” The holiday, which ran from sundown on Monday to sundown on Tuesday, marks a new cycle of reading the first Five Books of Moses throughout the year. On Simchat Torah, Jews celebrate the completion and beginning of the Torah by chanting the last chapter of Deuteronomy and the first chapter of Genesis, which includes the creation story.