Just a couple quick sentences on simchat torah which was this past monday night and tuesday day. Here in Israel, it is combined with Shmini Atzeret which means on tuesday morning, you have hakafot, all the festival davening, Torah reading (and that is from three torahs), yizkor and geshem (prayer for rain) – so yes, a very long day in services. We were for both at Zion – a synagogue whose tag line is “Come as You Are” – and people definitely came as they are with a breadth of folks there from a woman in a sheitel (wig) to men without kipport to a franciscan monk dressed in his robes, all celebrating the finishing of the reading of the Torah and dancing together. I think this was my first time celebrating with a Franciscan monk.
In addition to the regular torah reading (where everyone got an aliya), they had a kids torah reading where the torah readers were all kids (as young as 6 years old) and they called the kids up for the aliyot. This was organized by the teens and they called the kids up for their aliyot by different categories appealing to kids, and I got to see the categories of pirates and fairies, complete with special blessings that that the pirates be successful at their sea mission and the fairies be blessed with lots of fairy power ( and a much longer blessing written by the teens).
The other thing striking to me about the day, was the intensity of the prayer for rain. We added additional medieval Jewish prayers for rain and the prayer leader added kavanot about our earth needing rain, even if we didn’t want it and there was an intensity and connection to the role of prayer in bringing needed rain that I’m not used to. In Seattle, we say it, but definitely don’t feel the same intense fervent praying for rain. In Seattle, we’ve already had rain by the time of the prayer, so harder to see the value of the prayer. Here, the first rain usually comes after the prayer is recited.