Rabbi Brad Levenberg
There are very few moments in Jewish life when finishing something immediately sends us back to the beginning.
This Friday night, when we will observe Simchat Torah, we’ll read the final verses of Deuteronomy, the part where Moses dies, the people mourn, and the Torah reaches its last words. Then, without even taking a breath, we hear the opening line of the Book of Genesis: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
We finish… and we begin again, and demonstrate that Simchat Torah isn’t only a celebration of Torah; it’s a celebration of returning.
There’s something reassuring in that rhythm. We don’t need to have everything figured out before beginning again; we simply need to be willing to return to the text, to one another, and to the questions that deserve another encounter.
As we celebrate Simchat Torah, may we find joy not only in completing another year of Torah, but in discovering what its words might ask of us now. And when we hear “Bereishit” once again, may we find relief and blessing in the opportunity we have to begin anew once again.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Brad Levenberg
