"Tell me a story" is a constant refrain for those of us with children in our lives. Almost as often, when the last page is turned, the child looks up and asks, "again?" Sometimes, this is a joy. Sometimes, re-reading, and re-reading some more, becomes a burden.

I first inquired about becoming a soferet in my first year of rabbinical school in Jerusalem. I had come into rabbinical school with the technical expertise of a printmaker and a bookmaker, and I was eager to immerse myself in all things Torah, including its physical creation. Unfortunately, even in 2008, I could not find a sofer in Jerusalem who would train a woman.

One of most wonderful aspects of Simchat Torah is celebrating the joy of children and families dancing and singing with our Torah scrolls. Watch and listen to songs about our Torah, learn the creation story, how our Torahs can be handled with joy and care, and what all those books are really about!

With every seemingly worse piece of bad news littering our social media feeds and our news cycles and in the streets right before our very eyes, it’s fair to wonder: What if we simply can’t be happy, even when we’re commanded to? What if you just don’t feel like dancing?

In 2019, Canada’s federal election took place on October 21, the same time as the holidays of Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. The overlap offered an opportunity to consider the relationship between our civic rights and obligations and Torah.

Sh’mini Atzeret

In Parashat B'reishit, we are introduced to “text painting,” a basic method of trope that uses melody directly connected to the meaning of the words.

Questions are the lifeblood of learning and there is no better time to ask them then now.

On Simchat Torah, I watch as the Torah scroll is carefully unfurled onto a series of long connected tables – the text so much more than designs scattered on parchment.

On Simchat Torah, as we read the final portion of the Torah and immediately beginning again, what can the blessings to the Israelites teach us about our world today?