Simchat Torah and Beyond

Well here I am back at the writing board. I haven't blogged since before simchat torah and only because most of us have been under the weather and I haven't been up to it. "Blogging" is now a proper verb in our home and each time something happens that is "blog worthy" Darrell and I look at each other and begin to lay claims to our right to blog it..."I'm blogging this one " " No way it's mine!"

I left off before simchat torah, after a great chol hamoed , with apprehension for the chag which oddly enough caused me to be homesick for Thornhill and the BAYT. When I mentioned to former Thornhillians that I loved Simchat Torah at the BAYT and was really going to miss it they commented on my lack of judgement and misplaced admiration of Simchat T. in Thornhill..."Don't you remember the excessive amounts of food that happened there....drinking and eating?" Well no, I never did any of that, I went to the kiddish after laining but that was it. "don't you remember the absolute bedlam that happened, you could lose your kids for hours and of course the men were of no help to find them!" No that didn't seem to bother me much, I was happy to relinquish my kid responsibilities for the day and be a observer for once. Darrell knew he had to keep tabs on the kids.....or......else...it was the end of the chagim and I WAS OFF!!!! I spoke to friends in Thornhill and they asked me if I had gone crazy, that they had stood and sat in the womens section and bemoaned the lack of spirituality they felt on the chag. After experiencing the chag here, I came to the realization that the isssue was not about where the chag was better. It was about the end of the chagim and that although I had done so well being on our own without our loved ones up to now , I would miss being amongst those I knew and loved, those with a shared history... some short, some longer, seeing all the kids of my friends and even those of people I didn't know so well, it was missing the only thing that I really miss about Thornhill and Canada, our friends and family!! When it came to kol hanaarim my heart was heavy, I saw my kids and smiled and waved but then I had to wipe some tears because I missed all of you so deeply and wished you could be here with us. I looked around and was unable to find too many familiar faces, no one who was enjoying seeing my kids with me or pointing out theirs to me....... I just missed you all!!!!! A LOT!!!!!

There were nice things about the chag in Neve Daniel that struck me and left an impression. What I soon noticed early on in the evening hakafot, was that the ruach..the singing,dancing and carrying on was clearly being led by the youth, the teenagers of the yishuv. Not only was it being led by them, they were pulling in the younger kids who quickly got into it because of the older kids. The kids up on shoulders were on other kids shoulders only a few years older than them. The adults went along , they danced, joined in and clearly enjoyed themselves but centre of it all was the youth, the adults were actually physically on the outside of the circles. It is much easier for younger kids to get into it wnen the older kids are such great leaders.....it was cool to dance with the torah, have fun and let loose. BAYT was leibedik , but it was definately driven by the adults in the group, the teens were not in the thick of it and were certainly not the driving forces. The other difference was the womens section, one women's section remained opened for those wanting to watch their children, but one remained closed. There behind the curtain I watched as the teenage girls danced and sang up a storm. The energy was amazing and I was astounded by the ruach these girls had. I cannot say I ever witnessed or was part of anything quite so leibedik behind any curtain at the BAYT.

So while I missed everyone and everything familiar, I felt priviledged to witness such a spectacular scene and to think that my children have the opportunity to be a part of a society where the youth lead the elders in "simchat torah" and where they will be a part of this amazing energy that I believe comes from living in a holy land and living lives much more physically connected to hashem and to the land which he gave us. Now chag was over, here or there I was relieved and ready to get back to routine and happy to be out of the kitchen a little bit....atleast for two days, shabbat was soon. When yom tov was over and then isru chag, 24 hours had passed since chagim ended..... I realized that everyone in Toronto was still in the middle of second day yom tov across the ocean, maybe they were sitting down to yet another meal , the fourth in two days! After having been through our first set of one day yom tovs....I highly recommend aliyah to you all for this reason if not for the many many others!