What has become an established tradition at Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park, while remaining a novelty in Middlesex County, all started with a congregant’s dvar Torah.
Writing in the shul’s High Holidays Torah Journal in 2019, Josh Fine of Highland Park explored the tradition of holding shul-based Torah-learning sessions on the night before Hoshana Rabba. While he noted that the tradition was no longer followed in most shuls, Fine pointed to a rich history of the practice.
After the dvar Torah was published, Fine approached Rabbi Steven Miodownik (spiritual leader of the shul) and asked if the shul would consider reviving the tradition and hosting a Tikkun Leil Hoshana Rabba. Rabbi Miodownik gave the idea the green light. Fine recruited a few congregants to speak and arranged for refreshments. The event attracted roughly a dozen-and-a-half congregants, who enjoyed the 10 p.m.-midnight learning series.
Fine built on the event in the coming years. Though in-person events were a challenge in 2020, the Tikkun Leil Hoshana Rabba benefitted from the fact that it was held outside in the shul’s sukkah. The event became a staple on the shul’s schedule.
This year’s Tikkun Leil Hoshana Rabba at Ahavas Achim took things up a notch, featuring talks by a noted out-of-town guest speaker, a chinuch rav living in the community, and Ahavas Achim’s new rabbinic intern, along with a short concluding thought by Rabbi Miodownik.
The first speaker at the October 15 event was Rabbi Elie Kurtz, a middle school rebbe at Yeshivat Noam in Paramus. Citing a sefer by Rabbi Daniel Travis, Kurtz shared the rhetorical question: “As Simchat Torah has no physical mitzvot, how do we connect to it?” Rabbi Travis suggested that our dancing with the Torah allows us to exceed our physical limits, out of our love of Torah. Rabbi Avraham Pam said that each chag has its characteristic emotion—awe on Rosh Hashanah, fear on Yom Kippur, joy on Sukkot, and love (of Torah) on Simchat Torah.
Rabbi Kurtz pointed out that the uniqueness of Simchat Torah celebrations allow us to bypass many customs we observe on all other chagim: We don’t usually dance on Shabbat or Yom Tov; we conduct Hagbah backwards; we have no limit to the number of aliyot; we encourage little children to come to shul; and the Chazan Bereishis (and not a kohen) gets the aliyah for the start of Bereishis. All these changes are allowed to heighten our sense of simcha.
Rabbi Mordechai Becher, an instructor at Yeshiva University and a noted Gateways speaker, talked about the centrality of simcha in Judaism. He noted that the well-known adage, “When Adar arrives, we increase our joy” (Gemara Taanis, 29A), rests on the presumption that a Jew should always be joyful; they just increase it in Adar. He shared a story of a Jew who fell into a fast-moving river and, despairing of being rescued, let the river sweep him along. Rabbi Simcha Bunin, seeing the scene, called out to the Jew (in Yiddish): “Give my regards to the Leviathan!” The Jew in the river smiled at the joke and decided to swim against the tide, allowing him to get near the river bank where other Jews rescued him. Asked why he told the joke, Rabbi Bunim cited the verse
“ki b’simcha teitzeihu,” which he translated as “With simcha, you can go out” and explained that levity can allow someone to see hope in a difficult situation. In other words, feeling simcha can actually be a life-saver.
Rabbi Becher asked the question posed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe: “How is it that we see the most unbound joy on Simchat Torah, a rabbinically mandated chag?” He answered that on Shavuot, we commemorate that the Jews passively received the Torah, while on Simchat Torah we mark our partnership in learning Torah. It’s our active role, our partnership, in learning that gives us the greatest joy. He ended his talks with a story about Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, zt”l meeting the Archbishop of England, who said: “Judaism is so legalistic. There can’t be much joy to it.” Rabbi Sacks replied: “Do your church members embrace volumes of church canonical law and dance with them?” The Archbishop said, “No, of course not.” Sack said, “Jews embrace the Torah and dance with it in great joy, every year.”
Rabbi Menachem Gans, rabbinic intern at the shul, spoke about the Midrash in Vayikra that states that when the lower waters were separated during Creation from the upper waters, the lower waters cried to Hashem about their separation from him. Hashem said that they would be rewarded with the Nisach HaMayim ceremony in the Beit Hamikdash each year. Quoting Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, Rabbi Gans said that the lower waters represent us, constantly striving to feel the clarity of connection to Hashem; when we pray for the blessings of rain on Hoshana Raba and Shemini Atzeret, we are seeking to connect to those upper waters. He pointed out that the symbol of Hoshana Rabba, the Aravot bundle, is very dependent on water to survive. This serves as a model for us.
Rabbi Midownik pointed out that a halacha in Shulchan Aruch states that when someone gets an aliyah to the Torah, they must hold onto the pole of the scroll as the Torah is read. Why? The Rema bases this practice on a verse in Sefer Yehoshua: “The words of the Torah should never leave your mouth; be strong.” We hold onto the Torah to demonstrate our attachment to it. Similarly, we recite “Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek” when we complete a book of the Torah, to remind ourselves that the Torah gives us strength, and we must constantly strengthen ourselves in maintaining our connection to the Torah. Simcha celebrates that connection.
Judging from a few reactions shared with The Jewish Link, the two dozen-plus attendees at the recent Tikkun Leil Hoshana Rabba were very inspired by all the talks.
“I appreciated that the great lineup of speakers tonight made the custom of learning Torah on the night of Hoshana Rabba very enjoyable and meaningful,” said Yossi Benedek, president of Congregation Ahavas Achim.
Asked about his favorite part of the event, Michael Beberman of Highland Park said, “[It was] Rabbi Becher speaking about happiness being a key component in celebrating chagim and how to be effective in doing so.”
Asked the same question, Seth Berman of Highland Park replied: “I enjoyed hearing inspiring and thought-provoking words of Torah from all the rabbis, as well as a brilliant and entertaining presentation from Rabbi Mordechai Becher. And the kugel was great.”
Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrunner of Highland Park said, “I enjoyed how the focus of our learning was the importance of accentuating joy at the end of our Yomim Tovim.”
“Rabbi Becher was incredible—humorous, insightful, and very enjoyable,” said Eric Wallenstein of Highland Park. “The lineup of speakers was similarly impressive. It was a cold evening but infused with the warmth of words of Torah.”
By Harry Glazer
