Dancing with the Torah

The widespread custom of celebrating Simchat Torah by dancing with the Torah in the synagogue is a relatively recent innovation in Jewish terms.

Sukkot has always been a time for great rejoicing, zeman simchateinu. In the time of Beit Ha-mikdash, the Simchat Beit Ha-sho’eiva [festival of the water-drawing] on chol ha-mo’ed included dancing, though Rambam points out that only the scholars would dance, while the general populace looked on.

On Yom Tov itself, however, dancing was not customary, and was even in violation of a rabbinic prohibition:

Still, as early as the geonic period, we have record of communal dancing on Simchat Torah – as well as rabbinic approval of the practice:

The custom to dance in honor of the Torah on Simchat Torah was considered sufficiently weighty to override a rabbinic prohibition.¹ Not surprisingly, this custom is first recorded outside of Israel, in Babylonia, where the second day Yom Tov of Shemini Atzeret was also the day on which the annual cycle of Torah reading was completed.²

How did the Sefer Torah become part of the dancing?

Especially given how careful we are about honoring the Torah, how did the custom to dance with the Sefer Torah develop?

In the Middle Ages, inspired by the hoshanot (circuits with lulav and etrog on Sukkot), a practice began in Ashkenaz of removing all Sifrei Torah from the aron kodesh on Simchat Torah, and of circling the bima with them, much as we circle the bima for hoshanot over the course of the holiday. Rema provides a report:

Rema does not specifically mention dancing here, though he does write about singing in honor of the Torah. He also notes without criticism that customs vary: “each place in accordance with its custom.”

Though these developments were centered in Ashkenaz, Rema’s late sixteenth-century contemporary in Eretz Yisrael, Arizal, innovated another such custom— dancing with the Sefer Torah for a full seven circuits around the bima.⁴ This practice was popularized in the eighteenth century by a work of unknown authorship called Chemdat Yamim.⁵

Chemdat Yamim writes that kevod ha-Torah should not constrain joyous dancing during the hakafot – though in his description, the Torah itself is still treated carefully and held specifically by the talmid chacham. This hierarchical mode of celebration is reminiscent of Simchat Beit Ha-sho’eiva, at which the sages took the lead, though here the laypeople do more than just look on.

As the practice of hakafot spread, so did the variations on how to perform them. For example, Rav Chayyim David Ha-levi Azulai, another major popularizer of the practice, had one person standing still with a Torah at the bima for the whole time.⁶

These sources describe people dancing in honor the Sifrei Torah, while they are supported at the bima or held for dancing by prominent religious figures in the community.

Expanding the Celebration

Very recently, and most prominently in Ashkenazi communities with many scrolls (and lighter scrolls, without heavy Sefardi casings), hakafot have expanded to allow for ordinary members of the congregation to pass around the Torah and dance while holding it. Though this has become the accepted practice in many communities, it does not align neatly with the halachot of kevod ha-Torah or the earliest records of hakafot.

In fact, when this practice began to spread, in the late nineteenth century, the Rav in Bucharest attempted to put a stop to it by taking the controversial step of having fewer Sifrei Torah brought out of the aron kodesh at each service, even though doing so went against a custom recorded by Rema:⁸

This effort notwithstanding, the practice of passing the Torah around among the members of the congregation has taken hold in many synagogues.

Women have celebrated Simchat Torah in a range of ways. Three main modes of celebration have become prevalent: watching, dancing, and dancing with a Sefer Torah. There are also synagogues in which women learn Torah together during at least part of the time of the hakafot.

Watching

In many synagogues, women watch the men dance, much as Rambam describes laypeople observing Simchat Beit Ha-sho’eiva. Jerusalem-based blogger Chana Jenny Weisberg writes about how this can be especially fulfilling for a woman who devotes herself to enabling her husband and children to study Torah.⁹

For other women, and not only those who are unattached, looking on at the men’s section is less satisfying. These women long to express their love of and connection to Torah by dancing with and kissing the Torah directly.

Dancing

In some synagogues, women dance in the ezrat nashim, without a sefer Torah. One might think that this is an innovative synagogue practice. Women’s dancing for Simchat Torah, however, is not entirely new.

The women of medieval Worms were accustomed to dance in honor of the Torah late on the afternoon of Shemini Atzeret, just before Simchat Torah:

In practice, women’s dancing on Simchat Torah is widely permitted, as a matter of giving honor to the Torah. For example, Rav Avraham Yosef (son of Rav Ovadya and chief rabbi of Cholon) takes it as a matter of course:¹²

Including a Sefer Torah in women’s celebrations has been met with more reservations than dancing without one. Here are some of the most commonly raised considerations regarding women dancing with a Sefer Torah. Similar arguments apply to women’s dancing with a Torah at a hachnasat Sefer Torah celebration, when a new Torah scroll is brought to a synagogue or other institution.

I. The Nidda Custom Previously, we discussed a custom among some women to avoid attending synagogue or touching a Sefer Torah while menstruating. Even communities that observe this custom waive it in cases where it would cause women “great anguish.”

In his evaluation of women’s dancing with a Sefer Torah on Simchat Torah in the mid 1970’s,¹³ Rav Menachem M. Schneersohn reportedly questioned whether there was sufficient anguish on Simchat Torah to override the custom in favor of having women dance with Torah scrolls.

Over the past forty years, anguish at not being able to dance with the Torah on Simchat Torah may well have developed for some women into “great anguish” of the sort that could override the custom even where it is practiced. Greater availability of more effective menstrual hygiene products could also affect the relevance of this custom.¹⁴

This custom is not obligatory to start with, and women today do come to synagogue when menstruating. It is difficult to argue that women should not dance with a Torah on Simchat Torah based on a custom that has fallen out of practice, and that can be overridden when necessary.

II. Kevod Ha-Torah A common reservation is that dancing with the Sefer Torah has gotten out of hand among men, and that ideally only the scholars and leaders of the community should be dancing with the Sifrei Torah, as was originally the case. If so, extending the wild celebrations to women would only exacerbate the issue, expanding a practice that should be reined in.¹⁵

Rav Yaakov Ariel notes that not all synagogues include dancing with Torah scrolls as part of their men’s celebrations, and that such dancing can even lead to damage to the scrolls.¹⁶

Rav Ariel believes that his suggestion of having women dance around a Torah scroll set down in the middle of the circle could address concerns about kevod ha-Torah. ¹⁷

Taking a similar but more optimistic approach, Rav Nahum Rabinovich sees women’s hakafot, with women dancing around a distinguished woman holding the Torah, as an opportunity to refocus an entire community’s relationship to hakafot, with an eye to kevod ha-Torah.¹⁸

A discussion about whether and how to institute women’s hakafot offers an ideal opportunity for a community to consider how their Simchat Torah practices can best honor the Torah, the synagogue, and Yom Tov. In this context, it may be appropriate for respectful dancing with the Torah to include women as well as men. Communities of women may also develop new variations on this custom, or revive old ones, possibly inspiring the men to do the same.

III. Synagogue Custom A third consideration, one that Rav Schneerson pointed to as well, is that this practice is an innovation.

Rav Herschel Schachter makes this case (among others) in a piece co-signed by a number of prominent Yeshiva University Roshei Yeshiva, and reporting opposition by Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Moshe Feinstein to hakafot and women’s tefilla groups:¹⁹

It is unclear if the strong language here would have been employed the same way had the matter of women dancing with a Sefer Torah been raised separately from women’s tefilla groups. In any case, innovative practice is especially thorny in the synagogue. It is along these lines that Rav Aharon Lichtenstein reportedly differentiated between synagogues and other settings:¹⁷

Rav Lichtenstein felt that the customs of a synagogue have more weight than other venues. His reported position was opposed to women dancing with a sefer Torah in the synagogue because it would represent a change to synagogue cystom. (In practice, in accordance with the halachic ruling of the current Roshei Yeshiva of Har Etzion, women now do dance with a sefer Torah at a hachanasat sefer Torah at Migdal Oz.)²¹

The argument about protecting synagogue practice is particularly interesting given that the hakafot themselves as we know them are a relatively recent innovation in most communities, and that their practice continues to evolve. For example, after the fact, Rav Ya’akov Elyashar gave his approbation to the change in custom in Bucharest to taking out only a portion of the scrolls at each set of hakafot:²²

Rav Elyashar argues that a new Simchat Torah custom that contravenes a relatively older custom can become accepted. The case of women dancing might even be easier to accept, because it doesn’t uproot a prior custom, but adds a new one.

The more permissive opinion of Rav Rabinovich also emphasizes the importance of custom and of care in addressing this matter:²³

It is important to note that Rav Rabinovich’s responsum was addressed to a community in which there was serious internal opposition to women dancing with a Sefer Torah. It is possible that he would have taken a less hesitant tone with a different community.

In a response to a query from Deracheha, Roshei Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion Rav Baruch Gigi and Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein (Rav Aharon’s son) expressed support for women dancing with a sefer Torah in the women’s section on Simchat Torah. Rav Mosheh explains why he thinks such a change in synagogue custom has become desirable, especially in light of recent advances in women’s Torah study.

IV. Increasing Simcha Yom Tov should be a day of joy for the entire community. We have seen the words of Chemdat Yamim that “one who increases all types of rejoicing before the Sefer Torah arouses rejoicing above.” Eliya Rabba adds that we should enable everyone to rejoice as much as possible:

The Talmud²⁴ teaches us of the halachic importance of nachat ru’ach le-nashim, gratifying women. In considering the question of women dancing with a Sefer Torah, the potential positive impact on the community should be taken into consideration.

Concluding Thoughts

Based on some or all of the first three considerations above, a number of halachic authorities have either prohibited or expressed reservations about women dancing with Sifrei Torah on Simchat Torah. Many others, however, find these reservations surmountable and encourage dancing for women with a Sefer Torah in order to increase the simcha.

This is not a cut and dried halachic discussion. Consequently, how women of a given community should celebrate Simchat Torah is a communal issue, that communities may resolve in a range of ways. Regardless of what conclusion is reached, all of us stand to benefit from learning more about the hakafot, from refreshing our acquaintance with the laws of kevod ha-Torah, and from seeking to enhance our simchat Torah on Simchat Torah.