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I don’t know about you, but I have always been simultaneously awed and intimidated by Torah. I know, not a great thing to hear from your rabbi. I reflect upon my youth when my parents instilled in me the spiritual aspects of Torah – “Bradley Gordon, sit still in the service, or you’ll miss when they open the ark to show us the Torah” – and my Bar Mitzvah ceremony rehearsal, when my rabbi remarked “Whatever you do – don’t drop the Torah.” His comments were offered in a joking fashion, but I was so preoccupied with not dropping the Torah that I neglected to process the spiritual uplift of actually holding the Torah.

My awe and intimidation only grew early in rabbinical school. Due to my dyslexia, reading Hebrew was remarkably challenging for me, and when it was my turn to read Torah in front of my classmates, the experience was particularly scarring and embarrassing. While my heart fully embraced the awe, my head could not shed the intimidation.

Though your story is different than mine, it strikes me that many of us feel the same way about Torah: awe mixed with intimidation. The awe inspires us to revere the Torah, and especially the idea of Torah, while the intimidation erects a barrier around Torah – with us on the other side. This barrier keeps us safe, but it also prevents us from engaging in group Torah study (for fear of being called on or saying something that others will think is laughable), from volunteering to read Torah (determining “years ago” that it was not something we did well and therefore we will just leave that skill/experience in our memories), and from truly embracing our people’s most central and treasured possession.

Tomorrow night, during our Shabbat service, we will also commemorate Simchat Torah, our celebration of the Torah. While a ceremony marked often with festivities and dancing with our Torah scrolls, our commemoration will be rather different this year as it takes place over Zoom. In an effort to both celebrate Torah and to demystify Torah, we will be divided into “breakout rooms” with each room providing an opportunity to learn about one book of Torah. Participants will spend just under 15 minutes in that room, getting to know about one of the Five Books of Moses. Think of it like a first-date with a book of Torah. Each session will be facilitated by a member of our clergy team, including our esteemed Rabbi Emeritus, Rabbi Phil Kranz.

We should experience a sense of awe with regard to Torah, and to be intimidated by something with such significance is also appropriate. But those feelings should help us lean in to Torah, not push Torah away from our hearts. As we start this next cycle of Torah reading, starting over again with the Book of Genesis, it seems as if we have been an opportunity to do just that.

Wishing you a Shabbat filled with Shalom and a year filled with the happiness of Torah,

Brad