Simchat Torah now and Yom Kippur 1974

Elfrida ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 11:16 am

Is anyone here old enough to remember Yom Kippur 1974? Preferably in Israel? Was there the same sense of unease as we're feeling now approaching Simchat Torah?

Of course, the circumstances are very different, because the war wasn't still ongoing a year later, and there weren't hostages like there are now, but it must still have aroused a lot of difficult memories.

Is there anything from then that we can take as a guide for ourselves now?

PinkFridge ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 1:22 pm

Elfrida wrote:

No, no personal reminiscences. But YK, while not a sad day, it is a serious and contemplative day. I heard that Shemini Atzeres for those of us chutz la'aretz, the actual yahrtzeit, might be analogous; we say Yizkor then also.

I will humbly offer some links that might be helpful:
https://www.yutorah.org/sideba.....tance
https://www.yutorah.org/sideba.....Dance

These are both short. I've listened to the first a few times, it's so good.

https://torahanytime.com/lectures/328123
Longer. A lot of good food for thought. TLWL? (Too long won't listen?) There's a difference between happiness and fun, and we can feel happy, even this year. And we don't need to feel guilty; we're not doing anything wrong.

I've been hearing and reading how much family members and survivors want us to persevere, proudly, and that means having a full and meaningful ST with happy dancing. We can hold two thoughts, though, and remember the kedoshim, and libadel l'chaim, the hostages and soldiers also. There is some gashmiyus necessary for our YT, we will eat well and wear new clothes. But may I suggest we do it l'shem Shamayim and l'shem us.

grace413

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 3:11 pm

I was in Israel during the Yom Kippur War, back in the States in 1974 and then back in Israel in 1975. For many years, memories of the war were a significant part of Yom Kippur. I was young and new to Israel but I remember the sirens, the young men coming to shul in uniforms, the sister of one of them begging her brother to eat before he went off.

It took many years until these memories were not central to the Yom Kippur experience in Israel. However, even though I still remember these things on Yom Kippur, the memories are faded.

I have heard many people say, how will Simchat Tora ever be the same? IMHO it will not be the same this year and for many years to come but eventually it return to its former place of glory. The next generation will arise and things that we live through will only be stories for them. In a nutshell this is the history of Am Yisrael.

I'm flooded with memories of last Simchat Torah; I'm sure it will be a difficult day for all of us; more than difficult for those who lost loved ones and have family who are hostages. Hashem Yishmor.

↑ Elfrida ↓

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 6:19 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

I've also been to shiurim, but that wasn't what I meant. If you weren't in Israel at the time, you have a completely different set of memories.

Last year, the sirens as we were waking up, calculating the amount of shelters between home and the shul, hearing the explosions, seeing the men leave shul to their units, not having Kol ha'naarim, because none of the children were allowed to come to shul, having extra Tehillim instead, having the Shabak come into shul to remind everyone of the guidelines, leaving shul and seeing the helicopters riding across the sky, spending the rest of the day waiting until we could switch on the news, but not being able to comprehend what had happened when we did, hakafot shniyot being spontaneously cancelled, because who could dance... It's all engraved in our minds and our bodies. We can't help but bring those experiences with us this year, which was why I was wondering about similar situations in the past and how we approached it then.

↑ Elfrida

Tue, Oct 22 2024, 6:32 pm

grace413 wrote:

You're right. Thank you.

It's actually strange. I have a distant cousin who was killed on the first day of the Yom Kippur War. Ever since I've been in Israel, the day after Yom Kippur we meet his mother at Har Herzl for the Tekes Zikaron. But it happened a few years before I was born, so I've unconsciously regarded it as ancient history. Thinking about it now, that's remarkably insensitive of me.

But in some ways it's also comforting. This year, and for the coming years, it will be a central part of Simchat Torah, and in some ways we'll have to go through it all again. This year will be the hardest, because well have to learn to dance through our memories, and our ongoing experience. It will always be part of the israeli narrative. But as the years go on, it won't be forgotten, but will be able to step into the background.