As We Dance Again

Two years ago, on  Simchat Torah, the world broke open. 

Joy turned to horror, dancing to dread. 

As we held each other in shock and anguish in the aftermath, 

I offered a rabbinic teaching: 

That we must “make for ourselves a heart of many chambers” — 

A heart that could hold rage and compassion, grief and hope, 

That could stay open even when breaking. 

Tonight, two years later, we stand again at the edge of  Simchat Torah. 

But this time, the air feels different. 

After two long, excruciating years, 

The fragile, first-seeds of a possible peace are planted. 

Twenty souls 

Return home. 

Even in the world’s aching uncertainty, 

Some prayers rise, 

Some fragments of humanity still hold. 

May this endure. 

Not yet complete, 

But enough to remind us 

that light can still 

find its way through broken branches. 

There is so much 

To grieve 

To name 

To do. 

But for these precious moments, 

In a fragile shelter of possibility, 

We offer gratitude 

To God 

And to every person 

Who made this a reality. 

The day dawns 

As twenty souls 

Return home. 

Across Israel and around the world, hearts beat in tandem. 

Families embrace what they had only dared to imagine. 

A people who have wept for two years, 

Cradle these 20 lives, 

As reminders of suffering, 

And declarations of sanctity. 

There is no single emotion that fits this hour. 

There is gratitude – fierce and uncontainable gratitude – for every life restored. 

There is grief – heavy and unrelenting grief – for those who will never come home. 

There is fear – rooted and overwhelming fear – for all that may yet come apart. 

There is hope – delicate and enduring hope – for a brighter chapter out of such shadow. 

The same festival that once carried massacre and mourning 

Now carries the whisper of something new. 

A possibility, however uncertain, 

That life might again take root where death has reigned. 

As we dance again with Torah in our arms, 

May we carry not only our rejoicing but our responsibility. 

May our hearts of many chambers 

Remain open – to sorrow and song, 

To the work of creation still unfinished, 

To the fragile possibility of peace, 

That asks us to keep believing.

Rabbi Ben Spratt

Senior Rabbi