INTRODUCTION:

Host an Alternative Simchat Torah Dance Party by celebrating other books you love as much as Torah – have everyone dress up as a favorite book character and play secular and Jewish music to dance the night away! 

MATERIALS:

• Bluetooth Connecting Speakers 
• Bopping Playlist (create your own or check out this Simchat Torah playlist!) 

PROGRAM OUTLINE:

• What is Simchat Torah? (15 minutes) 
• Sharing our Favorite Books (10 minutes) 
• Dance Party! (?!?! minutes – as long as you want) 

What is Simchat Torah? (15 minutes) 

• Simchat Torah celebrates the end and restart of the Torah reading cycle; on it, we read the last lines of Deuteronomy and the first lines of Genesis. Below are two texts that explain why we reread the Torah with the regularity that we do. 

Joshua 1:8	יהושע א:ח
Let not this Book of the Torah cease from your lips, but recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful.	לֹֽא־יָמ֡וּשׁ סֵפֶר֩ הַתּוֹרָ֨ה הַזֶּ֜ה מִפִּ֗יךָ וְהָגִ֤יתָ בּוֹ֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה לְמַ֙עַן֙ תִּשְׁמֹ֣ר לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכָל־הַכָּת֖וּב בּ֑וֹ כִּי־אָ֛ז תַּצְלִ֥יחַ אֶת־דְּרָכֶ֖ךָ וְאָ֥ז תַּשְׂכִּֽיל

Pirke Avot 5:22	משנה אבות ה:כ״ב
Ben Bag Bag said:Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein. And look into it; And become gray and old therein; And do not move away from it, for you have no better portion than it.	בֶּן בַּג בַּג אוֹמֵר, הֲפֹךְ בָּהּ וַהֲפֹךְ בָּהּ, דְּכֹלָּא בָהּ. וּבָהּ תֶּחֱזֵי, וְסִיב וּבְלֵה בָהּ, וּמִנַּהּ לֹא תָזוּעַ, שֶׁאֵין לְךָ מִדָּה   טוֹבָה הֵימֶנָּה

Discuss

• Why do we reread the Torah every year? According to Joshua? According to Ben Bag Bag? According to you? 
• Do you feel differently rereading Torah stories now than you did when you were young? Do you have an example of a Torah story that you learned when you were little that you now know is quite different from what you originally learned? 
• Do you have other books that you reread? Why do you go back to them? (Or TV shows or movies?) 
• Do you feel differently each time you return to them? 

Sharing our Favorite Books (10 minutes) 

• You may or may not reread the Torah with the same level of detail that Joshua and Ben Bag Bag expect, but I’d bet that you do have a favorite book or story that you’ve returned to over your life. Hopefully, you’ve come tonight in costume of your favorite character from that book. Spend some time guessing other people’s characters, or just sharing with the room. 
  • What do you love about this book? What do you love about this character? 
  • When did you first encounter this story? How does it feel to return to it? 

Dance Party!

• On Simchat Torah, we take out all the Torahs from our community and dance with them for seven hakafot, seven cycles of aliyot (getting called up to bless the Torah) that can last all night. Tonight, we’re going to dance with our favorite secular books in honor of Simchat Torah!