On Simhat Torah, a call for inclusion

• Author: Simcha Scholar
• Published date: 27 September 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

On the other end of the line was the mother of a young boy who had a particularly serious and debilitating form of muscular dystrophy. With her voice breaking she told me how her son would cry to her that the saddest time of the year for him was Simhat Torah. While the entire synagogue was dancing and singing with the Torah, her young son was forced to watch from afar. His legs refused to work and the best he could do was roll around on the floor. He certainly wasn't able to keep up with the fast-moving circles of the rest of the congregation who would look at him with pity; so at some point he had just given up.

"What should be the happiest of days of the year, is just another day of pain and frustration," the mother cried.

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Feeling her pain and knowing that her son was certainly not alone, we made the decision to create a Simhat Torah celebration that would respond to the very unique and challenging needs of these special children.

What came about was a moving and truly magnificent experience. These children were wrapped up in an environment where they didn't feel like charity cases but were among equals. No longer was there any sense of the disabled being excluded. We looked on and realized that dancing doesn't require legs; a wheelchair can bring just as much joy. The scene of the Torah strapped to a child's chest because he didn't have the muscle strength to hold it on his own is one which those in the room will take with them for the rest of their lives.

Our decision to hold this program was also inspired by a famous story told of the great hassidic master Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov.

The evening of Simhat Torah came and the entire congregation had assembled for the service. The townspeople were gathered in the synagogue and were ready to begin the evening prayers but they couldn't find their rebbe. A search party went out until they found him dancing with a disabled child in the child's home.

As they entered the room, they asked him what he was doing there as opposed to being in the synagogue with all his followers? He explained that he had seen the child's parents go off to the shul leaving the child behind. "If there was one place where I could be sure to find God on this holiest of days it would be here dancing alongside this special boy."

Sadly, our experience, and that of the hassidic master, represents...