When the cursed Gazans planned their attack on the people of Israel, the planning was precise, down to the exact hour and, in my opinion, especially the exact day. It's clear to everyone just how much the vile murderer Yahya Sinwar is a meticulous and calculated man. It increasingly seems that he knows very well what stirs the Israelis, what brings them to the streets, and he plays with these emotions of ours with the cold composure of a mass murderer.
It is not by chance that he chose Simchat Torah as the day of the massacre, just as the Nazis did not accidentally carry out the Babi Yar massacre in Kyiv on Yom Kippur. He, like them, sought a Jewish holiday to turn into mourning. He chose Simchat Torah because his goal is not only to kill Jews but also to kill Judaism. Like all our enemies before him, they never settled for harming our bodies but also aimed to hurt our souls. Their goal is not only to harm our flesh and blood but also our spirit, and in my opinion, it's not just "also," but primarily. Their main aim is to harm our spirit.
We Will Not Stop Dancing
We cried last year when the news came, but we did not stop dancing. We danced and cried. It was hard to keep dancing on the second day, on October 8th, when Simchat Torah was celebrated abroad, but we knew that if we stopped dancing, it would be as if we surrendered to the evil murderer, and he would have achieved his goal.
We Will Not Stop Dancing
A reservist who was on leave in Basel told me: "I’m from Ofakim, our synagogue was hit, several of our friends were murdered when they went out with their personal weapons to face the war machines of the murderous Gazans, but one thing is clear to me and all my friends: this year, we will dance not only in the synagogue but also in the streets of the city because no one and nothing will stop us from rejoicing with our Torah."
We will remember the fallen, we will remember the murdered, we will remember the wounded, and of course, we will remember and remind others of the dear captives. But we will not give Sinwar the satisfaction that Jews are not joyful on Simchat Torah. He did not kill or capture our souls because no one can break the spirit of this nation.
Happy holiday, Jews, and don't stop dancing.
Rabbi Zalman Wishedski