This week Jews around the world will roll their Torah scrolls back to the start and begin reading again. This is a deceptively simple act, commonplace, and yet nested within it is a dynamic touching on the very core of Jewish survival, identity and continuous renewal.
There is a short poem recited at the conclusion of traditional Jewish study, known as the Hadran. In a beautifully idiosyncratic touch, the poem addresses neither us nor God, but the text itself, the one which was just completed. In it, we say that "we shall return to you, and you shall return to us."
This phrase captures in the most beautiful way the symbiosis at the heart of Jewish study. We do not merely read the Torah; we serve it, preserve it and perpetuate it, and it, in turn, anchors and revitalises us.
To Saadia Gaon, the great tenth-century philosopher, engaging with Torah is fundamentally constitutive of the Jewish people. In his Emunot ve-De'ot, he observed that "our nation is only a nation through its Torah" in that it provides a unifying factor among all Jews across generations. To paraphrase the well-known aphorism: more than the Jews have kept the Torah, the Torah has kept the Jews.
The Torah guides us, inspires us, and subtly shapes our worldview in ways we do not always fully appreciate. And, at the same time, each year we bring our own unique contributions to the text. While we repeat the same words as the year before, repetition is not stasis.
In their many commentaries on the Torah, the rabbis often pick up on the Torah’s use of the phrase "this day", such as "and these words which I command you this day shall be on your heart" (Deuteronomy 6:6). Over and again they urge us to treat the Torah and its commands as if they were given, not on that day, but on this day, today, encouraging us to see the text anew each time we return to it.
So it cuts both ways, and this essential symbiosis is what motivates the talmudic statement that any town that fails to establish a Torah school for its children is destined for destruction (Shabbat 119b). Torah engagement remains the sine qua non of Jewish identity, continuity, and creativity.
Today, the Torah is being studied more than at any other time in history. Study programmes utilising modern media provide structured tracks for a myriad of different learning options, with tens of thousands of Jews engaging in some form of daily study. With accessible translations, local study groups, and endless commentary available at a click, engaging with the text has never been easier.
Yet the baseline of study for every individual has remained unchanged for more than one and a half millennia: weekly study of the Torah portion, both in synagogue and at home (Berachot 8a). This is the single universal learning requirement binding every Jew, ensuring that regardless of scholarship level, the entire community moves through the narrative together.
As we return to Parashat Bereshit and the annual cycle restarts, we are once again invited to step into that unbroken dialogue between the Jewish people and its foundational text. The words have stayed constant, but we have not; our experiences over the last 12 months equip us with fresh eyes and new perspectives to be nourished by, and to breathe new life into, our ancient tradition.
The sidrah columnists for 5787 are:
Rabbi Jack Cohen, Mill Hill East United Synagogue
Professor Melissa Raphael, Leo Baeck College
Rabbi Dr Glenn Bezalel, London School of Jewish Studies
Rabbi Daniel Walker, Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation
Rabbi Rose Prevezer, Westminster Synagogue
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