[Avodah] minhag simchat tora

[Danny Schoemann]

Saul Z.:
>> i saw no mention made of 'piyutim'. in many machzors, including
>> artscroll's, the have a few piyutim before mussaf---sisu vsimchu, the
>> avos kept simchas tora, etc haven't seen these sung [anyone know the
>> nussach]. i wonder how prevalent it is to actually do them....
RMB:
>Yekkes AFAIK sing them and you can find the music for them in I M
>Japhet's book

Correct - we not only sing them, but (at least where I grew up the
Adas Yeshurun of Johannesburg) it was done in the following manner:

3 men holding Sifrei Torah would go up next to the Bima; the one in
the middle would be Chazzan.

The Chazzan would chant "Ogil V'Esmach B'Simchas Torah" and bow forward,

Then he would turn to his right and bow while chanting "Bo Yovo
Tzemach Bsimchas Torah"; the person on his right would bow too.

Repeated to his left for the next verse.

Then each of the 3 would dance  "on their own axis" (essentially spin)
while chanting the refrain "Torah Hee Eitz Chaim..."

This was one of the highlights of Simchas Torah. :-)

In my great-grandfather's Machzor he had pencilled in "singen" and
"tanzen" various times in the margin; so in 18th century Germany
(Zeltingen) they had a similar setup.

- Danny