[Avodah] What will be with Simchas Torah

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Oct 01, 2020 at 11:12:27PM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> Instead, I will reiterate and strengthen my first comment: Does anyone
> explicitly say that this siyum is on the public laining? Perhaps this siyum
> (Simchas Torah) is really on our accomplishment of having completed a full
> cycle of Shnayim Mikra! And if so, then this year's Simchas Torah is as
> genuine as ever, at least for those people who continued learning even when
> the shuls were closed.

I argued that the fact is, we daven with the Seifer Torah we lein
from, not the Chumash (or digital device) we learned 2M1T from. And we
celebrate with Chasan Torah and Chasan Bereishis -- the last and first
people called up for an aliyah in each cycle.

> In fact, I'll note that when we have a regular Siyum, we generally have the
> Mesayem learn his final piece, and that leads to the celebration. We might
> begin by sitting down and making Hamotzi, but always, the learning precedes
> the celebration...

The learning precedes the se'udah. As it is supposed to on Simchas Torah.
The ubiquitous pre-leining qiddush evolved (1) only after the dancing
and leining ran after chatzos, causing halachic problems with facting
all morning; (2) very late altogether in the development of ST. Perhaps
even not until the 20th cent. So how can you say it's a defining feature
of the intent behind its establishment, perhaps a millennium earlier?

> Once upon a time, I did learn Shnayim Mikra V'Echad Targum regularly. But I
> was young, and still in yeshiva, and didn't appreciate the Aramaic, and I
> gave up on it...

FWIW, I did 2M1Hirsch for some years. Then I found the Metzudah Translation
of the targum on line. So I went to reading a translation of the targum,
followed by a rishon who gives peshat. This year -- Seforno. (I fell in love
with his Other-Focused Orthodoxy intro in Kavvanas haTorah. I translated
what was for me the maney quote at
<https://www.aishdas.org/asp/seforno-purpose-life>.

> Another example that I noticed a few days ago: I should have figured this
> out decades ago, from the word "yalfinan" ("we learn"), but it was not
> until I saw Onkelos on Devarim 33:10 that it dawned on me that "ulpan" -
> the place where olim learn Hebrew - is an Aramaic word!

The irony is delicious!

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Rescue me from the desire to win every
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   argument and to always be right.
Author: Widen Your Tent                 - Rav Nassan of Breslav
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                 Likutei Tefilos 94:964