Simchat Torah Project

To commemorate the October 7 in a way that is appropriate for the holiday, the Simchat Torah Project, based in the United Kingdom, created 1,600 matching Torah covers for synagogues around the world. The project symbolizes the Jewish People’s resilience, our ability to find hope in the face of tragedy. 

Capturing what Simchat Torah has now become, the cover quotes Ecclesiastes Chapter 3: “A time to grieve and a time to dance.” Each Torah cover is personalized to memorialize someone killed on October 7 or fighting in the war that it sparked. 

Temple Emeth's cover remembers Sgt. Binyamin Yehoshua “Benji” Needham, who was killed in Gaza in December. His name and the date of his death is embroidered on the back side of the Torah.

Dancing with our new Torah cover says: “We will not forget what happened on Simchat Torah 2023, but we are determined to dispel the darkness with light.”