Displaced Residents of Sderot Celebrate Simchat Torah

Stand for Israel  |  November 12, 2023

Sderot was one of the of the heavily attacked areas in the south on October 7, and most residents have evacuated to other neighborhoods. And while the celebratory Jewish holiday Simchat Torah, which means “Rejoicing in the Torah,” fell on the day Hamas attacked and infiltrated the south, this hasn’t stopped residents from honoring their faith tradition, reports The Times of Israel:

On a dark street in Eilat, a few dozen internally displaced Israelis ran after a convoy of pickup trucks carrying cardboard boxes, which drew up near a hotel. But the goods on offer weren’t aid supplies for desperate war victims; rather, they were shiny trinkets for children and flags celebrating, belatedly, the Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah…

The celebrations consisted of the convoy of three pickup trucks driving from hotel to hotel, with staff handing out the flags of Simhat Torah and the trinkets to Sderot residents and others who came out to dance and sing around the vehicles as they blasted cheerful music from large speakers mounted on the rear cabins. Some particularly enthusiastic revelers, like Noam Shlomo, a 47-year-old music teacher and father of three, followed the convoy around, dancing as they jogged behind it, some wearing Israeli flags around their shoulders as a cape.