The Heart of the Torah

Tonight begins the holiday of Simchat Torah, when we celebrate the cycle of the Torah reading. We finish the last words of Deuteronomy and begin again with the first words of Genesis. The last letter of the torah, lamed, and the first letter of the Torah, bet, together spell the Hebrew word "lev," which means "heart." The Torah is the heart of the Jewish people, it is the heart of who and what we are. And we, its adherents, are truly the heart of the Torah. It lives because we continue to read and learn and study and live by its teachings. The Torah is in our hearts, and we are the heart of the Torah.