Simchat Torah Suggestions

Now that we're through kvetching about our Yom Kippur experiences, we can start analyzing Simchat Torah.

Simchat Torah is a difficult holiday for Orthodox women. It seems like the men are having the fun, while the women are sitting around waiting, watching, and mostly talking. I don't mind sitting separately the rest of the year, when I am actually praying. But an hour and a half is too long to watch dancing, if you can call it that. My husband pointed out that the teenagers in the shul either went elsewhere or stood talking outside.

Our synagogue cut the hakafot (seven rounds of singing and dancing with the Torah scrolls) short in the morning. This worked out well, although the rabbi didn't get to give his annual class. Maybe he could switch it to the evening.

They moved two Torah scrolls close to the mechitza (partition), so that the mothers could see and hear their under bar-mitzvah age sons reading. I missed that last year.

Modern Orthodox Singles writes about her experience, and Isramom has a roundup of blog posts on the subject. Be sure to look at Ilana-Davita's post, and the comments.

Id like to hear more creative solutions for this annual problem.