Taking Simchat Torah Beyond Campus
This year, Yeshiva University students faced a unique choice for Simchat Torah: for the first time since 2001, remain in Washington Heights and celebrate on YU’s Wilf campus or continue the tradition of traveling to Jewish communities across North America as part of the university’s annual Torah Tours program. While celebrating Simchat Torah on campus offered students an exciting and convenient alternative, many chose instead to leave the familiar environment of YU and spend the holiday sharing their Torah and enthusiasm with communities across the country and gain new experiences of their own.
For more than half a century, Torah Tours has sent groups of YU students to Jewish communities for Simchat Torah and Shavuot. Participants spend the holiday engaging with community members, delivering divrei Torah, leading programming and contributing to the celebration of the holiday. At the same time, students had the opportunity to experience Jewish life outside of YU, meet people from different backgrounds and develop a greater appreciation for the communities they visit. Since its founding in 1974, the program has become a longstanding YU tradition, connecting students with Jewish communities throughout North America.
With the option to celebrate Simchat Torah on campus this year, one might have expected participation in Torah Tours to decline. However, the program continued to attract significant interest, sending 112 students, comprising of 62 women and 50 men, to 25 communities across the United States and Canada. “I was pretty confident that I would do Torah Tours, but I think it’s a really positive thing that YU had [an option] in Yeshiva,” noted Chanan Schrieber (YC ‘28).
One of the most meaningful aspects of Torah Tours is for students to experience Jewish communities outside of their usual environment. While many YU students are accustomed to being surrounded by others with similar educational backgrounds and religious experiences, Torah Tours introduces them to communities with different traditions, perspectives and needs. These experiences allow students to better understand the diversity of Jewish life and the role they can play in strengthening communities beyond their own.
Beyond the immediate celebrations, the program provides a chance for students to develop relationships with community members. Whether through conversations at meals, delivering divrei Torah or simply participating in the festivities, students have the ability to make connections that extend beyond the holiday itself.
For the communities hosting Torah Tours participants, the program can have a meaningful impact. Visiting students bring additional energy to the celebrations and offer opportunities for community members to engage with students and Torah from YU. “We were thrilled to welcome back YU Torah Tours!” said Rabbi Brander, rav of the Young Israel of West Hartford, Connecticut and YU alumnus. “For me, the impact is reciprocal – Torah Tours brings wonderful students to our community who enhance and enliven our Yom Tov with their energy, Torah and enthusiasm while simultaneously providing the students with a glimpse of what vibrant Torah communities look like outside of New York and New Jersey and how they too can choose to live impactful and meaningful Jewish lives out of town.”
The benefits of the program are not limited to the communities receiving visitors. By spending Simchat Torah outside the familiar environment of YU, students have the opportunity to develop leadership skills, gain confidence in sharing Torah and experience firsthand the importance of contributing to a Jewish community. For students accustomed to the large and active Jewish environment at YU, visiting smaller communities can also provide a greater appreciation for the work involved in maintaining Jewish life outside of major Jewish centers.
“When I half-heartedly applied to Torah Tours in my junior year (yes, after the deadline), I had no idea the impression it would make on my life. Doing it again this year was a no-brainer,” said Tamara Yeshurun (SCW ‘26). “Not only did it show me that people our age have a unique power to uplift entire communities, but I also got to experience the truly infectious warmth of Jews I had never met before. And, aside from all that, it was also ridiculously fun. Word to the wise: consider joining a randomly assigned group… it’s worth it!”
This year’s Simchat Torah presented YU students with two meaningful options: celebrate the holiday surrounded by their peers on campus or travel beyond the walls of YU to share that same joy with other Jewish communities. While staying on campus may have been the more convenient option, the students who participated in Torah Tours chose an experience that allowed them to contribute to other communities. Ultimately, Torah Tours does not just allow students to enhance the chag experience of the communities, but return having gained something themselves. Through the relationships they form, the communities they experience and the perspectives they encounter, students have the opportunity to grow alongside the people they visit. This year, 112 students continued a tradition that demonstrates how much can be gained when people choose to share their experiences with those outside their everyday environment.
Photo Caption: Torahs in Synagogue
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
