A person carrying a Torah scroll in memory of a loved one on his yahrzeit tripped and dropped the Torah scroll during the procession around the Hebrew Educational Alliance sanctuary as the Torah was being returned to the Ark on Shabbat, May 2.

Rabbi Sarah Shulman was on the bimah during the procession. A livestream camera, fixated on a wide shot of the bimah, captured the look of anguish on her face. Others on the bimah rushed to assist the recovery of the Torah and escort the person who had dropped it.

In Jewish tradition, a Torah falling to the floor is a jarring and solemn occurrence, and a community response expressing atonement and respect for the Torah is warranted.

Jewish law is not looking for witnesses to a dropped Torah to be punished, but to be reminded that an inadvertent breach requires introspection and repair.

The Torah was safely returned to the Ark.

Shulman said from the bimah, “In honor of our Torah, I am inviting everybody to learn Torah for 40 days.”

After spending Shabbat afternoon checking rabbinic sources,  Shulman sent the following letter to her congregants after Shabbat ended:

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Many of you were in Shabbat services today when one of our Torah scrolls was accidentally dropped. Thank G-d the person who tripped is okay and the Torah was not damaged. Which brings us to the important question, how does a Jewish community respond to the dropping of a Torah scroll?

After the incident, I announced from the bimah that as a community we would take on 40 days of Torah study.  How did I come to make this recommendation for our community?

While many assume that a community must fast for 40 days when a Torah falls, this perception is not as halakhically based as you might expect. In fact, the preeminent legal code, the Shulhan Aruch, authored by Rav Yosef Caro in the 16th century, does not even mention any provisions for the dropping of a Torah scroll. It does, however, mention that we must treat each Torah with kavod gadol, or great respect, just as we do at HEA with each of our precious Torah scrolls that each has its own special story.

The idea of a communal fast for a dropped Torah scroll arises in later sources based on an overtly literal interpretation of a verse from the book of Deuteronomy which reads, “cursed is the one who does not uphold these words.” (Deuteronomy 27:26)

The rabbinic commentator Ramban (Nachmanides) as well as the rabbis of the Jerusalem Talmud in Sotah 7:4 apply this verse from Deuteronomy to the case of a hagbah (lifting of the Torah) inappropriately performed or other physical mishap with the Torah.

Fasting, in this way, was viewed as a gesture of penitence and mourning taken on by the individual and/or community.

But other rabbinic sources respond in a different manner to how a community might honor the Torah after it is accidentally dropped. Rather than observe a time of penitence, some rabbinic authorities advise us to come together as a community in learning to collectively elevate our great respect for the Torah.

For example, the 19th-century Satmar Rebbe teaches: “And the main thing is, from this day on, to show honor to the Torah, and the main honor is to involve oneself with it in purity, for this is its wish and desire, and thus its honor; and it is appropriate to establish times for Torah study and to meditate on it before the community, and to supervise Torah study with open eyes” (Responsa Divrei Yovel 7:4).

In other words, a fallen Torah necessitates a recommitment to its enduring teachings.

As you can see, there is ambiguity in the sources and thus room for interpretation in how a community should properly respond to a fallen Torah scroll. To me the essence of what makes our heart stop in shock and worry when the Torah scroll falls to the floor is the reverence we feel for G-d’s words and a legacy of passing on these holy lessons from one generation to the next to live by them and lead by them. And I see no better way than to express reverence for these words than to dedicate ourselves to their meaningful study.

And so, I would like to invite you to join me in 40 days of Torah study to honor our Torah and find new, relevant insights its teachings.

Why 40 days? Forty is a significant and wholistic number in Judaism — 40 days of the flood, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, 40 days that Moses stayed up on the mountain with G-d receiving the Ten Commandments from G-d.

If you are interested in helping us to complete 40 days of Torah study on behalf of our community, please assign your name to a single day. So that all who would like to partake in this mitzvah can do so, please just sign up for one day initially. You might be wondering, what should I study? I invite you to study the weekly Torah portion or another part of Tanakh, Mishnah, or Talmud that speaks to you. You can study alone or join with others in the community.

If you need a recommended source for your day of study, feel free to reach out to me at rabbishulman@headenver.org.

May we all honor our Torah through our purposeful learning together and the strength and support of our enduring community.

Shavua Tov, Rabbi Shulman

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Shulman told the Intermountain Jewish News that she received an overwhelming response to her invitation to study Torah.

“I sent the email out about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, and by 7 a.m. the next morning, the slots for all 40 days were already full!

“I was brought to tears when I checked the sign-up before heading out for Celebrate Israel,” she said.

“I received so many nice emails from congregants saying, ‘I’m thinking about studying [topic] because it addresses a tough decision I am facing in my life — what do you think, Rabbi?” Or, “Rabbi, do you have any specific suggestions for what I might bring to a group of parents that I am gathering on my assigned day to study Torah together?’”

Shulman said she has had to add additional study time slots for people who want to commit to Torah studyto honor the Torah.

“What began with a moment of shock and distress on Saturday morning has turned into beautiful learning and connection.

“Now I’m planning for an opportunity for those who have learned each day to showcase their learning in a siyyum.”