Rejoicing and Mourning on Simchat Torah: Jews from Krakow have been there before

It was the night of Simchat Torah 1655[1] in Krakow’s Alteshul (Old Synagogue). This ancient and prestigious community was celebrating the most joyous day of the year. But this time, the joy was overtaken by bloodshed and destruction.

During the fourth Hakafa (dancing circuit around the synagogue) the sound of galloping horses alerted the Jews of the danger. They stopped the dancing, hid the Torah scrolls and prepared for the worst. Although they were in the safest place they could have been – the Alteshul was built into the city wall and served as a type of shelter – the Jews could no longer hold the door shut, the rioters broke into the synagogue and unleashed their murderous hate.

These rioters were, likely, university students[2]. Following the Swedish siege and conquest of Krakow, the students blamed their city’s defeat on the Jews, accusing them of opening the city gates to the invaders. According to tradition, hundreds of Jews were murdered, many were taken captive, homes were looted, and buildings were burned. The Jews marked the aftermath of Simchat Torah by collecting their dead and burying them in a single, mass grave.

A year later the Jews of Krakow were faced with an unfamiliar question. How do they celebrate Simchat Torah while mourning the loss of those who were murdered on this day? Can they in fact celebrate the festival or has the day been stolen from along with their loved ones?

Their response was remarkable. They refused to be bowed and they insisted that their celebrations would continue. But every year, on the night of Simchat Torah, in the middle of the fourth Hakafa, the celebrations suddenly stopped. The night momentarily transformed into Tisha B’Av as they returned the Torah scrolls to the arks, overturned the benches and sat on the floor. With small candles in hand, they recited selichot (penitential prayers) and kinot (elegies), composed to remember this tragedy, even singing the poem ‘Yigdal’ to the tune of Eicha (Lamentations). Then, there was another sudden transformation: Tisha B’Av turned back into Simchat Torah. Rejoicing and mourning in one night.

It is significant that Holocaust survivors from Krakow have testified that this custom was practiced continuously in the Alteshul until the Nazis invaded Poland. The Simchat Torah pogrom may have taken place hundreds of years previously, but not only did Krakow Jews remember, they relived the painful memories of that fateful festival each year as they continued to dance again from within the pain.

85 years on from the Nazi invasion, we are grappling with how to celebrate Simchat Torah while commemorating the worst massacres perpetrated against Jews since the Holocaust. It is fitting that we should therefore recall the memories of the Simchat Torah pogrom in Krakow, honouring the victims.

The connection between these two events runs deeper. Although the realities of 17^th century Krakow and 21^st century Israel are completely different, the 7 October massacre contained subtle echoes of this almost-forgotten tragedy. The sudden and unexpected attack that turned celebration into disaster, the safe rooms that did not protect, the taking of hostages, the scale of the destruction, the mass graves – and the role of young people who blame Jews for troubles and perpetrate violence.

If Jews from different eras and different lands can be historically united through tragedy, we can also emotionally unite through emulating their response. The community in Krakow has bequeathed us a powerful precedent to help us mark this day both meaningfully and joyfully – and it is up to us to find a way to do so.

Could we conduct the Fourth Hakafa in a ‘kumsitz’ style, where everyone sits down and sings slower and more mellow songs, focusing on themes of unity and hope? Could we add one of the new kinot, written after 7 October for Tisha B’Av, into the service? Whether we recreate the old customs of the Alteshul or design new ones, a Jewish response to Simchat Torah 2024 is to remember, incorporate and build on the customs of our past.

If the weight of this year’s Simchat Torah seems overbearing, we should remember that we have been here before. We can enter the festival standing – even dancing – on the shoulders of our wise forebears from Krakow, who will surely be present; celebrating, mourning, dancing and crying with us. They showed us how to merge all these feelings into one day, maintaining the joyous essence of the festival while remembering and preserving our past.

Through honouring the memory of the victims, our new traditions will long outlast our enemies. Just as our ancestors returned to celebrating this day, so we must commit to doing the same. And by doing so, we will be strengthening generations of Jews yet to come.

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Sources: Ganzach Kiddush Hashem, Association of Cracowians in Israel, Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe (Eli Valley, 1999)

[1] This is the most commonly attributed date. Variant versions place these events in 1469 or 1636.

[2] One different version has Christian priests and their students leading the slaughter, and another suggests that it was led by local Poles, angry at civil unrest caused by a (gentile) rebellion against the kingdom.