As a youngster (in c. 960), R. Chanoch was captured by pirates, along with his father R. Moshe and three other great Torah scholars. R. Moshe and his son were ransomed by the Jewish community of Cordova, Spain, where R. Moshe opened a yeshivah for Talmudic studies. When R. Moshe passed away, he was succeeded by his son.
These events marked a turning point in Jewish history. Until then, the primary centers of Torah scholarship were located in the great and ancient Jewish communities of Babylonia, and Jews throughout the Diaspora depended on their leaders for guidance. With the opening of the yeshivah of R. Moshe and R. Chanoch in Spain, Jewish leadership shifted westwards, and European Jewry slowly became independent of the Babylonian community. Thus began the golden age of Torah scholarship in Western Europe, where it flourished for the next five hundred years.
Link: The Four Captives
Today is Simchat Torah ("Rejoicing of the Torah"), on which we conclude, and begin anew, the annual Torah reading cycle. The event is marked with great rejoicing, and the "hakafot" procession, held both on the eve and morning of Simchat Torah, in which we march and dance with Torah scrolls around the reading table in the synagogue. In the words of the Chassidic saying, "On Simchat Torah, we rejoice in the Torah, and the Torah rejoices in us; the Torah, too, wants to dance, so we become the Torah's dancing feet."
During today's Torah reading, everyone, including children under the age of Bar Mitzvah, is called up to the Torah; thus the reading is read numerous times, and each aliyah is given collectively to many individuals, so that everyone should recite the blessing over the Torah on this day.
Links: Torah in the Winter; Dancing with the Torah; Love, Marriage and Hakafot; A Crown of Slippers
Vzot Haberachah (Deuteronomy 33-34)
Take these words of Mine to your hearts and to your souls…teach them to your children so that this will be what they speak about, when you are sitting at home, walking on your way, lying down to rest, and arising from your sleep. (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)
The simple meaning of this instruction is as follows:
You must teach your children Torah.
Not as a burden, but as a love; so that they will cherish Torah wisdom, share it, and speak about it at every time of day, in every circumstance. Until it becomes the defining activity of their lives.
And to accomplish this, you too must be engaged, heart and soul, in your children's education the entire day.
Not only at home, when you are in your own space, but even when you're off at work or in other circumstances you do not control, this is what should preoccupy your mind.
So that when you lie down to rest after a long, hard day, the concern won't go away.
And when you awaken refreshed in the morning, your first thought will be, "What's happening with my children's education?"
This is why there are Jews today, how this miracle occurred: Because there were Jewish parents who focused their entire lives on the Torah education of their children.