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)
The Baal Shem Tov taught:
You must know that everything depends on you. That with your every mitzvah, the universe resonates in blissful harmony that heals and nurtures. That with a single sin, the entire cosmic symphony falls apart in a cacophony.
Because if you pretend to be humble, saying, “Who am I, this lowly creature, that anything I do should have significance in the cosmic scheme of things? Who am I, that the Creator of this infinitely-sized operation should take notice of my deeds?”
—with those words, you will free yourself to do however you please, bringing your entire world down with you.
But when you are aware that the Master of the Universe kisses your lips with every word of Torah or prayer that you utter, then you will say each word just as it should be said, with love and with awe. And when you truly believe that with each mitzvah you are in embrace with the Infinite Light Himself, then your entire day will be filled with beautiful deeds that shine.
As for misplaced humility, the Talmud tells us, “The humility of Rabbi Zecharia ben Avkilus destroyed the Holy Temple and exiled us from our land.”