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Residents and visitors to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico,Jewish community welcomed their very first Torah scroll few months ago, and will be dancing with the Torah once again next week on the holiday of Simchat Torah.

Simchat Torah in Playa Del Carmen With a Scroll Inspired From a Playroom Floor

by Bruria Efune – chabad.org

It wasn’t too long ago that the streets near Chabad of Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, were closed to traffic and instead filled with a dancing Jewish community as they welcomed their very first Torah scroll. The community will be celebrating once again next week and with even more people on hand, including the hundreds of Jewish visitors in town during a busy Sukkot holiday week, as one and all celebrate Simchat Torah with the new scroll.

In a ceremony called hakafot, the doors of the ark will be flung open, the Torah scroll will be taken out and handed to various community members and guests, and everyone jubilantly parades around the bimah in the synagogue with their precious heritage in hand. The celebrations will take place this year from the evening of Monday, Oct. 17, to nightfall on Tuesday, Oct. 18, following the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, which begins on Sunday, Oct. 17 at sunset. (In Israel, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are celebrated together, beginning on Monday night.)

Every new Torah scroll seems to have its own special story. The event that inspired Sharon Sousana and his family to donate the new Torah scroll in Playa del Carmen may be unusual, but it tells the story of a bustling center of Jewish life and someone who appreciates it well.

In 2010, Rabbi Mendel and Chaya Goldberg arrived in the resort town of Playa del Carmen to establish a permanent Jewish presence for the small local Jewish community and frequent Jewish tourists. The new Chabad center provided Shabbat and holiday services and meals, opened a kindergarten and Hebrew school, and built a luxurious mikvah.

The Goldbergs set up shop just before a huge tourist boom in Playa del Carmen. The Caribbean town now greets nearly 1 million tourists annually—among them, enough Jews to keep 10 kosher eateries open. While in their early days it was normal for the Chabad emissaries to host a handful of guests at their Shabbat table, now they welcome a minimum of 80 on a rare off-season week and as many as 800 when it gets busy.

As tourists in search of services and meals, the Sousana family from France arrived at the Chabad center one Shabbat, where they found a packed dining hall and not a single empty chair. They sat on the floor with their chidren, ate the Shabbat meal and pledged to donate a Torah scroll to the center, which had been using a borrowed scroll.
As tourists in search of services and meals, the Sousana family from France arrived at the Chabad center one Shabbat, where they found a packed dining hall and not a single empty chair. They sat on the floor with their chidren, ate the Shabbat meal and pledged to donate a Torah scroll to the center, which had been using a borrowed scroll.

Shabbat Lunch on the Floor

It was on one of those extremely busy weeks in the summer of 2017 that Sharon and Chaya Sousana and their children were visiting from France. In search of Shabbat services and meals, the Sousanas arrived at the Chabad center, where they found a packed dining hall and not a single empty chair. Rabbi Goldberg apologized and explained that while there wasn’t enough seating, there was definitely enough food for everyone, and so there would be three shifts of Shabbat meals.

By then, the Sousana children had found the indoor play area, and their parents happily sat down to watch them. Rather than wait for the second-round Shabbat meal, the family settled in on the floor to enjoy the Shabbat kiddush and meal.

Sousana was deeply touched by the services provided. Upon learning that the community was using an older Torah scroll on loan and didn’t have one of their own, he pledged to donate a brand-new one.

Last month, on the 13th anniversary of the founding of Chabad of Playa del Carmen and in honor of the 120th anniversary of the birth of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—the new Torah scroll was completed at the Chabad center. After the final letters were written, the community went out to the closed-off streets to dance and share Jewish pride. Passersby cheered the crowd on and took photos, while some Jewish tourists happened upon the parade and joined in the joyful celebration.

That was followed by a celebratory feast in the hall of the Chabad House.

Although that Shabbat meal on the playroom floor turned out OK, Rabbi Goldberg hopes that soon they will have seats for everyone, as Chabad of Playa del Carmen is working on building a new 4,500-square-foot, six-floor campus with ample dining space for all.

To locate a Simchat Torah celebration near you, visit Chabad.org’s Sukkot and Simchat Torah Directory.

After the final letters were written, the community went out to the closed-off streets to dance and share Jewish pride. Passersby cheered the crowd on and took photos, while some Jewish tourists happened upon the parade and joined in the joyful celebration.
After the final letters were written, the community went out to the closed-off streets to dance and share Jewish pride. Passersby cheered the crowd on and took photos, while some Jewish tourists happened upon the parade and joined in the joyful celebration.

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