It was early morning when my father, my Abba, woke me up to go to the synagogue.

“From now on you will accompany me each Shabbat” said my Abba.

I put on my best clothes and covered my head with a blue kippah that I received as a present the day before.

I was so excited! From a distance I saw the building with its big, unique windows, the sign of the Star of David and a beautiful menorah with seven (kanim) branches.

We entered the synagogue. There were seats on both sides of the big hall, and in front of us a cupboard with beautiful curtains.

“What’s in there?” I asked my Abba.

“That is the holy ark” responded my Abba.

“What’s holy about it” I asked.

“It contains holy books, the books of the Torah”, said my Abba.

“And what is holy about these books” I asked, a bit confused.

“The Torah is the most holy of the writings in Judaism and was given by G-d to the Jewish leader Moses on Mount Sinai. It contains the Jewish law consisting of 613 mitzvot ("commandments").

“It also includes very special stories starting from the time of the creation of the world.”

“Is Moses going to be here today to tell us these stories?” I asked excitedly.

”No” answered my Abba with a smile.

“Moses lived a long time ago and received the Torah around 3500 years ago.”

“Wow!” I whispered. “That’s really long ago.”

“But then won’t there be any stories?” I asked with disappointment.

“Don’t worry Yossi, very soon the Rabbi will come and start reading from the Torah.”

Impatiently I sat with my Abba waiting for the service to begin.

And then it started. The Rabbi opened the curtain of the closet called Aron Hakodesh and I gasped with excitement. Behind the curtain stood five Torah scrolls, each one dressed in a beautiful gown with a silver crown on top.

The Rabbi, wearing a tallit, took out one Torah scroll, kissed it and placed it on a special stage called a bimah.

In a loud voice he started reading the portion of the week. From time to time he called up a man from the congregation to join him in the reading. He stopped after calling the seventh man.

“Will he call me too?” I asked my Abba, hoping that he would say yes.

“No Yossi, you have to be thirteen to be called up to the Torah, but on a special day it might happen even before.”

“When”? I asked. “Be patient my boy,” my Abba answered.

Throughout the service, I could hardly understand what the Rabbi was saying but my Abba promised me that on Shabbat evening he would repeat the story for me at home.

So I sat quietly concentrating on the tunes that accompanied the Rabbi’s reading, waiting for the day to be called up too.

From then on, I accompanied my Abba to the synagogue, and listened to him telling me the Torah stories at home.

The first story was the story of the Creation of the World and of the Garden of Eden.

Then my Abba told me the story of Noah and the flood.

He told me stories about our three forefathers Abraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, their children, their grandchildren and about our four mothers Sara, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah.

He told me about our leader Moses whom G-d had chosen to free the Jewish people and bring them to the Holy Land of Israel.

I learned so much from these stories, and was waiting to hear more and more.

But then, one day, my Abba said:
“Today I am going to tell you the last story in the Torah, about the Jewish people ending their travels in the desert as they were about to enter the Land of Israel”

“No more stories?” I asked almost in tears “I want to hear more!”

My Abba hugged me and said:

“Don’t worry Yossi, we have come to the end of the book, but you know what? We are celebrating the festival of Simchat Torah today.”

“So what, I don’t care, I want more stories.”

“But that’s what this festival is about,” laughed my Abba. “These Torah stories are so exciting, that although we finish reading them today we will start reading them again from the very beginning.”

I couldn’t believe my ears, all those amazing stories again...and again...and again…I jumped with joy, and started to dance.

“Wait,” said my Abba.

“We are going to the synagogue and you can celebrate there with the others.” The synagogue was packed with people dancing. Adults were dancing around the bimah while children marched and danced with special Simchat Torah flags.

But that wasn’t all… All of a sudden the Rabbi took a huge tallit, stood up on the bimah and spread it above his head.

“I have never seen this before,” I said to my Abba.

I was puzzled, it couldn’t be… but yes, it could. With a big smile on his face the Rabbi called all the children to come up on the bimah to stand under the talit.

My wish was fulfilled, and I was called up to the Torah.

I look forward to hearing all those amazing Torah stories again and again and again for as long as I live.