Today at lunch I was discussing Simchat Torah with ellipticcurve (a lapsed Catholic). For those unfamiliar, Simchat Torah is the time of year when the cycle of reading Torah finishes, and you start over again at the beginning. Also remember that the Torah is a scroll (think videotape), vs. a direct access book (think CD). To that end, we got a little bit silly:
We hypothosized a device that you could put the rods on each scroll into. It would rewind the Torah (just like a video tape rewinder) to the beginning, perhaps beeping when it was done. You might even be able to put bar code stickers on each parashot (or use optical recognition of the style of writing) and have it rewind to a particular parasha!
We wondered if the Torah cover should come with a sticker: “Be Kind, Please Rewind. $2,000 donation to shul required if not returned rewound by Simchat Torah”
As I said, silly.
