Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah, Jewish festival that follows Sukkot (“Feast of Booths”) and marks when the yearly cycle of readings from the Torah—the first five books of the Hebrew Bible— concludes and the next cycle begins. During this holiday, Torah scrolls are removed from the ark—an ornate cabinet in which Torah scrolls are kept—and carried through the synagogue in a joyful procession that often includes dancing with Torah scrolls.

In Israel and among Reform congregations, Simchat Torah is observed concurrently with Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of Sukkot, on 22 Tishri. In Conservative and Orthodox communities outside of Israel, Shemini Atzeret is a two-day festival on 22 and 23 Tishri, and Simchat Torah is observed on the second day.

History

Simchat Torah is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible or in rabbinic texts such as the Talmud. Public recitation of the Torah during Sukkot was ordained in Deuteronomy 31, and the Talmud suggests that public readings of the Torah were more frequent through the Jewish religious year. The schedule of Torah readings differed across communities in the ancient world. Babylonian Jews in approximately the 5th or 6th centuries ce worked out an annual cycle of 54 portions (parashot) that concluded on the second day of Shemini Atzeret, and gradually this annual reading cycle became widely adopted. By approximately the 11th century, Simchat Torah developed organically among Jewish communities as a way to celebrate this completion of the Torah reading cycle. In Europe in the 12th century it also became customary to recommence from the beginning the cycle of readings as part of Simchat Torah. This practice of both ending and beginning the readings is taken to symbolize the importance and pleasure of continual Torah study.

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Festivities

Synagogue services typically begin on the evening of Simchat Torah followed by their continuation on the next morning (days in the Jewish calendar are reckoned from sunset to sunset). Practitioners typically make seven circles (haqafot)—a few groups do three or three and a half circles—around the synagogue’s bimah (reading platform) while carrying the Torah scrolls and dancing. Behind the procession children cheerfully wave paper flags. During the synagogue services on the morning of Simchat Torah, the last part of Deuteronomy and then the first part of Genesis are read to end and restart the cycle of readings. Every member of the congregation is generally given an aliyah, the call to read from or bless the Torah. Three Torah scrolls are typically removed from the ark for this ceremony: one for the last part of Deuteronomy, one for the first part of Genesis, and the third (only in some congregations) for the maftir (an addendum to the Torah portion). Dancing seven circles around the bimah and parading the Torah are again part of the morning service. The jubilation of Simchat Torah sometimes overflows the synagogue and pours out into the streets.