High Holidays · Sukkot and Simchat Torah
What are Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah?
Shemini Atzeret, שמיני עצרת ("the eighth day of assembly"), is a festival that follows Sukkot; on it we begin to ask Heaven for rain and we say Yizkor. Simchat Torah, שמחת תורה ("the joy of the Torah"), celebrates completing the yearly cycle of reading and beginning it again in the very same moment.
Two days, one movement of the heart
After the seven days of Sukkot, the Torah adds one more day and calls it atzeret — a lingering, a day to stay a little longer in the closeness we have built. On Shemini Atzeret we say tefillat geshem (the prayer for rain), turning our hearts toward the coming season and the land's thirst, and we say Yizkor, holding our beloved dead in memory. Then comes Simchat Torah, when we read the final words of Deuteronomy and, without pausing, open again to בראשית (Genesis) — because the Torah is never finished, only renewed.
Where this comes from
The eighth day is named in the Torah itself: "On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly" (Vayikra 23:36). Simchat Torah is not commanded there by that name; it grew from the ancient annual cycle of Torah reading, and the custom took shape of marking the day we finish and restart the scroll with hakafot (circuits of dancing) around the synagogue, carrying the scrolls in our arms.
What to do
Come to services on Shemini Atzeret for the prayer for rain and for Yizkor, if you are saying it. On Simchat Torah, join the hakafot — let yourself dance, or simply stand near the scrolls and take in the joy. Honors are given to those called to the closing verses and the opening ones; if you are offered one, receive it as a gift. Exactly when each day begins and ends depends on your city, so confirm the local times.
Source: Vayikra 23:36, and the annual Torah reading cycle.
When you want the readings, the blessings, and your city's exact times for these days in one place, let My Jewish Day (siddur, zmanim, the Hebrew calendar) walk them with you.
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