Jewish holiday marking the conclusion of public Torah readings
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Simchat Torah
The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Livorno by Solomon Hart, 1850. Jewish Museum, New York
Official name
שמחת תורה
Also called
Translation: 'Rejoicing with/of the Torah'
Observed by
Jews
Type
Jewish
Significance
The culmination of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret. Conclusion of the annual Torah reading cycle. Final Parsha from Deuteronomy is read in synagogue. Everyone is called to the Torah reading. Then first Parsha from Genesis is read.
Celebrations
Dancing in synagogue as all the Torah scrolls are carried around in seven circuits (hakafot); melakha (work) is prohibited
Date
22nd (outside of Israel 23rd) day of Tishrei
2023 date
Sunset, 6 October – nightfall, 7 October (8 October outside of Israel)
2024 date
Sunset, 23 October – nightfall, 24 October (25 October outside of Israel)
2025 date
Sunset, 13 October – nightfall, 14 October (15 October outside of Israel)
2026 date
Sunset, 2 October – nightfall, 3 October (4 October outside of Israel)
Related to
Culmination of Sukkot (Tabernacles)
Simchat Torah (שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה, lit., "Torah celebration", Ashkenazi: Simchas Torah), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret ("Eighth Day of Assembly"), which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei (occurring in September or October on the Gregorian calendar).
The main celebrations of Simchat Torah take place in the synagogue during evening and morning services. In many Orthodox as well as many Conservative congregations, this is the only time of year on which the Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark and read at night. In the morning, the last parashah of Deuteronomy and the first parashah of Genesis are read in the synagogue. On each occasion, when the ark is opened, the worshippers leave their seats to dance and sing with the Torah scrolls in a joyous celebration that can last for several hours.
The morning service is also uniquely characterized by the calling up of each member of the congregation for an aliyah. There is also a special aliyah for all the children.
SimchatTorah (שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה, lit., "Torah celebration", Ashkenazi: Simchas Torah), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates...
Congregation Beit SimchatTorah ("CBST") is a non-denominational progressive Jewish synagogue located at 130 West 30th Street, in the Midtown Manhattan...
connected to the day are read. Many Jews observe an annual holiday, SimchatTorah, to celebrate the completion of the year's cycle of readings. [further...
to which practices of each holiday are to apply. The celebration of SimchatTorah is the most distinctive feature of the holiday, but it is a later rabbinical...
species on each of the seven days of the holiday. On SimchatTorah, the custom is to take the Torah scrolls out of the Ark and to encircle the reader’s...
of Israel, two days in the diaspora, where the second day is called SimchatTorah). Shemini Atzeret coincides with the eighth day of Sukkot outside the...
shel galuyot (literally, "Second Yom Tov of the Diaspora")—including SimchatTorah—are also included in this grouping. Colloquially, Yom Kippur, a biblically...
follows an annual cycle beginning and ending on the Jewish holiday of SimchatTorah, with the divisions corresponding to the lunisolar Hebrew calendar,...
Hamas-led attack on Israel on the 22nd of Tishrei 5784, the holiday of SimchatTorah, October 7, 2023, and the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces who...
Moses announced to the people that they had been forgiven; as a result the Torah fixed this date as a permanent holiday of forgiveness. The new covenant...
symbolize a bountiful harvest, and on SimchatTorah because two stuffed cabbage rolls placed side by side resemble Torah scrolls. Jews in the Russian Empire...
who serves as spiritual leader of New York City's Congregation Beit SimchatTorah. She has been an active campaigner for human rights and civil marriage...
the Jewish holiday of SimchatTorah, it is customary to call all the boys (in some synagogues, all the children) to the Torah reading and for the whole...
festivals running through Sukkot which end on Shemini Atzeret in Israel and SimchatTorah everywhere else. Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration...
holidays during the chazzan's repetition only during Mussaf. But on SimchatTorah, it is recited during Shacharit. This is because there is a tradition...
Atzeret, SimchatTorah can never fall on Shabbat, and there is no Mincha reading for SimchatTorah. The individual readings for SimchatTorah are as follows:...
Jews begin to pray for rain and SimchatTorah, "Rejoicing of the Torah", a holiday which marks reaching the end of the Torah reading cycle and beginning all...
trance festival, conciding with the final day of Sukkot (6 October) and SimchatTorah (7 October), and took place in the western Negev desert, approximately...
Manhattan, New York City. Nixon and her family attend Congregation Beit SimchatTorah, an LGBT synagogue. Nixon has received numerous awards including two...
SimchatTorah never occurs on Saturday.) In communities where the Torah is read at Maariv on SimchatTorah, this is the only occurrence of the Torah being...
tradition. A version called holishkes is traditionally eaten by Jews on SimchatTorah. Recipes vary depending on region; northern Poles prefer a savory sauce...
Tishrei (and 23 outside of Israel) – Shemini Atzeret/Atzeres & SimchatTorah/Simchas Torah 1 Tishrei (c. 3760 BCE) – Adam and Eve were created, according...
observe an annual holiday, SimchatTorah, to celebrate the completion and new start of the year's cycle of readings. Torah scrolls are often dressed with...
1 - You Shall Be Holy. New York: Bell Tower, 2006. p. 152-173. Mishneh Torah, Teshuvah 2:2 Yonah Gerondi, Shaarei Teshuva: The Gates of Repentance. Trans...
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