Simchat Torah Countdown

Simchat Torah, meaning 'Rejoicing of the Torah,' falls on 23 Tishrei at the close of the Sukkot season and celebrates the completion — and immediate restart — of the annual cycle of Torah reading with singing and dancing around the scrolls.

History

Simchat Torah grew out of the annual cycle of public Torah reading that took shape in the Jewish communities of Babylonia during the talmudic era. Those communities completed the Five Books of Moses once each year, finishing on the day after Shemini Atzeret, whereas the older custom of the Land of Israel spread the reading over roughly three years. As the annual Babylonian cycle became the standard across the Jewish world, the day on which the Torah was completed naturally took on a festive character of its own. In the diaspora this was the second day of Shemini Atzeret, 23 Tishrei; in the Land of Israel, where the festival lasts one day, the completion is celebrated on 22 Tishrei together with Shemini Atzeret. The name 'Simchat Torah' and many of its distinctive customs are first attested in medieval sources. Communities began taking every Torah scroll out of the ark, honouring the readers who complete Deuteronomy and begin Genesis with the titles Chatan Torah and Chatan Bereishit — 'bridegroom of the Torah' and 'bridegroom of Genesis' — and calling every member of the congregation, including all the children together, up to the reading. The custom of hakafot, seven joyous circuits around the synagogue with the scrolls, spread widely from the sixteenth century under the influence of the kabbalists of Safed. Over time the celebration grew ever more exuberant. Evening hakafot with song and dance became a highlight open to the whole community, children joined the processions carrying decorated flags and apples, and in many places the dancing spills out of the synagogue into courtyards and streets. In modern Israel, 'second hakafot' held on the following evening extend the festivities with music and public celebration, making Simchat Torah one of the most visibly joyful days of the Jewish year.

Meaning

Simchat Torah expresses a simple, powerful idea: the Torah is a source of joy, and its study never ends. The moment the final verses of Deuteronomy are read, the congregation immediately begins again with the opening words of Genesis, so that the cycle of learning is never interrupted even for a day. Completion becomes renewal. The day is also strikingly democratic. Scholars and beginners, adults and children all dance with the same scrolls, and every member of the congregation is honoured with a call to the Torah. Falling at the end of the intense Tishrei season, Simchat Torah completes an emotional arc — from the solemn self-examination of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, through the harvest gratitude of Sukkot, to unrestrained celebration — closing the holiday month not in awe but in dance.