Simchat Torah / Shemini Atzeret

Sukkot lasts seven days. The day after Sukkot is called Simchat Torah and/or Shemini Atzeret. (Shemini Atzeret means Eighth day of Assembly; Simchat Torah means Joy of Torah.)

Simchat Torah is the day immediately following Sukkot--an eighth day on which Jews are no longer required to live in sukkahs.  For today’s rabbinic Jews, Shemini Atzeret is also the day on which Jews finish reading through the Pentateuch and start reading again in Genesis. 

In the Bible, Jews are commanded to “rejoice in your feast” during Sukkot, and while today’s Jews do rejoice during Sukkot, their rejoicing reaches a climax during Simchat Torah. Last year, however, Simchat Torah fell on October 7. Early that morning, on the very day Israeli Jews should have been rejoicing, Hamas started the Israel-Hamas war with a land, sea, and air assault during which whole families were burned alive, men and women were raped, and the Geneva Conventions were totally ignored by the invaders.

This year, Simchat Torah starts tonight.  I’m praying that this year’s Simchat Torah brings Israelis only joy.

Margot Armer