The Simchat Torah: The Joy Of The Torah

988 Words2 Pages

Description of the item or thing you selected: The Simchat Torah, also known as the "Joy of the Torah", is a Jewish holiday that celebrate 's the completion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and sets the beginning of a new cycle. It is a joyous day in which celebrates the Jewish love for the Torah and its studies. The Simchat Torah is celebrated on the second day of Shemini Atzeret, which follows immediately after the eight-day festival of Sukkot. It is an annual custom that is observed on the 22nd to 23rd of Tishrei, in which this year lands on the 24th of October. Beginning at sunset, it is celebrated by removing all the Torah scrolls out of the ark in the synagogue and spend the evening singing, dancing, and rejoicing. Then, …show more content…

They gave it the name Simchat Torah and began the tradition of dancing with the Torah as a sign of its celebration. During the Gallic period in Babylon, the Torah had been separated into 54 parashiot, "reading portions," which was to be read each Shabbat during the year. With time, this practice began to spread to the entire Jewish community and gathered new customs from different groups, especially in Israel. At first, the celebration of Sh 'mini Atzeret was only that until the late Second Temple period when Simchat Torah became a part of this holiday. When the Torah is to be read, a person who is called cup, an Aliya, is to bless the last paragraphs that are called the Bridegroom of the Torah or the Chassan Torah. It is also understood that whoever reads from the Torah must not touch it but only with a type of reading stick to follow the words. In the eleventh century, the Simchat Torah soon became known as only the second day of Shemini Atzeret or the ninth day of Sukkot. The customs of Simchat Torah is unlike any other Jewish traditions because it encourages women, together with men, to participate and worship in the synagogue. Today, this Jewish celebration is the only holiday that is not celebrated at the same time everywhere else in the world and is even participated on different dates by different groups of …show more content…

In the passage Deuteronomy 34:4-8, it says "4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.” 5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. 6 He buried him[g] in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was

More about The Simchat Torah: The Joy Of The Torah

Open Document