ICJudaism: A Teacher’s Guide to Judaism
Hosted by ICTeachers Formerly: Mike’s Rough Guide to Judaism
Disclaimer:
The contents of these pages represent the author’s personal views, experience and
understanding.
There are bound to be some things here that some Jews would disagree
with.
Simchat Torah
The day after the end of Sukkot (22 Tishri) is a separate festival day called Shemini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly).
The following day (for orthodox communities outside Israel), or in Israel and in Progressive communities outside Israel, the same day, is Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Law) when the yearly cycle of Torah reading is both completed and restarted.
Simchat Torah is possibly the happiest of the Jewish festivals. During synagogue services all the scrolls (most communities have at least 2 and many have more) are taken out of the Ark and are paraded 7 times around the synagogue. This parade is known as Hakkafot. In orthodox communities the scrolls will be carried only by men, each man taking one circuit and then handing the scroll on to another. In many progressive communities both men and women will take turns at carrying the scroll and in at least some communities the 7 circuits are a minimum and Hakkafot continues until everyone who wants the honour of carrying a scroll has done so.
Normally the procession of the scroll around the synagogue during a service (just once round) is accompanied by the singing of a suitable psalm (usually ps. 29). On Simchat Torah, though, Hakkafot is accompanied by singing and dancing. The youth of the community (and sometimes the not so youthful) who are not carrying a scroll will dance in rings, in any available space, singing Hebrew and Yiddish songs (eg. Chava Negila). Those who are carrying a scroll may join in a dance, or just dance as they walk (and remember, a scroll weighs about as much as a small child). The scrolls are "dressed" (as they always are) with a cloth cover, a silver breast plate, a silver pointer on a chain, a silver finial on each of the two upper handles, each of which are adorned with several silver bells. Dancing with a scroll is quite a noisy business!
As the people sing and the scrolls process, the children (those under 13 are considered too young to carry a scroll) follow the procession and join in the fun. The children may carry “toy” scrolls (small paper reproductions or even soft toys) or may be given a flag to carry bearing some appropriate Jewish symbol which will have an apple or something similar on the top of it. (In my youth we also had lighted candles stuck in the top of the apples, but that is much less likely in these days of health and safety awareness). Of course the apples tend to get smaller as the procession goes on! In our community it has become traditional for adults to hand out sweets to the children as they go past (to encourage them to keep going, I suppose).
Two scrolls are opened to be read from (if the community has two). From one scroll
we read the final part of Devarim (the Book of Deuteronomy). To be called to read
the very last part of the scroll is considered a great honour and the person thus
honoured is known as the Chatan Torah (Chatan means Bridegroom). The second scroll
is then opened at the very beginning (a community with only one scroll would have
to wait while the scroll was re-
In many communities it is traditional to call up children to observe the reading
of days 2-
