The day after the seven days of Sukkot is biblically ordained as 'the eighth day of Assembly' (Shmini Atzeret). As such it is supposed to be a major festival - a day when one abstains from work etc.
However, we are never as good at finishing things as starting them (compare how many people mark the end of Shabbat with Havdalah as start it with kiddush, or mark the last day of Pesach - also a 'main festival day', compared to having a seder).
The Talmudic Rabbis of Babylon, whose tradition was to read through the Torah in a calendar year, were able to infuse this day with a new meaning, by effectively superimposing a new festival on it - Simchat Torah - Rejoicing of the Torah. They concluded the reading on Shmini Atzeret, and immediately rolled back the Torah and commenced from Genesis again, complete with singing and dancing. This way, we can say 'There is no time in Jewish life without Torah'.
Not only did they therefore create a new, post-biblical (and thus technically 'minor') festival which took precedence in people's minds over Shmini Atzeret, but they also added a source of confusion to Jewish children for all generations to come: Why isn't the festival which has 'Torah' in its name, and when we finish and start again the cycle of reading the Torah, the Festival of Giving Torah?
That's because 'it just isn't'! Those same Rabbis had also observed that there was a Biblically ordained (hence 'major') festival (Shavuot) without a biblically connected historical event. It was one of the three pilgrim festivals, but whereas Pesach lasts a week and is about the Exodus from Egypt and Freedom, and Sukkot lasts a week and is about the Forty Years in the desert, and is about God's Salvation and Protection, Shavuot only lasts one day - and Torah tells us nothing about its meaning.
But they noticed that there was also a major biblical event which had not been connected to a festival - the Revelation of Torah or Matan Torah at Mount Sinai, and with a bit of jigging the dates, they could claim that this occurred on Shavuot. Hence the Rabbis actually introduced not one but two festivals with Torah celebrations!
CHATAN TORAH AND B'RESHIT
Anyway, one of the customs that developed was that the call up to read the final verses of the Torah in Deuteronomy (or the blessings over them, if they are then read for them), and the call up to read the very first verses of Genesis (Bereshit) were deemed to be the most important accolades in the Jewish year. So these two pillars of the community were given the titles of Chatan Torah (Bridegroom of the Torah) and Chatan B'reshit (Bridegroom of Genesis). Since we call up women as well as men, we call the women 'Kallat' (Bride of), hence Kallat Torah and Kallat B'reshit as suits.
Whilst these people may be great leaders in the community, they are not always able to read Torah (with no vowels, of course), but in case they wish to prepare, here is the transliteration of the final call up and the first call up:
But here is the transliteration for 10 and 11 (and 12) if you want to prepare it all:
10: V'lo kam navi od b'Yisrael k'Moshe
asher yad-o Adonai panim el panim.
12: L'chol ha-otot v'ha-moftim
asher shal-cho Adonai
la-asot b'Eretz Mitzrayim
l'Phar-oh u-l'chol avadav
u-l'chol arzo.
12: U-l'chol ha-yad ha-chazaka
u-v-chol ha-moreh ha-gadol
asher asa Moshe
l'ei-nei kol Yisrael.
(The congregation say 'Chazak, Chazak v'nitchazek' - be strong, be strong and let us be strengthened by it)
The Torah is then rolled back (this can be done as a community activity, but take care as it is easily damaged, and needs to be rerolled tightly. Remember that the parchment can be held top and bottom but no fingers should touch the text, simply because we don't want any grease and oils from the fingers on it).
1. B'reishit, bara Elohim
et ha-shamayim v'et ha-aretz
2. V'ha-aretz hayta tohu va-vohu
v'chosech al p'nei t'hom
v'ruach Elohim m'ra-chefet
al p'nei ha-mayim.
3. Vayomer Elohim
'Y'hi or', va-y'hi or
4. Vayar Elohim et ha-or, ki tov
va-yavdel Elohim
bein ha'or u-vein ha-choshech
5. Vayikra Elohim la-or 'Yom'
v'la-choshech kara 'Lailah'
Vay-hi erev vay-hi boker, yom echad
