Simchat Torah/Shmini Atzeret

Simcha Torah / Shmini Atzeret


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

WHEN THE TORAH PORTION IS AHEAD OF THE ORTHODOX

WHY ARE WE RUNNING AHEAD?

I know we are progressive, but why have we progressed to be a full week ahead in all our Torah readings?  We read Acharei Mot on Saturday 1^st May when most other synagogues read it on 8^th May, we start the book of Numbers (and read the first portion, Bmidbar)’ on 4^th June when others are starting it on 11^th, and even on 6^th August we are reading Masei when most congregations are reading Mattot-Masei?  

The short and easy answer is that we follow the Israeli Torah readings.  The more involved explanation is that the tradition developed that outside of Israel, where Jews were uncertain of exactly whether the new moon had been sighted and thus a new month declared in Israel, would mark two first days of festivals.  If one was not correct, it must be the other.  So each festival became a day longer, the one day Shavu’ot of became two, and the seven day festivals of Pesach and Sukkot became eight days.  This also explains second night seder – it is really the first night (Seder night), but repeated on the next night in case that was really the first night!   

By two thousand years ago, astronomers (some of whom were the Rabbis themselves) were able to determine exactly when the new moon would appear and produced detailed tables years in advance.  But tradition had taken hold, and that was that!  Until the Progressive movement came along and said ‘we know when the new moon is, and we only need observe festivals as instructed in the Torah!’.

But how does this explain why we are a week ahead in our Torah readings at the moment?  Because for us the seven days of Pesach started on 22^nd April and concluded on the sunset of 29^th April, whereas the orthodox (outside of Israel) continued to celebrate Pesach until the end of Shabbat on 30^th April.  So Shabbat was not Pesach for us (and hence we returned to the regular Torah reading cycle) but it was for the orthodox (who instead read special readings for the last day of Pesach).

Actually this happens in many years, but usually only for a few weeks at a time.  But because this is a leap year in the Hebrew (as well as Gregorian) calendar, there is only one ‘doubled-up’ Torah reading, Matot-Ma’asei.  (Doubled-up readings ‘take up the slack’ in a normal year, so that there are enough Torah readings to go around even in a leap year with an extra month in it).  So from Shabbat 30^th April, all the way through to Shabbat 30^th July, we will be a week ahead – so if you want to know what happens next in the Torah story, come and hear it at LBC!

(You can get the Progressive Torah reading calendar on Google calendar by searching PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM CALENDAR WITH SHABBAT AND FESTIVALS or by using the link oi25cfvcm19vdoquc8p3abif68@group.calendar.google.com).