Max Hollander
Introduction
For my father, Jewish practice was about family. The son of immigrants who were always working to build their new lives in America after the Holocaust, Shabbat and holidays were often the only opportunities my father had to spend quality time with his own father, and it was an unspoken rule that my brother and I come home for every holiday for us to have the same experience with him. This was even true when we left home for college, and even as we became more traditionally observant and were no longer comfortable driving to shul like we used to be. However, despite my father’s wishes, I always insisted on spending Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah with friends in college or at an NCSY shabbaton. At the time, I saw the final days of the season, not as another opportunity for quality time with family, but as a time to dance and sing with friends. But now, after caring for my father for an entire year as he battled, and ultimately died of cancer — when every hug goodbye lingered for longer than it should have — I realize that I’d missed the powerful, meaningful, joyful experience the theme of Shemini Atzeret could have offered me, if not for the spectacle of Simhat Torah that so often distracts from it.
Shemini Atzeret is mentioned in Vayikra[1] and Bamidbar[2] in association with Sukkot but distinguished by unique sacrificial procedures, and centuries later, Shemini Atzeret was supplemented with Simhat Torah, a celebration of the completion of the yearly Torah reading cycle in the diaspora on the second day of Shemini Atzeret. While Jews in Israel had their own Simhat Torah, complete with special piyuttim and celebrations, it was at the end of their three-year Torah reading cycle,[3] and it wasn’t at any particular time of year.[4]
However, Simhat Torah as we know it didn’t appear overnight. Before it was a celebration of the completion of the yearly Torah reading cycle, Rav Saʿadia Gaon referred to the second day of Shemini Atzeret as the “Day of Blessing” in his siddur, on account of the practice in his time of reading Moshe’s blessings to the Jewish people in Ve-Zot Ha-Berakhah, and pairing them with the Haftorah for the second day of Shemini Atzeret,[5] recalling the prayer King Solomon offered at the inauguration of the Beit HaMikdash. The inauguration began a two-week celebration period that culminated on Shemini Atzeret.[6] Later, it became customary to read parashat Bereishit on the same day so the Satan couldn’t accuse the Jews of finishing the Torah and abandoning it, turning the occasion into a siyum.[7] While there is no official declaration of the establishment of Simhat Torah in halakhic literature like we have for other post-Biblical holidays, reports in works like the 11th-century Mahzor Vitry,[8] the Teshuvot HaGeonim,[9] and The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela[10] describe annual celebrations for completing the Torah on the second day of Shemini Atzeret.
Practically, this supplementation seems warranted; there are no discernible mitzvot for individuals to perform on Shemini Atzeret aside from the prayer for rain and the sacrificial services performed by the Kohen in the Beit HaMikdash which became irrelevant when it was destroyed. Shemini Atzeret also lacks any association with a Biblical story that would give it historical significance in the way other holidays do. The addition of Simhat Torah supplied explicit significance and accessible practices to mark the occasion, such as hakafot, Hatan Torah, and Kol Ha-Ne’arim. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks also wrote about how inspiring the invention of Simhat Torah was. The invention of such a celebratory holiday during centuries of exile, tragedy, and oppression reflects the Jewish people’s resolve and dedication to the Torah and their identity.[11]
And yet, there is something tragic about Simhat Torah’s rise to prominence. While Simhat Torah is a beautiful holiday, it has come at the cost of giving substantive space to Shemini Atzeret. In a teshuva by the Reform movement, leaders of the movement stressed the benefits of returning to a one-day holiday system in the diaspora, stating, “Our synagogues are crowded on the eve of Simhat Torah for the hakafot, but empty on the eve of Shemini Atzeret.”[12] In Orthodox communities too, I think it’s fair to say the majority — if not all — of the attention on the final days of the High Holiday season is reserved for spectacular Simhat Torah programming and festivities. In my experience, little advice or encouragement is given on how to make the most of Shemini Atzeret beyond resting for the long night of hakafot that lies ahead.[13]
Many scholars assert that Simhat Torah’s rise to prominence represents not the replacement of Shemini Atzeret but rather the enhancement of Shemini Atzeret’s innate joyfulness. However, I would like to suggest that their approaches are based on readings of popular midrashic parables that conflate two potentially distinct emotional experiences as a single form of joy. I offer instead a reading that makes space for the powerful experience of intimate connection — to the divine and to each other — that Shemini Atzeret can offer.
Shemini Atzeret as Extended Celebration
Without any explicit Biblical justification, rabbinic tradition has described the purpose and atmosphere of Shemini Atzeret in a plethora of ways. And while these texts predate the advent of Simhat Torah, many of the interpretations of Shemini Atzeret offered in works like Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, Pesikta Rabbati, and the Gemara can easily be seen as precursors to what would eventually become the jubilant Simhat Torah experiences we associate the season with today. In tractate Sukkah 55b we read:
Rabbi Elazar said: These seventy bulls [that are sacrificed as additional offerings over the seven days of Sukkot], to what do they correspond? They correspond to the seventy nations. Why is a single bull [sacrificed on the Eighth Day of Assembly]? It corresponds to the singular nation, Israel. A parable: A king of flesh and blood who said to his servants: Prepare me a great feast. On the last day, he said to his beloved servant: Prepare me a small feast so that I can derive pleasure from you.
After seven days of Sukkot full of sacrifices that Rabbi Elazar understands to be representative of the nations of the world, God’s prescription of a simpler sacrificial service on Shemini Atzeret is an invitation to a more exclusive experience between the Jewish people, represented by the single bull of the Shemini Atzeret service, and God. In Rashi’s commentary on this Gemara, he asserts that God prefers the sacrifices of Shemini Atzeret to any of the sacrifices brought on Sukkot: “I (God) don’t benefit or relax from theirs [sacrifices for the nations of the world], but rather yours [sacrifices for the Jewish people].” A version of this parable is preserved in the midrashic work, Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, the only difference being that the parable is attributed to Rabbi Pinhas ben Hama and Rabbi Berekhia in the Pesikta. Another passage in Pesikta de-Rav Kahana (28:1) sees Shemini Atzeret as an opportunity to celebrate God in a way that stands in contrast to the celebrations of the other nations of the world.
It is the way of the nations of the earth when Thou increasest holidays for them, that they eat, drink ,and carouse and attend their theaters and circuses and provoke Thee…But it is the way of Israel when Thou increasest holidays for them that they eat, drink, and rejoice and attend synagogues and schools and increase the number of prayers and offerings…
These texts interpret Shemini Atzeret through the lens of its sacrificial service and accompanying festivities. The holiday is an opportunity for an additional sacrifice, serving as an extension of the ongoing celebrations of Sukkot with a more exclusive guest list. Furthermore, in tractate Sukkah, the Mishnah claims there is a commandment to be “Be-Simhah,” joyful, on Shemini Atzeret by eating the meat of the offering brought on the afternoon of the last day of Sukkot. The Gemara (Sukkah 48a) derives this principle from Sukkot’s description in Devarim.
As the Sages taught that the verse states with regard to Sukkot: “And you shall be altogether joyful” (Deuteronomy 16:15). The verse comes to include the evenings of the last day of the Festival…I include the evenings of the last day of the Festival, before which there is a day of rejoicing, as it is reasonable that the rejoicing should continue, and I exclude the evenings of the first day of the Festival, before which there is not a day of rejoicing, as there is no obligation to sacrifice offerings on the afternoon preceding the Festival.
If the verse is assumed to be including an additional day in the injunction to be joyful, the Talmud asserts that the logical conclusion would be that the evening following the celebratory offerings brought in the afternoon on the final day of Sukkot was the intended day. While this interpretation highlights the presence of sacrificial meat on the evening of Shemini Atzeret as an impetus for celebration, it’s also an accurate reflection of human nature. Shemini Atzeret comes at the end of Sukkot and is the culmination of the grand celebrations and Simhot Beit Ha-Shoeva of Sukkot, and that kind of joy doesn’t just disappear. Naturally, some of that joy would linger in the hearts of Jews, even as Sukkot concludes and Shemini Atzeret begins.
Considering these presentations of Shemini Atzeret as a holiday defined by the joy of sacrificial services and the aftermath of Sukkot’s celebrations, scheduling a holiday like Simhat Torah on Shemini Atzeret isn’t surprising. The Vilna Gaon reportedly reached untold heights of joy on Shemini Atzeret because he saw it as the happiest day of the year.[14] Rambam wrote, “[In contrast,] anyone who lowers himself and thinks lightly of his person in these situations is [truly] a great person, worthy of honor, who serves God out of love,” and scolded anyone who felt they were above such celebrations.[15] According to the Mahzor Vitry, the deliberate selection of Shemini Atzeret for the completion of the Torah by communities in the diaspora was done to maximize a sense of extreme joy associated with Shemini Atzeret.[16] In the 20th century, Herman Wouk described Shemini Atzeret as a day that had “become one of the merriest in the Jewish calendar… The essence everywhere is the same: excitement, music, joking, joy within the usually solemn precincts of worship.”[17] However, there are other interpretations of Shemini Atzeret that can offer a different vision of what our experiences of the final day of the High Holiday season can be like.
Shemini Atzeret as Longing
In the holiday’s description in Vayikra, medieval commentators like the Hizkuni (on 23:36) offer an alternative parable to describe Shemini Atzeret:
“It is a day of solemn gathering; It is a day of special assembly;” this is a parable describing a king whose children came to visit him for the first time; at that time the king said to them: “when are you going to visit me again?” they said to him: “in about a couple of months.” Thereupon the king took his leave of them. When the children came again to see their father the king, he asked again when they would come to see him again. When they said that they would come again in about four months, the king again thanked them for their visit and bid them farewell. When this story repeated itself a third time and on that occasion the children told him that they would not visit him again until after about seven months, the king begged them to delay their departure for at least one additional day. They agreed and did so. He gave them a special blessing for having spent the extra time with him. This parable is supposed to explain why there is no day called Atzeret after Passover and after Shavuot, but only after Sukkot, seeing that it is over six months until the next Passover. The reason there is no pilgrimage festival during the winter is to save the people having to travel to Jerusalem during the inclement winter months.[18]
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana preserves similar versions of this parable in the name of Rabbi Levi,[19] while Shir HaShirim Rabbah attributes a similar parable to Rabbi Joshua ben Levi.
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: By rights, the Eighth Day of Assembly should have followed Sukkot after an interval of fifty days, as Pentecost follows Passover. But since at the Eighth Day of Assembly summer passes into autumn, the time is not suitable for traveling. God was like a king who had several married daughters, some living nearby, while others were a long way away. One day they all came to visit their father the king. Said the king, “Those who are living nearby are able to travel at any time. But those who live at a distance are not able to travel at any time. So while they are all here with me, let us make one feast for all of them and rejoice with them.”[20]
These texts interpret Shemini Atzeret through the lens of its temporal position in the Hebrew calendar, rather than its sacrificial service. In comparison to other holidays that require congregation in Jerusalem, the length of time between Sukkot and the next occasion for aliyah la-regal is much longer, prompting God to ask the Jewish people to stay for one more day, either because He is thoughtful enough to consider the burden that returning for another occasion in the upcoming rainy season would be, or because He is unable to say goodbye. Rashi offers a more emotional version of this parable that imagines God as saying “Children, I beg of you, stay one day more with me; it is so hard for me to part with you!”[21] This approach to Shemini Atzeret feels different than the approach highlighted in the Gemara. There, the emphasis is on the ongoing sacrifices and festivities as an expression of God’s affection, while these King-Children parables emphasize God’s emotional distress as He prematurely longs for the Jewish people as an expression of His affection.
One may argue — and many have — that our collective celebration of the Torah is actually an expression of this mutual longing and love between us and God, conflating both of these approaches. Rabbi Moshe Taragin, for example, presents an interpretation of Simhat Torah as the human response to God’s divine invitation on Shemini Atzeret. “Hoisting a sefer Torah to Heaven became a declaration to Heaven – we survived and the Torah You delivered to us, preserved us…You delivered Your word to us and for over two millennia it has protected our faith and preserved our relationship, even without our private rendezvous in the Mikdash. A chag originally mandated in Heaven became amplified on Earth. Divine gesture transformed into a human anthem of Jewish courage.”[22] Rashi asserts that both parables in his commentary on the verses describing Shemini Atzeret are expressing the same sense of affection.[23] However, these separate groups of passages aren’t necessarily speaking to the same experience, and I don’t see the emotional experience presented by the King-Children parables as comparable to the emotional experiences described in the other set of parables about extended sacrifices and celebrations. The Bechor Shor even claims that the reduction in sacrifices was explicitly meant to minimize the burden of sacrificial obligations and deemphasize the celebratory sacrificial service, a perspective on the holiday that’s also found in the Pesikta Rabbati. There, God is described as saying, “But let this day be a day of rejoicing solely for you and Me. I shall not ask you for too burdensome an offering — only one bullock and one ram.”[24] There is a difference between extending a party to enjoy with loved ones and begging them to stay because you can’t handle their absence. While the former feels more synonymous with our extravagant Simhat Torah celebrations, the latter feels foreign to them, describing a joyful experience of connection that manifests in experiencing the quiet, comforting embrace of a loved one.
There is also a sense of unease that can accompany one of Shemini Atzeret’s central rituals-the prayer for rain- for which quiet, comforting religious and interpersonal experiences would be an appropriate remedy. Rain is a necessity for human survival, but it’s also a natural element fraught with uncertainty and danger. No story depicts the power and uncertainty of rain more poignantly than the story of Honi Ha-Me’agel in Ta’anit. The Mishnah records that Honi Ha-Me’agel, a righteous man in the generation of the Temple, was called upon to pray that God relieve the Jewish people of a drought. However, rather than simply pray for divine mercy, Honi demanded that God heed their request by restraining himself to the confines of a circle until rain began to fall, only for a dangerous amount of rain to fall and for the Jewish people to beg him to ask God to reduce the amount of rain.
Beyond the subject of praying for rain, this story’s details seem to be drawing on the rain rituals and emotional themes of divine closeness associated with Sukkot/Shemini Atzeret. In the story, Honi uses a circle to demand rain from God, in a manner similar to the circles we create while circling the bimah, reciting Hoshanot prayers for rain and abundance over Sukkot. The Jewish people also congregate in the Temple for sanctuary, but out of fear rather than out of love and celebration. And at the end of the story, Shimon ben Shetach said he normally excommunicated people who made such audacious demands of God as Honi did, but admitted that he couldn’t excommunicate Honi because there was something different about the close relationship he had with God.
Were you not Ḥoni, I would have decreed that you be ostracized, but what can I do to you? You nag [mitḥatei] God and He does your bidding, like a son who nags his father and his father does his bidding without reprimand.[25]
In a way, Honi’s story is a perfect pairing with Shemini Atzeret because it’s a story about what happens when the ways we normally access God’s closeness don’t work. While the theme of divine closeness is at the center of this story in Honi’s relationship with God, that theme shares space with a recognition that our prayers for rain can have consequences-consequences that celebrations may obscure but that understandably cause distress for those who recognize them.
Allowing for a reading of these midrashim that doesn’t reflect the kind of loud singing and dancing commonly associated with Simhat Torah can also be more appropriate for members of our communities concerned about the challenges that await them in the new year. Shemini Atzeret is the finale of the High Holiday season, serving as a boundary between the ecstasy of the holidays and the mundanity of the rest of our lives, and while some optimistically rejoice at the possibilities of the new year ahead, others are frozen by its uncertainty. What they need — what will bring them joy — won’t be a dance but a hug.
Conclusion
Shemini Atzeret serves as the end of a long period of extreme togetherness with our families and the Divine, and the beginning of a great “distance” between us, our loved ones, and God. It’s a time of restraint and reflection, and the parable quoted by the Hizkuni encourages us to recognize that distance and cleave to God. We might also relate to God’s sense of premature longing in the longing we might have for the people in our lives who aren’t normally with us but come home for the holidays and will be leaving soon. The holiday also offers those who recite Yizkor a chance to contemplate the memories of the departed with an intensity that can be difficult to access normally. It might not be a coincidence that the Gemara’s source for the mitzvah of dwelling in the Sukkah “day and night” for seven days is drawn from the seven days the Kohanim spent in the Tent of Meeting in preparation for the inauguration of the Mishkan, only for the eighth day to transform into a day of solemn mourning for the sudden death of Aaron’s sons when Aaron objected to Moshe’s attempts at proceeding with the inauguration festivities.[26] It is an opportunity to treasure our memories and our loved ones for one more day, free from the distractions of extensive ritual obligations and mitzvot.
As Rabbi Sacks observed, Simhat Torah is a powerful expression of Jewish resilience under dreadful circumstances. But nonetheless, the vision of Shemini Atzeret presented here should not be lost in the balagan of Simhat Torah. Rabbi Soloveitchik argued that the fact that the simhah of Shemini Atzeret is defined by the Talmud as the overflow of joy from the Sukkot sacrifices brought earlier in the afternoon implies that while simhah is present on the evening of Shemini Atzeret, it’s not intrinsic to the day itself. Furthermore, as that simhah fades the following day, normal practices associated with ritual simhah like eating meat and drinking wine might not be obligatory the following day.[27] Shemini Atzeret is a blank slate, created with the intention that we fill it with meaningful experiences that will prepare us for whatever lies outside the comfort of Jerusalem and the embrace of our families in the new year. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch described the deeper significance of Shemini Atzeret as follows:
On the eighth day, the sounds of the public rejoicing of the Sukkot festival cease. No longer do we contemplate in a state of rapture the distant future of all mankind’s salvation. Rather, we quietly assemble before God before we return to the reality of the still unrefined, imperfect present. Only then can we return to the service of God of everyday life, for our consciousness has been enriched and elevated by the whole cycle of the festivals, and the spirit that inspired us when we were before God will not depart from us in all the trials that we are likely to face.[28]
For some of us, what we need isn’t a boisterous party but a quieter experience of longing, spending quality time, taking a walk, or even learning with a friend like we do on the other atzeret in the Hebrew calendar, Shavuot.[29] I fondly recall one Simhat Torah when my brother and I had the thought that if this holiday is about celebrating the Torah, we should be learning it too, and promptly left hakafot to learn together.
In the month of Adar, the Talmud implores us to increase in Simhah, but halakhic authorities like the Rambam and the Shulhan Arukh don’t codify any methods for doing so like they do for the month of Av, a month when we are implored to increase in sadness. According to the Nimukei Orah Hayyim, “The reason for the omission of the above rule in the Rambam and Shulhan Arukh is due to the fact that happiness has no concrete guideline and depends on the nature of the individual.”[30] His observation makes it all the more reasonable to recognize the validity of both experiences of joy as appropriate approaches to these final days of the holiday season. Doing so doesn’t mean we’re being “proud” or “haughty”[31] like the Rambam asserts — it just means acknowledging other, equally meaningful and powerful ways to meet the moment that might be more appropriate and effective methods of preparing ourselves for the new year. There is joy in dancing with a loved one, as well as in their intimate embrace. When we love someone, we shouldn’t miss the opportunity for a proper goodbye, holding them quietly and thoughtfully for a few seconds longer — a hug that lingers — not because we don’t know when to let go, but because we don’t want to.[32] Shemini Atzeret is an eternal reminder that cherishing is holy.
[1] Leviticus 23:36.
[2] Numbers 29:35-39.
[3] Megillah 29b.
[4] Ezra Fleischer, “‘Simhat Torah in the Palestinian Festival Cycle” [Hebrew], Sinai 59, nos. 5-6 (1966): 211 (3 in the article’s internal pagination), https://www.academia.edu/38270087/Ezra_Fleischer_Simhat_Torah_in_the_Palestinian_Festival_Cycle_Sinai_vol_59_no_5_6_1966_209_227_Hebrew.
[5] This practice is also recorded in Megillah 31a.
[6] Avraham Yaari, Toldot Hag Simhat Torah [Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1964), 28. See also Kings I 8:65, Chronicles II 7:8-10
[7] Ibid., 37.
[8] Mahzor Vitry, “Laws of the Four Species,” sec. 385, Sefaria, https://www.sefaria.org/Machzor_Vitry%2C_Laws_of_the_Four_Species.385.
[9] Teshuvot Ha-Geonim 314.
[10] Benjamin of Tudela, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, trans. Marcus Nathan Adler (London: Henry Frowde, 1907), 98, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14981/14981-h/14981-h.htm.
[11] Jonathan Sacks, “Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah,” adapted from the introduction to The Koren Sacks Sukkot Mahzor, Rabbi Sacks Legacy, https://rabbisacks.org/ceremony-celebration-family-edition/shemini-atzeret-simchat-torah-family-edition/.
[12] Philip Sigal & Abraham J. Ehrlich, “A Responsum on Yom Tov Sheni Shel Galuyot,” Conservative Judaism 24: 2 (Winter 1970): 22–33. Accessible at https://www.massorti.com/son/documents/yom_tov_sheni_sigal_shuchat.pdf.
[13] The Koren Sukkot Mahzor does include an essay by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks presenting a very similar reading of Shemini Atzeret, but my impression is that it isn’t well known or paid much attention to. It is excellent.
[14] Ma’aseh Rav §233.
[15] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav 8:15.
[16] Mahzor Vitry, “Laws of the Four Species,” sec. 385, Sefaria, https://www.sefaria.org/Machzor_Vitry%2C_Laws_of_the_Four_Species.385.
[17] Herman Wouk, This is My God (Dell Publishing Co, 1959), 64.
[18] Hizkuni on Leviticus 23:36.
[19] Pesikta De-Rav Kahana, Piska 28:6.
[20] Shir HaShirim Rabbah 7:2.
[21] Rashi on Leviticus 23:36; The source of this statement is unknown. Ramban claims it is from Vayikra Rabbah, but it doesn’t appear in any versions that we currently possess. However, it seems like some kind of reformulation of the parable in the Pesikta.
[22] Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah: A Duet Between Hashem and Man, Rabbi Moshe Taragin, https://www.ou.org/holidays/shmini-atzeret-and-simchat-torah-a-duet-between-hashem-and-man/.
[23] Rashi on Numbers 29:35.
[24] Pesikta Rabbati 52:7.
[25] Ta’anit 3:8.
[26] Sukkah 43b.
[27] Hararei Kedem, Siman 150.
[28] Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Numbers 29:36-39.
[29] Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik even asserts that the real celebration of Simhat Torah is our excitement for dedicating ourselves to engaging with Torah in the new year. Hararei Kedem, Siman 156.
[30] Nimukei Orah Hayyim, Piskei Teshuvot, Chapter 686, fn. 17, paraphrased by Halachipedia, https://www.halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Simcha
[31] Ibid. Mishneh Torah, Laws of Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav 8:15.
[32] Anatomy of a Hug, A Kabbalistic Perspective on the Festival of Sukkot
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