There are a number of branches of Judaism. The Orthodox are very strict in exactly how they practice what they believe to be the requirements of their faith. If you have heard about Jews who will not even turn on a light or use a car or an elevator on the weekly Sabbath, they were likely members of this branch of Judaism.
Those who are part of the Conservative branch of Judaism are slightly less rigid in their practice, but still are very careful about such things as observing the Kosher laws regarding food, and not working on the Sabbath.
Those who are part of Reformed Judaism recognize very few strict requirements for daily living, and if they follow such practices as avoiding pork and shellfish, they may view their actions as merely part of a cultural way of life rather than as binding commandments from God.
Material in this series of articles on Jewish customs refers in particular to either Orthodox or Conservative Jewish practices. For simplicity, the customs are described as they are scheduled in Israel--outside that country, every annual holy day as described in the Bible (except for the "fast day" of Yom Kippur) is traditionally observed for two days in a row. For an explanation on the reasoning behind this practice, see:
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday0.htm
Leviticus 23:34-36, 39
Say to the Israelites: "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles [sukkot] begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.
"So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest.
Nehemiah 8:13-18
On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law. They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: "Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths"-as it is written. So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.
See the Scriptures for the Feast of Tabernacles collection for more verses related to this Feast.
The Hebrew term shemini atzeret as it is used in the Bible signifies the "eighth (shemini) [day] assembly (atzeret)."
Shemini Atzeret in the 1st Century
There are a number of customs related to the celebration of this annual Holy Day in the 21st century (see below) that have no roots in the first century. Neither the Talmud nor other early writings such as those of the first century historian Josephus record any elaborate traditions connected with this day in the same way traditions had developed around the observance of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) by the first century. The commandments in the Torah say little about this day other than that it should be a "commanded assembly" and a "day of rest." Numbers 29 gives details regarding the special sacrifices to be offered at the Temple on this eighth day.
It is specifically said to be separate and outside the seven-day Feast of Sukkot. And thus it is likely that the first century Jews took down their sukkahs ("tabernacles" as the King James Bible refers to these--see the articles What are Tabernacles? for more details) at the end of the seventh day, before the sun set and this Holy Day began. Such work would not have been permitted on the Holy Day itself. They would have then observed the ceremonial activities at the Temple on this eighth day before beginning final preparations for their return trips to their homes around the land of Israel, after the eighth day was officially over at sundown.
Shemini Atzeret in the 21st Century
It was almost a thousand years after the first century before the roots of the modern observances of this Holy Day began to take shape. Jewish communities throughout the world have since that time developed a variety of customs which have evolved over the centuries and eventually blended together into a cluster of traditions which characterize the day.
The most significant aspect of this modern observance is the collection of customs called Simhat Torah--the "Rejoicing of (or "with") the Torah." (Torah: in this context, the Hebrew word indicates the collection of five documents of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy, collected in one scroll.) In the land of Israel, these traditions are attached directly to the eighth day itself. There the title Simhat Torah is connected in such a way to the day that the day itself, not just the customs, may be referred to interchangeably by the title Simhat Torah or by Shemini Atzeret.
In lands outside of Israel, most Jews observe Shemini Atzeret for two days, the "eighth" and "ninth" days. (See http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday0.htm for an explanation of this practice.) In these situations, the Simhat Torah customs are attached only to the ninth day. In this case, the eighth day is thus referred to as Shemini Atzeret, and the ninth day is usually called Simhat Torah.
The Simhat Torah customs have developed around the cycle of readings from the Torah typical in Jewish synagogues. Beginning with Genesis 1:1, there is a traditionally-prescribed set of sequential readings from the Torah that is followed every week on the weekly Sabbath. In recent centuries, this practice has been standardized so that a few chapters are read each week at a pace which falls such that the last chapter of Deuteronomy is read on Simhat Torah, and immediately after that, Genesis 1:1 is read, ending one cycle and immediately beginning anew on the cycle for the coming year.
Simchat Torah, 1996: Boris Arenghauz, Tzafon Gallery, Haifa, Israel
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday6.htm
This completion of the readings is a time of great celebration. There are processions around the synagogue carrying Torah scrolls and plenty of high-spirited singing and dancing in the synagogue with the Torahs. Drinking is also common during this time; in fact, a traditional source recommends performing the priestly blessing earlier than usual in the service, to make sure the kohanim [priestly descendants of Aaron] are not drunk when the time comes! As many people as possible are given the honor of an aliyah (reciting a blessing over the Torah reading); in fact, even children are called for an aliyah blessing on Simchat Torah. In addition, as many people as possible are given the honor of carrying a Torah scroll in these processions. Children do not carry the scrolls (they are much too heavy!), but often follow the procession around the synagogue, sometimes carrying small toy Torahs (stuffed plush toys or paper scrolls).
In some synagogues, confirmation ceremonies or ceremonies marking the beginning of a child's Jewish education are held at this time.
The mention of an aliyah (a Hebrew word which means literally, "called up"--in other words, in this circumstance, called up to the front of the synagogue to the platform where the Torah scrolls are read) for children usually is referring to a special ceremony:
Another custom is to call all the boys (in some Modern Orthodox and Conservative congregations, all the children) to an aliyah, called Kol HaNaarim (all the children) towards the end of Deuteronomy. In many Orthodox congregations, it is customary for the congregation (or as many as can fit) to hold a Talit [prayer shawl] (or several) over the heads of the children for the congregation to bless the children by reciting (in Hebrew) a verse from Jacob's blessing to Ephraim and Manashe (Manassas), Genesis 48:16:
- May the angel who redeems me from all evil bless the children, and may my name be declared among them, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they teem like fish for multitude within the land.
The blessing of the children is omitted from Conservative Judaism's Sim Shalom prayer book, although some Conservative congregations still perform it.
Not all Simhat Torah traditions are serious:
Wikipedia article: ibid.
Both the evening and morning services on Simchat Torah are unconventionally joyous, and humorous deviations from synagogue decorum are often tolerated. A variety of traditional mischief is performed in many congregations to increase the interest of the children, often abetted by some of the adults. In addition to the old standbye of underage drinking, Trickster practices include spraying water on the Hazzan (reader) during the prayer for rain, shouting chants at various times in the service for no particular reason, reciting prayers in funny accents, tying the fringes of the Hazzan's Talit to some suitable post during a part of the service when he is not supposed to move, singing parodies of songs, stealing and hiding various items of various officious people, and much more.
For detailed overviews of the Jewish observance of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, including explanations for the traditional customs, see the material at the jewfaq.org and Wikidpedia.org links excerpted above. The material in this Times of Refreshing overview was adapted in part from these sources.
Transliteration note:
The appearance of the Hebrew alphabet has nothing in common with the English alphabet. A number of Hebrew letters have sounds that are not distinctly connected to separate sounds in English. And even Hebrew itself is spoken in a wide variety of dialects depending on the cultural background of the speaker. Therefore attempts to transliterate (reproduce the sounds of a word or phrase in letters from one language to another) are always speculative at best. Even within the English-speaking community of Jews, there are wide variations in the way that Hebrew words are transliterated into English, with no central standard to draw from. In the articles in this series on Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs, as well as throughout this Times of Refreshing website in general, in order to follow some sort of systematic way of transliterating, an attempt has been made to choose those transliterations that are most typical on the Internet. For instance, the Hebrew term for the Feast of Tabernacles is transliterated on some websites as Sukkot (1,160,000), others as Sukkos (119,000), others as Sukkoth (76,600), still others as Succot (128,000) or Succoth (162,000). In this case, the most typical choice is obvious, so Sukkot is the spelling of choice on this site. In other cases, the variations in spelling are much closer in numbers, and an arbitrary decision has had to be made.
