Simchat Torah

Immediately following Sukkot, Simchat Torah is the last of the major Jewish holidays of autumn, creating a bookend with Rosh Hashanah.

As you may know, each week in Jewish synagogues around the world, we read a portion of the Torah in sequential order. The holiday marks the completion of the final book of the Torah, ready then to start over from the beginning. To do this, we unroll the entire Torah around the sanctuary, and everyone has an opportunity to hold it and see the scroll.

As part of the Simchat Torah celebration, all the Torah scrolls in a congregation are removed from the ark and paraded around the synagogue. The joy felt during Simchat Torah radiates even through the name itself - Simcha, meaning "joy" in Hebrew, combined with the completion of the Torah!

If there aren't events showing below, we haven't yet planned this holiday's programming. Please check back soon.