Celebrating the Torah

As the High Holy Days come to a close, Jews around the world spend one last day in an intense celebration with God before resuming their normal routines.

Simchat Torah, a day whose name means “Rejoicing in the Torah,” is unlike any other observance we experience in synagogue.

As Yael Eckstein describes in this podcast, the entire congregation—from the youngest children to the oldest adults—takes out the Torah scroll and joins in a never-ending circle of dancing and singing. The celebration marks the completion of reading through the Torah, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, before the reading cycle begins again.

But the lesson of Simchat Torah lasts all year  ...