Simchat Torah
Dancing! Singing! Epic Torah readings! Simchat Torah is time of mystical, transcendent fun. Uncover the deepest meanings of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret.
Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah 2024: Wednesday Evening, October 23-25
The joy of Sukkot reaches its peak during its final days. At the conclusion of the Torah reading cycle, we dance with the Torah during Hakafot. These autumn festivals are a celebration of reuniting with the Creator and transcending our personal boundaries. During Simchat Torah, dancing is a form of repentance — we return to our purest selves through uninhibited joy. Discover the mystical, Kabbalistic meaning of these joyous days in the Meaningful Life Center’s archives.
MP3 Class: Sukkot and Simchat Torah – Joy
The Marriage Contract: Moses’ Loyalty to the Jewish People
The Torah considers Moses’ highest virtue: his unequivocal loyalty to the Jewish people, a loyalty even greater than his loyalty to the Torah.
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Scrolled: Equality on Simchat Torah
On Simchat Torah we are all equal: equal in our inability to fathom the essence of Torah, and equal in our intrinsic and inviolable connection to it.
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Michoel’s Merchandise
At a Simchat Torah gathering, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem told his disciples this story.
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Intuition: The Romantic Art of Repenting
For it is with our observance of the customs that we express the depth of our love for G-d. The biblical commandments might be compared to the explicitly expressed desires between two people bound in marriage.
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Fire: A Narrative by Rabbi Pinchas Reizes of Shklov
Rabbi Pinchas Reizes of Shklov tells a story of a miracle on Simchat Torah.
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Daughters Near and Far: The Atzeret of Sukkot
Our receiving of the Torah on Shavuot is the “Atzeret” of our liberation from slavery seven weeks earlier.
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Dancing with the Torah
Dancing with the Torah caused the Torah to become deeply embedded into my life, part of the weave and warp of my being.
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A Shattering Reunion
It is told of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev that one year after Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, he stayed up all night waiting to put on tefillin.
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The Marriage Contract
Breaking the tablets symbolized a severing of the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people, an act which constitutes Moses’ greatest achievement
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