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
Torah In The Winter
On Simchat Torah we read Vezot Haberachah in conclusion of the annual Torah-reading cycle. It is the day of rejoicing the Torah, but not of receiving it.
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Moses’ Choice
Moses’ breaking of the tablets was an act endorsed by G-d. How is the breaking of the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people an achievement of Moses?
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Simchat Torah: Absolute Passion in the Face of Complacency
As we enter the climax of the High Holiday season we are challenged to ask ourselves: What do we stand for, what do we fight for? Movingly discussed here…
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Absorbing The Joy: The Significance of Shemini Atzeret
Sukkot is followed by a day in which our joy reaches its peak and the holiday that preceded this day is internalized.
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Simchat-Torah: From Chickens to Vegetables
As we move right along from fauna to flora, from swirling chickens before Yom Kippur to thrusting shrubs on Sukkot, the holidays have an organic nature…
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A Non-Parting Party
Our sages explain the significance of Shemini Atzeret. Shemini Atzeret is the one-day festival that immediately follows the seven-day festival of Sukkot.
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Simchat Torah: Through Water and Fire
The joy and the tears all dissolved into one transcendent dance; a dance that captured the essence of joy and pain, ecstasy and agony – the indestructible core of life itself.
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The Four Species: Four Mysteries of King Solomon Explained
“And you shall take for yourselves… the splendid fruit of a tree, fronds of dates, the branch of a thick-leafed tree and aravot of the river.” King Solomon, the Midrash tells us, was mystified by this verse.
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Dance Away
Is dancing on Simchat Torah in oblivion of the world a form of escapism, or is it in fact a different means of experiencing reality?
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60 Days Daily Audio Journey
Follow along with the Meaningful Life Center’s NEW daily audio series by Rabbi Simon Jacobson: 60 Day Journey Toward Hope, Renewal, and Joy.
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