Shemini Atzeret () is a Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which usually coincides with late September or early October. Shemini Atzeret immediately follows the seven-day festival of Sukkot, one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals of Judaism. The holiday's name identifies it as an assembly held on the "eighth day". Although closely connected with Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret is regarded as a separate holy day rather than simply the final day of Sukkot. This combination of continuity and independence shapes its observance.
In the Jewish diaspora, the observance of Shemini Atzeret is complicated by the principle of (), the additional festival day instituted by Chazal (; ), the rabbinic sages of the Talmud, for Jewish communities outside the Land of Israel. It is observed for Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret.
Shemini Atzeret is consequently observed for two days in the diaspora. The first day retains certain practices associated with Sukkot, despite Shemini Atzeret's status as a separate festival, creating questions about which observances belong to each holiday. Simchat Torah, whose observance developed later, is now the most distinctive feature of the second day. In Israel, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are celebrated together on a single day, and the two names are often used interchangeably. In the diaspora, the first day is commonly called Shemini Atzeret, while the second is called Simchat Torah.
Karaite Jews and Samaritans also observe Shemini Atzeret, as they do all biblical holidays. However, due to differences in Hebrew calendar calculations, it may occur on a different day from the conventional Jewish celebration. Karaites and Samaritans do not include the rabbinic innovation of Simchat Torah in their observance of the day and do not observe a second day of any holiday in their diasporas.
Biblical origins According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, () is the name given to the day in four different locations in the Hebrew Bible., , , and It is not mentioned in Deuteronomy 16, and is found only in those parts of the Bible known as the Priestly Code. Like (),, , and denotes "day of assembly". It is derived from ("to hold back" or "to keep in"); hence, the name given to the seventh day of Pesach.See Owing, however, to the fact that both Shemini Atzeret and the seventh day of Pesach are described as , the name was taken to mean "the closing festival".
Significance
Shemini: "Eighth Day" of Sukkot When Shemini Atzeret is mentioned in the Torah (known in Greek as the Pentateuch), it is always mentioned in the context of the seven-day festival of Sukkot: the holiday Shemini Atzeret immediately follows. For example, Sukkot is described in detail in Leviticus 23:33–43.See , with Shemini Atzeret mentioned in verses 36 and 39, and , with Shemini Atzeret featured in verses 35–38. Shemini Atzeret is mentioned in only verses 36 and 39. The Hebrew word means eighth. This refers to the date of Shemini Atzeret relative to Sukkot; it falls on the latter's eighth day.In the terminology of the modern Hebrew calendar, Sukkot occurs on 15–21 Tishrei and Shemini Atzeret on 22 Tishrei. It is often assumed that Shemini Atzeret is simply the eighth day of Sukkot. That characterization, however, is only partly accurate.
The celebration of Sukkot is characterized by the use of the () and the Four Species (i.e., the tree branches and fruit used in the celebration).These are known as the lulav (branches of the palm, myrtle and willow trees) and etrog (fruit of the citron). However, the Torah specifies using those objects for only seven days, not eight. The observance of Shemini Atzeret, therefore, differs in substantial ways from that of Sukkot. The Talmud, in tractate Sukkah 48a, describes Shemini Atzeret as "a Festival in and of itself" (). The Talmud describes six ways in which Shemini Atzeret differs from Sukkot. Four of these relate principally to the Temple service, but two others remain relevant to the modern celebration of the holiday. First, the blessing known as is recited on the night of Shemini Atzeret just as it is on the first night of all other major Jewish holidays. Second, the holiday is referred to distinctively as "Shemini Atzeret" and not as "Sukkot" in the prayer service.
Immediately following that discussion, however, the Talmud describes Shemini Atzeret as the "end holiday of the festival [of Sukkot]". The context here is that the Sukkot obligations of joy and recitation of Hallel (Psalms 113–118) last eight days. This is also why one of Sukkot's liturgical aliases, "season of our rejoicing" (), continues to be used to describe Shemini Atzeret—and, by extension, Simchat Torah—in the liturgy.
Atzeret: A day for assembly—or pause Spiritually, Shemini Atzeret can also be seen to "guard the seven days of Sukkot". The Hebrew word () is generally translated as "assembly", but shares a linguistic root with the word (), meaning "stop" or "tarry". Shemini Atzeret is characterized as a day when the Jewish people "tarries" to spend an additional day with God at the end of Sukkot. Rashi, commenting on Leviticus 23:36, cites a parable in which a king invites his children to dine with him for several days. When the time comes for them to depart, he asks them to remain for one more day because their departure is difficult for him.
According to Rabbi Elazar, the seventy bulls offered during Sukkot correspond to the nations of the world, whereas the single bull offered on Shemini Atzeret represents the Jewish people. On this basis, Sukkot is understood as having a universal dimension, while Shemini Atzeret is understood as a more intimate celebration of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg offers a different but related interpretation based on the root . In his interpretation, the final day provides an opportunity to reflect on the heightened religious experience of the preceding holy days and retain its influence throughout the coming year.Quoted in .
Relationship to the preceding holy days Shemini Atzeret immediately follows Hoshana Rabbah (), the seventh and final day of Sukkot. Although Hoshana Rabbah is part of (), the intermediate days of Sukkot, it is distinguished by additional prayers and rituals. During the morning service, , worshippers recite () while making seven circuits, or (), around the synagogue's pulpit, the (). The practice commemorates the Temple rite in which worshippers circled the altar () seven times on the seventh day of Sukkot.
The processions of Hoshana Rabbah are distinct from the associated with Simchat Torah, during which congregants process or dance with (). In Israel, Simchat Torah coincides with Shemini Atzeret, whereas in the diaspora it is observed on the second festival day. In Ashkenazic practice, the Torah scrolls are removed from the Torah ark () during the evening and morning services and carried around the .
By the late Second Temple period, Shavuot was also known as , an Aramaic form related to the Hebrew . Josephus identifies Shavuot by the term in Antiquities of the Jews. The name is also used for Shavuot in the Talmud. Rabbinic tradition accordingly associates Shavuot with the conclusion of Passover, comparable to the relationship between Shemini Atzeret and Sukkot.
A midrashic interpretation compares the interval between Passover and Shavuot with the immediate succession of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret. According to this interpretation, Shemini Atzeret follows Sukkot directly so that pilgrims would not have to make another journey to Jerusalem during the rainy season.
In a later interpretive tradition, Hoshana Rabbah extends the penitential progression that begins with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Abudarham describes Hoshana Rabbah as the day on which the sealing sought on Yom Kippur is confirmed, a conception reflected in the day's adoption of several liturgical features associated with the High Holy Days (). Although the Mishnah treats Sukkot as a time of judgment for rainfall, the conception of Hoshana Rabbah as the culmination of the judgment of individuals developed more fully in medieval Jewish tradition.
Evolution of observances and customs
The Torah explicitly mentions Shemini Atzeret three times, all in the context of Sukkot. Only two observances are specified for Shemini Atzeret. One relates to the Temple service, and is not relevant to modern observance. The other is the avoidance of "servile labor" (melechet avodah), as on other major Jewish holidays. (See also Jewish holidays — "Work" on Sabbath and biblical holidays.) No other specific rituals or ritual objects are specified, making Shemini Atzeret unique in that regard among the festivals mentioned in the Torah.
Two observances of Shemini Atzeret are mentioned in the Prophets and Writings portions of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The first occurred at the time of the dedication of the First Temple by Solomon. and The second came at the time of the Jews' return from the Babylonian exile. In both cases, however, the mention is limited to the observation that an "assembly [atzeret] was held on the eighth day".
According to the Apocryphal Second Book of Maccabees, the first celebration of Hanukkah mimicked that of Sukkot, which the Maccabees and their followers had been unable to celebrate earlier that year. However, the only allusion to Shemini Atzeret in that narrative is that the Hanukkah celebration was fixed for eight days—in remembrance of both the seven days of Sukkot and the additional day of Shemini Atzeret.
Like most Jewish holidays of Biblical origin, Shemini Atzeret is observed for one day within the Land of Israel, and traditionally for two days outside Israel. Reform and Reconstructionist communities generally celebrate this and most Biblical holidays for one day, even outside Israel. The second day observed outside Israel is called Simchat Torah (see next section).
Simchat Torah
The practice of reading the Ve-zot ha-berakhah, the last of the weekly Torah portions on Shemini Atzeret is documented in the Talmud. That Talmudic source does not refer to the occasion as "Simchat Torah", but simply as [the second day of] Shemini Atzeret, and it is also not clear from that source if it is read as the last Torah portion (as is our custom) or as a special Festival reading.
The Simchat Torah celebration of today is of later rabbinic and customary origin. The day (but not the name) is mentioned in the siddur of Rav Amram Gaon (9th century CE); the assignment of the first chapter of Joshua as the haftarah of the day is mentioned there. The reading of the first section of Genesis immediately upon the conclusion of the last section of Deuteronomy—as well as the name "Simchat Torah"—can be found in the 14th century halachic work Arba'ah Turim. By the 16th century CE, most of the features of the modern celebration of Simchat Torah were in place in some form. The Simchat Torah celebration is now the most distinctive feature of this festival—so much so that in the Land of Israel, where Shemini Atzeret lasts only one day, it is more common to refer to the day as "Simchat Torah" than as "Shemini Atzeret".See, for example,