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	Simhat Torah or Simchat Torah (Jewish) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Simhat Torah (Tishri 23) literally means "rejoicing in the Torah" and represents the culmination of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.
		During the evening of Simhat Torah, the last chapter of Devarim (Deuteronomy) is read aloud by the Bridegroom of the Law.
		Simhat Torah is celebrated concurrently with Shemini Atzeret by most Reform Jews.
	www3.kumc.edu /diversity/ethnic_relig/simhat.html (147 words)

	BJews.com
		Simhat Torah is different from other Jewish festivals in that the synagogue is the focal point rather than the home.
		Simhat Torah is an outstanding example of a comparatively late custom that became so entrenched in Jewish life as to be considered a major celebration.
		On Simhat Torah it is customary to take all the Torah scrolls out of the ark and carry them in procession around the synagogue seven times.
	www.bukharianjews.com /print.php?sid=50 (632 words)

	l e a r n @ j t s PARASHAH Simhat Torah 5761 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		The ritual statement of this unity is the festival of Simhat Torah.
		Alongside the Written Torah of Moses, unfolded and accumulated the Oral Torah of Israel, befitting the settings and sensibilities, the dilemmas and disputes of generations of Jewish interpreters, who coupled ingenuity with reverence and freedom with fidelity.
		Thus Simhat Torah, which is the latest of the traditional Jewish holidays (not found in either the Tanakh or the Talmud), celebrates a religious culture founded on the plasticity of the written word.
	learn.jtsa.edu /topics/parashah/5761/simhattorah.shtml (1007 words)

	Torah on Encyclopedia.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		The Torah is believed by Orthodox Jews to have been handed down to Moses on Mt. Sinai and transmitted by him to the Jews.
		The Torah begins with a description of the origin of the universe and ends on the word Israel, after the story of the death of Moses, just before the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites.
		The ceremony of the removing of the Torah scrolls for lecture purposes during Sukot festival in Moscow synagogue.
	www.encyclopedia.com /html/t/torah.asp (653 words)

	United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
		Simhat Torah -- which this year will be celebrated on Wednesday evening, September 27, and Thursday, September 28 -- is a day for unbounded rejoicing.
		Even when the adults take turns carrying the Torah around the synagogue, they are often unsmiling, fulfilling an obligation rather than savoring this choice moment when they may express pride and pleasure in their heritage.
		Simhat Torah is more than the end of the Fall holiday season; and it does more than simply mark the end and beginning of the annual cycle of Torah reading.
	www.uscj.org /publicaffairs/holiday/simhat.htm (888 words)

	Shmini Atzeret - Simhat Torah
		On Simhat Torah, all the Torah scrolls are removed from the Ark, and carried around the central platform in seven hakkafot.
		Although the custom of hakkafot on Simhat Torah is of rather late origin, dating from about the last third of the 16th century (in the city of Safed), the practice of hakkafot goes back much further.
		Although a child under the age of thirteen is not generally called to the Torah for an aliyah, on Simhat Torah there developed the custom of kol ha-ne'arim which means "all the children," and refers to the fact that all of the children in the congregation are called up collectively and given a joint aliyah.
	www.jafi.org.il /education/festivls/tish/37.html (2035 words)

	Jewish Community Online (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Simhat Torah immediately follows Hoshana Rabba, loudly proclaiming the intrinsic grandeur of each and every Jew.
		In this sense, Simhat Torah is radically different from Shavuot, when we stay up all night studying Torah.
		On Simhat Torah every Jew gets a hakafa, a chance to dance with the Torah, every Jew makes a blessing on it; even children are called up.
	jewish.com /holidays/simart1.shtml (924 words)

	l e a r n @ j t s PARASHAH COMMENTARY Simhat Torah 5764 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		By the Middle Ages, a special festival had emerged to mark the completion of the cycle called Simhat Torah, which is little more than a doubling of Shemini Atzeret, the final day of the fall harvest festival season.
		Simhat Torah points to the momentous shift form sacred space to sacred book that Judaism negotiated after the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 C.E. The void came to be filled by the synagogue, with Scripture serving as its oxygen.
		The publication and distribution of Dr. Schorsch's commentary on Simhat Torah 5764 are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee and Harold (z"l) Hassenfeld.
	learn.jtsa.edu /topics/parashah/5764/simhattorah.shtml (736 words)

	Question 5.1: What are the different holidays?
		Simhat Torah (Tishri 23) The celebration that marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of readings of the Torah (Keri'ar ha-Torah) in the synagogue.
		Simhat Torah ia a rabbinic institution timed to coincide with the biblical festival Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of Succot, and which in Eretz Israel lasts but one day.
		The central features of the Simhat Torah celebrations are the hakkafot - the perambulations around the synagogue, with the participants carrying the scrolls of the Torah, to the accompaniment of joyous singing and dancing.
	www.faqs.org /faqs/judaism/FAQ/04-Observance/section-2.html (8507 words)

	l e a r n @ j t s DID YOU KNOW? GRP: Chapter 11, Part 9 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Simhat Torah, the festival of rejoicing with the Torah, is a fitting finale for the holiday season.
		Since the reading of the Torah should be completed during the year, it would have been logical to read it on the last Sabbath of the year, the Sabbath before Rosh Hashanah.
		The Torah is returned to the ark with the chanting of the appropriate hymns and the service is concluded.
	learn.jtsa.edu /topics/diduknow/jrpguide/11_part9.shtml (1309 words)

	Commentary Magazine - On Being a Woman in Shul (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		...On the festival of Simhat Torah (Rejoicing in the Law), the marriage symbolism is patent and exposed, even in the most exoteric, austere, rationalistic style of worship...
		...The festival begins on the previous evening when the Torah scrolls, dressed in their richly embroidered silk and velvet coverings and adorned with elaborately chased silver crowns and shields, are removed from the Ark and paraded in processions (hakafot) seven times around the reading desk...
		...The ceremony is obviously a representation of the symbolic marriage between Israel and the Torah...
	www.commentarymagazine.com /Summaries/V46I1P73-1.htm (3036 words)

	Women's Torah Readings from WUJS (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Practice from a Torah transcript (known as a Tikkun) rather than from a chumash (a book of the Bible), as neither the Tikkun nor the Torah that will be read in the synagogue have vowels (unlike the chumash).
		Have a Talit or the Torah binder at the bimah for the Olah to kiss the Torah with.
		After or during Kiddush, ask the women to share their Divrei Torah (this could also be done before the actual reading), their thoughts on the significance of a women's Torah reading, and their feelings about the experience.
	www.wujs.org.il /activist/programmes/programmes/simchat_torah/programST10womenreading.shtml (976 words)

	Jewish Community Online (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		The ninth day of the autumnal celebration is called Simhat Torah, marking the completion of the Five Books of Moses, a portion of which is read in the synagogue each Sabbath of the year.
		The Torahs are carried around the synagogue accompanied by spontaneous dancing and singing.
		On Simhat Torah day in the traditional synagogue a prominent member is designated as "bridegroom of the Torah," and he is called up as the last verses of the Pentateuch are read.
	www.jewish.com /holidays/simchat.shtml (176 words)

	Jerusalem Post \| Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Simhat Torah is a spiritual and physical delight which allows Jews to rejoice and dance with body and soul.
		Torah study ties us to the Torah intellectually and reading the Torah in public ties us to the Torah communally, but Simhat Torah ties us to the Torah physically and emotionally and that is a knot which cannot be undone.
		The democratic nature of Torah study: Simhat Torah symbolizes the fact that the Torah belongs to the entire people of Israel: scholars and laypeople; men, women and children.
	www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540590325&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull (718 words)

	MyJewishLearning.com - Holidays: Overview: History Shemini & Simc
		Simchat Torah developed into the day on which we celebrate the ending of one cycle of Torah reading and the beginning of the next cycle.
		It is traditionally the only time when the Torah is read at night, when we read the last section from Deuteronomy, to be followed the next day by the conclusion of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis.
		While Simchat Torah’s origins are not specifically biblical, it has become a Bible-centered holiday on which the hearts of Jews are drawn to celebrate the Torah.
	www.myjewishlearning.com /holidays/Shemini_Atzeret_Simhat_Torah/TO_Shemini_History.htm (785 words)

	The Mysterious Origins of Simhat Torah
		Even according to the ancient rites of the Land of Israel, where the Torah was chanted over a period of three and a half years, and did not conclude at a specific season of the year, a "Simhat Torah" ceremony was often held to mark that occasion.
		A more direct thematic link between the Day of Atonement and Simhat Torah is implied by the traditional Jewish chronology, according to which it was on Yom Kippur that the Almighty yielded to Moses’ entreaties and gave Israel the second tablets of the law.
		The readings from the Torah and the Prophets ought normally to have elements in common, and indeed Solomon’s blessings bear a thematic affinity to the ones recited by the dying Moses in the closing verses of the Torah, making that day an appropriate one on which to conclude the annual Torah-reading cycle.
	www.acs.ucalgary.ca /~elsegal/Shokel/981008_SimhatTorahDate.html (764 words)

	Flowers and Sympatya Israel flower gifts web site (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		During the Simchat Torah celebrations, all of the Torah scrolls are removed from the Ark and the pulpit is circled seven times.
		In the cities and army bases in Israel, seven hakkafot of the Torah scrolls are held with religious, military personnel and politicians being honored with the carrying of the Torah scrolls.
		Simchat Torah features festive dancing in celebration of the Torah [Book of the Law], given to Israel at Sinai 3,300 years ago by one calculation, and 4,300 years ago by another calculation (if Mount Karkur in the Negev should turn out to be the original Mount Sinai).
	www.web2000.com /flowers-israel/simchat1.htm (523 words)

	Sukkot (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		On the eve of Simchat Torah, all of the Torah scrolls are taken out of the Ark and carried as part of the seven hakafot around the synagogue.
		Shemini Atzeret, Simhat Torah: According to the Talmud the eight days of Sukkot are to be divided into separate festivals.
		Simhat Torah (“Rejoicing of the Law”) is of post-talmudic origin.
	www.templeofaaron.org /sukkot.html (1766 words)

	SIMHAT TORAH: JOY AGAINST THE ODDS.
		Simhat Torah is a most joyful holyday in Jewish calendar: its aim is to rejoice in the gift of Torah bestowed upon the Jewish nation.
		And the Simhat Tora(h) custom is to call as many male congregants 13 years old or over as possible to read the Torah or for the Torah to be read on behalf of them.
		At some point of the service, a special Tora(h) reading and blessing were given to all children, who were gathered a canopy made of talit (Hebrew: 'a ritual Jewish shawl'), kept wide over their heads, like during a traditional Jewish wedding.
	www.esek.com /jerusalem/5761/simhat.html (1808 words)

	Ohr Torah Stone \| Features \| Q & A with Rabbi Riskin (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		At one of the minyanim in Efrat on Simhat Torah, a woman came to the area where the men were dancing and threatened that she would not leave unless she was given a Sefer Torah that she could take to dance with in the women's section.
		The Rama mentions a custom that was prevalent in his country, according to which a woman did not enter a synagogue or gaze at a Sefer Torah during her menstrual period; clearly, this is not our custom.
		Therefore from a halakhic perspective there is no reason for women not to dance with a Sefer Torah in the women's section, on condition that there is a proper "mechitzah" (division) between the men's and women's sections.
	www.ohrtorahstone.org.il /features/q&a19.htm (452 words)

	New Page 0
		So the renewal of covenant brought by Y'shua applies not at all to the House of Judah, unless perhaps it is to a Jew who has so assimilated and neglected the commands of Torah that he doesn't even circumcize his sons or see to their bar mitzva.
		He began his ministry on his 30th birthday on Simhat Torah, and it ended at Passover, three and a half years later, or exactly one completion of the Triennial Torah Cycle then practiced in Jerusalem (see Encyclopedia Judaica).
		Although the Torah was as divinely inspired as the mission and message of Y'shua initiating the regathering of the Assimilation by restoring covenant between it and The God of Israel, neither the Torah, nor Y'shua who was its manifestation, could be called "deity."
	www.torahvoice.org /Disputation%202%20%20Abstract%20&%20text.htm (2903 words)

	Sukkot: Festival of Booths. (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		Historically, Sukkot commemorates the wanderings of the Israelites, which began with the exodus from Egypt (Passover) and continues with the giving of the Torah at Sinai (Shavuot) and ends with the wandering in the desert for the full 40 years as punishment for the sin of the golden calf.
		Simkhat Torah: As life in the Diaspora continued, it became customary on the second day of Shemini Atzeret, to remove torah scrolls from the ark and circle around the bimah, the traditional stage located in the center of the synagogue where the Torah is read.
		Named Simkhat Torah, rejoicing with the torah, the custom became its own holiday, especially for children, with dancing and singing in the synagogue and festive meals at home.
	www.everythingjewish.com /sukkot/sukkot_origins.htm (900 words)

	Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah Sources from WUJS (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09)
		The Torah (in Bab.) was divided into 54 Parshiyot corresponding to the number of Sabbaths in a leap year...
		The connection to Torah was based on a historical event such as Sinai, but rather on a synagogue liturgy.
		Most gladsome of all is Simhat Torah, not only because it is the feast on which children parade with the procession of the Torah Scrolls, but also because it symbolizes the deathlessness of the Jewish people.
	www.wujs.org.il /activist/programmes/sources/calendar/shemini_atzeret_&_simchat_torah.shtml (1982 words)

	HADASSAH MAGAZINE
		Recovered Torah scrolls often become mere display pieces for synagogues, but Youlus wanted to make sure this one was used regularly and kept in a climate-controlled Ark. In addition, he felt strongly about selling the Torah to someone whose forebears had lived in Kamenets-Podolski and would understand its significance.
		The lightness of the Torah made it easy for the Kushner’s 11-year-old grandson—who is named for his great-grandfather—to carry it for the shul dedication.
		For the beth el congregation, the Torah is a symbol of the undying spirit of the Jewish people and their survival despite great adversity.
	www.hadassah.org /news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2003/03_JAN/ltr_pits.htm (1445 words)

	Congregation Beit Tikvah of Baltimore
		Simhat Torah is celebrated at the end of Sukkot,.
		We celebrate the continuity of the Torah in Jewish life and acknowledge our appreciation for the joy it brings to us.
		The Torah is carried throughout the sanctuary to give congregants the opportunity to show their love and respect.
	www.beittikvah.org /worship/simchat2003.htm (202 words)

	Shemini Atzeret and Simkhat Torah
		We read the last Torah portion, then proceed immediately to the first chapter of Genesis, reminding us that the Torah is a circle, and never ends.
		There are processions around the synagogue carrying Torahs and plenty of high-spirited singing and dancing.
		This aspect of the holiday is known as Simkhat Torah, which means "Rejoicing in the Torah." As I said before, Simkhat Torah and Shemini Atzeret are separated in areas that observe an extra day of holidays, so outside of Israel, Shemini Atzeret is Tishri 22 and Simkhat Torah is Tishri 23.
	www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org /jsource/Judaism/holiday6.html (302 words)

	jersey_index
		As intriguing as this explanation may be, it is somewhat lacking, since after all, Simhat Torah is everyone's simhah and everyone is a ba'al simhah and not just a stranger attending a relative's affair.
		The processions with the Torah are called "hakafot." Superficially, the name hakafot originated from the fact that we circle around the bimah and hakafot is from the same root as the word "makif" which means "circling around." However, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, offers a more profound explanation of the word hakafot.
		Likewise, on Simhat Torah, the "shopkeeper" - Hashem - says to each and every Jew, "I give you permission to rejoice with My Torah though your credit for Torah study and observance for the past year may not be exactly up to par.
	www.shemayisrael.co.il /parsha/jersey/archives/succot61.htm (800 words)

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