Today is Simchat Torah and Jewish people are dancing in the streets in Israel-1

For generations, the Jewish People have been gathering at the Kotel

(Western Wall) to celebrate Simchat Torah with prayer and dancing.

Shall Rejoice today, on Simchat Torah!

At 8 a.m. this morning, the synagogues here in Israel were packed as we read the last pages of Devarim (Deuteronomy) and the beginning of Bereisheet (Genesis). The reading of the yearly Torah cycle had come to an end and a new one began.  Hallelujah! The services lasted about three hours, as the men and women relished the Book given to our people by God Himself through Moses—the most treasured Book in the world—the Torah (Five Books of Moses).

Parading the Torah outside of a synagogue on Simchat Torah in a suburb

of Tel Aviv, a tallit (prayer shawl) is held over the Sefer Torah.  Hundreds

of congregants danced and followed the procession.

In every synagogue throughout Israel this morning, the men joyfully danced around the bema (raised platform for reading the Torah), proudly and joyously holding the sacred Torah Scrolls. In our synagogue, there are 11 Torah scrolls, and as the silver crowns (ketarim) were removed from the Holy Parchment Scrolls, they glistened in the sunlight.  As the Rabbi and cantor sang from the Holy Word of God, the whole congregation gathered in one accord singing in Hebrew. All the men took turns reading from the Torah.  And the faces of the children, women, and men were beaming with smiles, rejoicing in the honor of the Holy Book that the One God of Israel entrusted to His Chosen People. 

The Torah scroll is raised for all to see at the

Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem.

Today, here in Israel, it is still both Shmini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly) andSimchat Torah (Joy of the Torah).  Elsewhere in the world, however, the wonderful holiday of Simchat Torah begins at sunset tonight at the conclusion of Shmini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly), a Biblically mandated assembly celebrated the day after Sukkot ends:  “For seven days present food offerings to the LORD, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD.  It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work.”  (Leviticus 23:36) Tonight at around 7:30 p.m., thousands of people will gather in each city and village square, throughout the Holy Land.  Hopefully, most of Israel's eight million people will be rejoicing in the Word of God. For the second time in 24 hours, they will dance around the Torah Scrolls, this time, throughout the night. “Oh, how I love Your Torah; It is my meditation all the day.  You through Your commandments, have made me wiser than my enemies…. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  (Psalm 119:97–98, 105)

Israeli Jewish men celebrate Simchat Torah by dancing in circles

(hakafot) with the scrolls of the Torah at a synagogue in Sderot, Israel.

Simchat Torah is a joyous holiday when the Jewish People express their gratitude to God for giving us His great gift of the Torah. On Simchat Torah, ALL of the ornately decorated Torah scrolls are taken out of the Ark in which they are safeguarded, in contrast to Shabbat and regular holidays when only two are removed from the Ark. In the country where you live, the Jewish People will parade these precious Torah scrolls around their synagogues in circles called hakafot, accompanied by joyful singing and dancing. In many congregations, the celebrations are spilling out of the sanctuary into the street, where participants dance and sing while carrying the scrolls.

It is considered a mitzvah (good deed) to dance with the Torah and to rejoice