The Rejoicing of the Torah — the most exuberant day of the Jewish year, when the annual cycle of Torah reading is completed and immediately begun again. The scrolls come out of the ark and the synagogue turns to singing and dancing.
The last words of the Torah are read, and without a pause the first words begin again — the story never ends.
On Simchat Torah the community reads the final verses of Deuteronomy and, without pausing, rolls back to the opening words of Genesis — a public declaration that the study of Torah never ends. The joy is deliberately physical: the Torah is not only studied but embraced, carried, and danced with.
The Torah scrolls are taken from the ark and carried around the synagogue in seven circuits (hakafot), accompanied by singing, dancing, and celebration. Every member of the congregation is honored with an aliyah — in many communities, all the children together under a tallit. The final and first Torah portions are read back to back.
Chag Sameach — Happy holiday
"Chag Sameach" ("happy festival") is the usual greeting for this, the most joyful day of the festival season.
“Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders... and for all the great and awesome deeds that Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.”— Deuteronomy 34:10-12
Simchat Torah 2026 begins at sundown on Saturday, October 3 and ends at nightfall on Sunday, October 4.
The completion and immediate restart of the yearlong cycle of reading the Torah — a celebration of the Torah itself.
Congregations dance with the Torah scrolls in seven hakafot (processions), and nearly everyone is honored with a Torah blessing.
In the Diaspora it falls the day after Shemini Atzeret; in Israel both are observed together on a single day.
Sundown, Sat Oct 3 – nightfall, Sun Oct 4, 2026
In the Diaspora, Simchat Torah is celebrated the day after Shemini Atzeret. In Israel the two are observed together on one day.
Chag Sameach — Happy holiday