What is it?

Simchat Torah (meaning, “Celebration of the Torah”) is a one-day holiday that marks the完成年度周期of the Torah reading. The final portion ofDeuteronomyis read and then a new Torah reading cycle is immediately started with theBook of Genesis.
Many synagogues unroll the Torah scroll completely so everyone can see the whole Torah, from start to finish.

Dancing in the Streets

Simchat Torah begins in the evening, and involves raucous dancing, often mixed with lots of drinking, and singing with Torah scrolls. Children are paraded around on their parents’ shoulders, and wave homemade flags. The idea here is to focus on how central the Torah is to Jewish life and the joy that the Torah can bring to the Jewish community.

Shemini Atzeret

In Israel and in some liberal communities outside Israel, Simchat Torah is celebrated together with another holiday–calledShemini Atzeret(meaning, “the eighth day of gathering”)–on the day that immediately follows住棚节. In more traditional diaspora communities,住棚节is followed by one day ofShemini Atzeret, which is then followed by Simchat Torah.