Summary of the festival

Shemini Atzeret (22 Tishrei) comes right after the seven days of Sukkot, and although it is linked to them, it is a festival of its own: “On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work” (Numbers 29:35). In Israel it is also Simchat Torah; outside Israel, Simchat Torah falls on the following day.

The mitzvot of the festival

• The prayer for rain (“Geshem”) in the Musaf service, and from then on we add “mashiv haruach umorid hagashem” in the Amidah.
• Yizkor, the remembrance of departed souls, the custom of most communities.
• The sukkah: in Israel the sitting in it is over; outside Israel we eat in it but without the blessing. No lulav is taken.
• Kiddush and Hallel, and joy as on any festival.

Origin in history

The Torah commands the day twice (Leviticus 23:36, Numbers 29:35), and calls it “Atzeret” (from a word meaning stopping and gathering). In the Temple a single bull was offered on this day, after the seventy bulls of Sukkot (Numbers 29:36). Rashi brings the parable of a king who invited his sons to a feast for several days, and when it was time for them to leave said: “Please, stay with me one more day, your parting is hard for me” (Rashi on Leviticus 23:36). Solomon dedicated the Temple in Tishrei, and on the eighth day he sent the people home (I Kings 8:66).

The message for today

The Talmud explains (Sukkah 55b) that during the seven days of Sukkot seventy bulls were offered for the seventy nations of the world, and on Shemini Atzeret only one bull, for Israel, like a king who says to his friend after a great banquet: “Make me a small meal, so that it will be just you and me”. After giving room to the whole world, comes a time for close conversation. It is the day on which the request for rain, the life of the coming year, is spoken from the heart: after the sukkah, which opens itself to every people, comes a moment of personal closeness.