Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah complete the series of autumn Jewish holidays. The Torah says that on the eighth day from the beginning of the Sukkot holiday there will be another separate, independent holiday. Its name shows that on the eighth day (shmini) someone was detained (aceret).
Who was detained and why? This example is given. The king invited his children to a seven-day feast. When the time came for separation, the king said: «Children, I want to make a request to you. Please stay one more day». So the Torah says: «On the eighth day you will have a holiday».
The sages decreed that on this day — Shemini Atzeret — Jews will end the annual cycle of reading the Torah and begin reading it from the beginning. So another element of — Simchat Torah — celebration of the end of the Torah reading cycle entered Shmini Atzeret. Simchat Torah translated means — Joy of the Torah.
The Torah consists of five books, of 54 «weekly chapters», read throughout the year. On the day of the holiday, the yearly reading cycle in synagogues ends and begins again. The scrolls are removed from the ark and passed with them seven times around the elevation in the center of the synagogue. The procession is accompanied by joyful songs and dances that continue until late at night.
They begin reading in Shemini Atzeret and end in Shemini Atzeret. And this is what all the people have been doing for almost two thousand years (before that, Jews read and studied the Torah according to a different system). During the existence of the Temple, on the Eighth Day, a rite of water was performed on the altar, accompanied by requests for rain in the coming year.
Today, starting with Shemini Atzeret, a prayer for rain is also read in synagogues throughout the winter. On this double holiday, which lasts two days, joy and fun reign everywhere.