## Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts

###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 1
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
1. Shemini Atzeret means “The Assembly of the Eighth Day.”


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 2
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
2. There is a difference of opinion in the Talmud as to whether Shemini Atzeret is the eighth day of Sukkot or an independent festival of its own.


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 3
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
3. Some Jews in the Diaspora eat in the sukka on Shemini Atzeret, but do not make the *berakha* of “*Leishev BaSukka*.”


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 4
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
4. In Israel, Shemini Atzeret and Simḥat Torah are celebrated on the same day.


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 5
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
5. We begin praying for rain on Shemini Atzeret with the special *Tefillat Geshem* (Prayer for Rain) said during Musaf. This is reflected in the addition of the line “*Mashiv haruaḥ umorid hagashem*” (“He makes the wind blow and the rain fall”) said in our private *Amida* on weekdays, from Shemini Atzeret until Pesaḥ.


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 6
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
6. The *Ḥazan* who leads the *Geshem* prayer wears a white *kittel* just like on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, because we pray for a favourable judgement for the world’s rain in the coming year.


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 7
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
7. Some communities have the custom to read from the Torah on Simḥat Torah night. This is the only time in the year when the Torah is read publicly at night.


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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
8. On Simḥat Torah we dance around the *shul bima* seven times, carrying the Torah scrolls as we go. These circuits are called *Hakafot*.


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, Top Ten Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah Facts 9
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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
9. Many communities give every adult male an *aliya laTorah* (calling them to the reading of the Torah), which means the last part of the Torah is read many times over.


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**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
10. It is a special honour to be chosen to be the *Ḥatan Torah* who completes the year’s cycle, and to be chosen as the *Ḥatan Bereshit*, the first person called for the new cycle.