Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah

The holiday of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, falls on the Hebrew calendar dates of 22-23 Tishrei—Shemini Atzeret on the former date, Simchat Torah on the latter. Here are the coinciding secular dates for the upcoming years: 2011:   October 19 (at ...

The answer has its roots in the history of the Jewish calendar. Originally, there was no fixed calendar. Each month anew, the Sanhedrin (Rabbinic Supreme Court) in Jerusalem would determine whether the previous month had been 29 or 30 days long -- ...

Every year on the holiday of Simchat Torah, three different portions of the Torah are read during the morning service. a) V'zot Haberacha, the last portion of the Torah; b) the holiday maftir reading, discussing the day's Temple service; c) Bereishit, ...