28 | OCTOBER 8 • 2020 

Spirit
torah portion

S

hemini Atzeret is the 
end of the High Holiday 
season. It is perfect for 
2020. It is a holiday about 
being attached yet separate 
at the same time. It is about 
finding joy during moments 
of uncertainty. It is an 
optimistic message of 
the possibility of hope 
and renewal, even when 
it feels like everything 
has fallen apart.
The holiday isn’
t 
mentioned in the main 
part of our Torah read-
ing, only in the maftir 
from the second scroll 
we read, which is taken 
from Sefer Bamidbar, the 
Book of Numbers.
The maftir says, “On 
the eighth day you shall 
hold a solemn gather-
ing; you shall not work 
at your occupations.
” Leviticus 
23: 34-36 says, “On the 15th 
day of this seventh month 
there shall be the Feast of 
Booths to the Lord, [to last] 
seven days. The first day shall 
be a sacred occasion: you shall 
not work at your occupations; 
seven days you shall bring 
offerings by fire to the Lord. 
On the eighth day you shall 
observe a sacred occasion and 
bring an offering by fire to the 
Lord; it is a solemn gathering: 
you shall not work at your 
occupations.
”
A few verses later it says, 
“You shall observe it as a festi-
val of the Lord for seven days 
in the year; you shall live in 
booths seven days; all citizens 
in Israel shall live in booths.
”
Our sages noticed an ambi-
guity here. Shemini Atzeret 
seems to be the last day of 
Sukkot, but the Torah says 
that Sukkot is seven days. 

Fortunately, our sages looked 
at ambiguity as an opportunity 
to create deeper meaning.
They created an additional 
holiday on top of Shemini 
Atzeret, which they called 
Simchat Torah, which cele-
brates both the finishing 
of the annual Torah 
reading and its begin-
ning again. 
The holidays of the 
month of Tishri repre-
sent a cycle of spiritual 
rebirth and renewal. 
On Rosh Hashanah, we 
are created anew, with 
potential and possibili-
ties to become the peo-
ple we want to be. On 
Yom Kippur, through 
repentance and intro-
spection, we think about 
how to transform our 
most difficult qualities 
and relationships.
Sukkot is about rebuilding 
our lives and thinking about 
the walls that we have around 
us. Which walls need to stay 
up, and which need to come 
down?
Shemini Atzeret is the 
eighth day. This has echoes of 
when Adam and Eve left the 
Garden of Eden, which was 
the eighth day of creation. 
They felt insecure, heading 
into a new and unfamiliar 
world. 
Shemini Atzeret, with 
Simchat Torah, celebrates our 
potential for creating meaning 
and goodness no matter what 
is happening in the world as 
long as we stay connected to 
the values of our traditions 
and to each other. 

Aaron Bergman is a rabbi at Adat 

Shalom Synagogue in Farmington 

Hills.

Parshat 

Shemini 

Atzeret: 

Deuteronomy 

14:22-16:17; 

Numbers 

29:35-30:1;

I Kings

8:54-66

Rabbi Aaron 
Bergman

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