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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