If you’re reading this, you’ve made it through the Rosh Hashanah-to-Yom Kippur gauntlet. Mazal. In the spirit of “no days off,” by now your sukkah may already be up, and you may be honing your guest list. (And if you’re not, that’s totally fine; my sukkah is purely theoretical this year.)
But let’s skip to the ending, shall we? As per the Torah, Sukkot lasts seven days, but then we are handed the most confusing of gifts: Shemini Atzeret, literally “the Eighth Day of Assembly.” Is it part of Sukkot, or something else entirely? And if your community celebrates Simchat Torah separately, does that make nine? Can’t we ever agree on anything?
In the Reform movement and in Israel, the Sukkot–Shemini Atzeret–Simchat Torah stretch is eight days total. In Diaspora Conservative and Orthodox communities, it’s nine. Last year, I taught a little Shalosh Regalim lesson at work, intending to give the attendees THE ANSWER THEY HAD BEEN WAITING FOR about Shemini Atzeret, and people were overjoyed to finally get a straight(ish) answer. Back at Brandeis, a million (or 25) years ago, most students, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, admitted they had no idea what “Shemini Atzeret” actually was as they enjoyed a day without classes. To them I always said: join the club. It’s not just hard to explain; it really does depend on where you are and which Jewish community you’re in. I still get mixed up.
The Talmud, naturally, wrestles with Shemini Atzeret. In Talmud Bavli, Sukkah 55b, the sages debate whether Shemini Atzeret is its own holiday or simply the “completion” of Sukkot. One opinion suggests that the extra day of the festival was added because the Israelites needed one more day (One Day More!) to rejoice after an intense week of pilgrimage. Another suggests it was a built-in insurance policy for the harvest prayers; just in case rain didn’t arrive during the first seven days, the eighth day offered a final opportunity to pray extra hard for it.
In Sukkah 48a–b, Rashi gives us an example. God is like a king who invited His children for a week-long feast (Sukkot), and when it was over, He said, “Stay with me one more day, it’s hard for me to see you go.” That extra day (Shemini Atzeret) became less about huts or harvest rituals and more about getting closer with God. And again, it is both part of Sukkot and its own celebration, a short encore after the festival week. Schrödinger’s holiday.
In practice, Shemini Atzeret is marked by a liturgical shift most of us recognize: we add the mashiv ha’ruach line to the Amidah. The timing makes sense; the fall harvest is over, the rains are on the way (if they haven’t arrived yet), and we acknowledge the ancient anxiety of our Canaanite ancestors faced with unpredictable weather.
And for many Jews, Shemini Atzeret coincides with Simchat Torah, the celebration of completing and restarting the Torah reading cycle. Scrolls are paraded, verses are chanted, Hakafot are danced, and the joy of Sukkot spills into a love of Torah. Depending on your community, this happens on the same day or the next, further blurring the lines of what, and when, Shemini Atzeret “is.”
Judaism often embraces paradox (and sometimes revels in it), and Shemini Atzeret is the perfect example. It is both its own holiday and not its own holiday. It concludes Sukkot but also begins something new. It can be observed with Simchat Torah, or not. But no matter where you find it, it’s the last dance for Tishrei’s holidays, a final burst of celebration and prayer, wrapped around one last sacred occasion.
So there you have it: Shemini Atzeret, last gasp of the fall festivals. Or at least…I think it is.
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