The holiday of Shemini Atzeret is mentioned twice in the Torah, in Vayikra 23:36,39, and in Bemidbar 29:35-39, and on both occasions, it is referred to as the eighth day of the Sukkot holiday. This numeric reference implies that Shemini Atzeret is not a separate holiday but is part of the holiday of Sukkot, as it is the eighth day starting from the first day of Sukkot. If the holiday is independent of Sukkot, then the Torah should have stated that the holiday was on the 22nd of the month. Furthermore, there is no name for this holiday in the Torah, which again suggests that the day is subsumed under the holiday of Sukkot. The only description of the holiday is that it is an atzeret, Bemidbar 29:35, but this is not a name since atzeret is also used in reference to the seventh day of the holiday of Matzot, Devarim 16:8.
On the other hand, there are some indications in the Torah that Shemini Atzeret is distinct from Sukkot. First, even though Bemidbar 29:35 uses the words “the eighth day” this differs from the reference to the previous six days of Sukkot, Bemidbar 29:17-32, which are referred to as “and the X day.” The word “and” connects the days together, but the word “and” is not mentioned by the eighth day. Second, Bemidbar 29 lists all the sacrifices of the holiday of Sukkot and for seven days there is a specific pattern. However, the sacrifices of the eighth day, Shemini Azeret, are numerically different, and they do not fit into the pattern of the previous seven days. The different number of sacrifices might indicate that the eighth day is independent of the seven days of Sukkot. Finally, both Bemidbar 29:12 and Vayikra 23:34,39,41 record that one is to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot for seven days, which removes the eighth day from these celebrations. Thus, one is required to sit in the sukkah for seven days and not eight days, Vayikra 23:42.
Accordingly, from the Torah, it appears that in some ways Shemini Atzeret is part of the holiday of the Sukkot and in some ways, it is an independent holiday. This duality can also be found in Chazal. The Mishnah (Sukkah 4:8 and Ta'anit 1:1) refers to Shemini Atzeret as the last day of the holiday of Sukkah, and another Mishnah (Megillah 3:5) subsumes Shemini Atzeret within all the days of Sukkot except the first day with regard to the reading of the Torah. However, the Talmud (Sukkah 47a-48a) states that Shemini Atzeret is a separate holiday for six different issues.
Why should there exist this dualism with regard to Shemini Atzeret? I believe the answer is based on the pattern of the length of the three festivals in the Torah, Pesach/ Matzot, Shavuot and Sukkot.
Both the holidays of Sukkot and Matzot begin with a day where work is prohibited, have several days where is permitted (chol ha-moed) and then afterwards there is a day when work is forbidden again. What is the basis for this pattern?
It appears that every holiday needs to have a closure, meaning that a holiday needs to come to an end, which occurs when work is forbidden at the end of the holiday. When work is forbidden on a particular day, this marks the day for the people. If work would only have been forbidden on the first day of a holiday, then the remaining days of the holiday could lose their significance. This closure is only based on work being prohibited on the last day of the festival since it could be that the first day is celebrated in some form, as for example offering sacrifices, without work being forbidden, and the celebration initiates the festival without work being forbidden.
Once work is forbidden on the last day of the festival, then all days of the holiday become one unit. This understanding accords with the viewpoint that the word atzeret means conclusion or stopping and not a gathering (see comments of David Hoffmann, on Vayikra 23:36), as the word is used both by Shemini Atzeret and by the seventh day of the holiday of Matzot, Devarim 16:11.
This idea also occurs by Shavuot since it is really a fifty-day holiday, which begins with bringing the omer sacrifice, counting 49 days, and then on the 50th day work is forbidden. This need for closure explains why the seventh day of the holiday of Matzot (or in modern terms Pesach) is a special day without assuming that the miracle of the splitting of Yam Suf occurred on the seventh day of the holiday of Matzot, something which is not mentioned in the Torah. This idea could even apply to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as they also form a unit, which we now call the ten days of repentance.
If this idea of closure is correct, then this suggests that Shemini Atzeret is part of Sukkot, but then why are the celebrations of the holiday of Sukkot absent on Shemini Atzeret? My guess is that seven days, a full week, is considered an appropriate unit of time for rituals and celebrations, but eight days are not. Thus, the celebration of the holiday of Sukkot is seven days, as is the eating of matzot, and then there would be no celebrations of the holiday of Sukkot on the eighth day, Shemini Atzeret. Once the celebrations of Sukkot are only for seven days, then the sacrifices for the eighth day would also be distinct from the seven previous days.
Yet, even if the two ideas are correct: The need for closure on the festival and seven days are the appropriate time for celebration of the holiday, why is Shemini Atzeret not on the seventh day of Sukkot? The answer is that the closure in the Torah occurs on the eighth day, which marks a full week counting both the first and eighth days, as by the eight days for the brit milah, Vayikra 12:3. With regard to Shavuot, there are seven weeks, and the 50th day is the conclusion to the seventh week, see our discussion on Vayikra 23:15,16, “Counting seven weeks and fifty days by sefirat ha-omer.” With regard to the holiday of Matzot, the seventh day of the holiday is the eighth day from the holiday of Pesach, which begins on the 14th of the month while the holiday of Matzot starts from the 15th of the month (see Vayikra 23:5,6).
Accordingly, the three different elements: The need for closure that there is a prohibition of work at the end of the holiday, that the closure is on the eighth day and that celebrations for a holiday last for seven days, created the dual nature of Shemini Atzeret. The element of closure means that Shemini Atzeret is part of the holiday of Sukkot, but as the closure is on the eighth day and celebrations are for seven days, Shemini Atzeret is also distinct from the holiday of Sukkot in that the celebrations of the holiday of Sukkot are not applicable to the day.
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