Shemini Atzeret: A separate holiday from Sukkot?

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.

Simhat Torah: A timeline

In a fascinating book, Avraham Yaari (1964, re-printed 1998) explains the history of the numerous customs on Simhat Torah. I have derived a timeline of the celebration of the holiday from the book. (All pages below from Avraham Yaari, Toldot Chag Simhat Torah, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1998.)

Torah – no mention of the holiday.

Talmud – Megillah 31a records that on the day after Shemini Atzeret, one reads Ve-zot ha-bracha and Va-yamod Shelomo, (King 8:22) for the haftorah. This ruling was only relevant for Bavel, who had two days of Shemini Atzeret, and who completed reading the Torah once a year. However, in Israel the Torah was finished once every three or three and half years, see Rambam, Laws of prayer 13:1. Thus, only in Bavel could there have been an annual holiday to celebrate the completion of the reading of the Torah. However, in Israel, not only was the reading of the Torah not completed in a year, but also communities in Israel finished reading the Torah at different times. When each community would finish reading the Torah they would celebrate, but this was not necessarily near the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. Yaari (p.16) notes that one cannot find one piyyut from the land of Israel from the era of the paytanim that was specifically written about Simhat Torah because the holiday was not celebrated in Israel.

Geonim – The day was called Yom Bracha (p.20), ten people were called to the Torah (p.21), there was no special title for the person who received the last aliyah, and some places began the custom to read Yehoshua 1 for the Haftorah instead of Va-yamod Shelomo (see also Rambam, Laws of prayer, 13:12, and Tosafot Megillah 31A, le-machar). Some communities completed the reading of the Torah by Yom Kippur, and some had a custom to read the first day of Bereshit by minhah or neilah at Yom Kippur, either by heart or from the Torah (pp.18,19). The last aliyah was the last 8 verses of the Torah (p.71). In Bavel, they recited a piyyut, asher beglall ha-avot, which ends with a reference to Moshe's death, and initially this was recited within the blessings on the haftorah (pp.166-168). (The piyyut can be found in the Machzor Rinat Yisrael for Sukkot, Nusach Sefard, 1981, p. 507.) When this piyyut was recited, there was a custom to dance (pp. 24,319, quoted in Mishnah Berurah 699:11), but there was no dancing by hakafot since there were not yet hakafot. Also, after finishing reading the Torah and apparently also after the haftorah, a blessing was recited for the whole congregation and for the people who worked and contributed to the congregation (p.180).

1099- The Crusaders captured Israel, and massacred the Jewish communities of Jerusalem and Hebron. This effectively ended the custom of reading the Torah in a three year cycle, though the custom continued for some time in Egypt, see Rambam, Laws of prayer, 13:5, completed 1180 or 1178, and Binyamin Tudela’s visit in Egypt in 1170 (p.15). Mordechai Akiva Friedman spoke in Beit Knesset Yakir Efrayim in Modiin (where I go), on parahsat shekalim 2011, and he said that the custom of reading the three year cycle ended in 1211.

End of 11th century, beginning of 12th century - first mention of the name Simhat Torah amongst Sefardim (R. Yitzhak Ibn Gais, Spain 1020-1089, p.29) and in France (Rashi, 1040-1105, p.30). In France, everybody had an aliyah, which seems to have included children (pp. 92,160).

Machzor Vitry (R. Simhah of Vitry, d. 1105, student of Rashi, grandfather of the Ri) records the custom to read from sefer Bereshit with a sefer Torah. He also mentions, apparently for the first time, the term hatan both for the last aliyah and for the aliyah by Bereshit and the reshut to call up the hatan (p.64). Yaari (pp. 64,138) argues that the reshut for the hatan Torah was written before the time of the Crusaders since it describes conditions in Israel, while the reshut for the hatan Bereshit does not refer to these conditions. Also, in the initial reshut for hatan Torah there is no mention of the term hatan, which suggests that this reshut was written before the reshut for hatan Bereshit. Question remains was the reshut for hatan Torah from Israel when they celebrated every three/ three and half years the finishing of the reading of the Torah or was it written in France based on their understanding of conditions in Israel? The Sefardim still do not recite the reshut but instead they recite rhymes and songs, see below.

Machzor Vitry also records custom to take out all the sifrei Torah in the day just like they did for Hoshana Rabbah, and to recite piyyutim when taking out the Torah and holding them (p. 261). This custom of removing the Sefer Torah was not done by Sefardim, and it is not mentioned by the Shulchan Arukh, but by the 16th century it had become accepted in Sefat (p. 266). Machzor Vitry also mentions that everybody in the congregation including the children would get aliyot on Simhat Torah (p. 92).

12th century- The custom in some places in Spain and many places in Provence was to read Bereshit by heart (pp. 37,38). This custom of reading from the Torah spread except in Italy, where until recent times the custom was still to read the first three verses of Bereshit by heart (p. 49). Eshkol (Ravad II, 1110-1179) records that the hatan made a meal for the congregation (p.155). Tosafot (Megillah, 21B, Tana) records that the last aliyah starts from the beginning of chapter 34, va-ya’al Moshe. However, the Rokeach (Germany, 1160-1238) writes that the last aliyah starts with 33:26, the last four verses of chapter 33 (p.72). Rokeach also thought that the hatan should say shehechiyanu (p.150).

13th century – The custom of the Maharam Rutenberg (1215-1293) was that the last aliyah starts with 33:27, the last three verses of chapter 33 (p.72), which became the accepted Ashkenazi practice.

14th century – R. Aharon Hakohen of Lunel (Provence) writes that after the haftorah and ashrei, the Sefer Torah were taken out, and kinot were said about Moshe’s death (p.262). Also mentions (also see ha-Manhig) custom to sing songs for the hatanim as is still done today for real hatanim by Sefardim (p.141). The custom of taking out all the sifrei Torah from the aron at night on Simhat Torah in first mentioned in Germany (by communities on the Rhine), though Yaari notes that the Maharil (15th century) did not mention this custom (pp. 262,263). Also, in the 17th century in Worms (which is on the Rhine), they did not take out the sifrei Torah at night (p. 264).

Tur (1275-1340, Orah Chayyim 669) records that Bereshit is read as the third sefer Torah apparently after the Haftorah was read. Yaari (p. 156) deduces from the Tur’s language that Sefardim had not yet accepted the custom of the hatan to make a meal. Abduraham (Seville, early 14th century) records that Bereshit is read from the second sefer Torah (p.40), there were five aliyot (p.91) and the person who received the last aliyah read the entire parasha, which became the Sefardi custom (p.73).

15th century- Maharil (1365-1427, Germany), the aliyah by Bereshit is the first chapter until va-yachulu, and the chazzan says the next three verses, 2:1-3 (p. 81). Maharil tried to limit the number of aliyot to six (5 plus hatan Torah), but this was only accepted in a few German communities (p.93). However, later other communities tried to limit the number of aliyot since it takes so long to call everybody up (pp. 94,95). Maharil also mentions the custom of kol naarim, to call all the children together for one aliyah (pp. 93,161). ( I am not sure how this fit into the six aliyot.)  Yaari (p. 161) notes that later the custom in Germany was to start from u-ledan, 33:22. (The Levush, R. Mordechai Jaffe, 1535-1612, Poland, also writes that the aliyah for the children starts from me-oneh, p.162.) Yaari (p. 164) writes that most Sefardim, except in Israel, never accepted the idea of a communal aliyah for children.

R. Isaac Tirna (Sefer haMinhagim, late 14th century, 15th century, Austria/ Hungary) also quotes this custom of kol naarim and that the reading for the children is from me-oneh, 33:27. R. Zevin (Moadim be-Halakhah, 1956, p. 137) writes that he was the first person to record to do hakafot on Simhat Torah, but only at night. He is also the first to mention the custom to read from the sefer Torah at night (p. 194). Ve-zot ha-bracha was not read, but other sections that were called nedarim were read, see Rama (669), Mishnah Berurah (669:15) and Yaari (pp.194-200). This custom to read the Torah at night was not accepted by everybody. R. Avraham Danzig (1748-1820, Hayyei Adam, 153:7) writes that in some places, such as Prague, they took out the sefer Torah and rolled it, but did not read it (pp. 201,202). Yaari (pp. 201,202) notes that today the Perushim communities in Jerusalem who follow the Gra do not read at night, but the Gra himself would go up for an aliyah in his beit midrash! Yaari (p. 202) also writes that this was only an Ashkenazi custom, as the Sefardim did not accept it. There was a custom in Italy and later in Germany to put a lit candle in the aron after taking out all the Sefer Torah. This custom was abolished by the Taz, 17th century, Orah Chayyim 154:7, (p.265).

16th century- The Shulchan Arukh (R. Yosef Karo, 1488-1575, Orah Chayyim 669) does not mention any special customs on Simhat Torah other than reading three sifrei Torah, Ve-zot ha-bracha, Bereshit and maftir. On the other hand, the Rama (d. 1572, Cracow, Darkei Moshe and Orah Chayyim 669) lists many customs on Simhat Torah. One example is that he writes that the aliyah of the children is ha-malach ha-goel, (Bereshit 48:16). He writes that this reading is from a sefer Torah, which would require another sefer Torah or a lot of rolling of the sefer Torah (p.162). Rama also writes that both at night and in the day there was a custom to circle the bimah, hakafot, and Yaari writes that he meant only once (p. 265). It appears that in the Middle Ages, prior to the development of the custom of hakafot by the kabbalists, the Ashkenazim seemed to have had more celebrations on Simhat Torah than the Sefardim.

End of 16th century - R. Chayyim Vital (student of the Ari, R. Isaac Luria) writes that he saw the Ari dance seven hakafot on the night after Simhat Torah (pp. 266, 267). (The Ari moved to Sefat in 1569 and died shortly afterwards in 1572, at the age of 37/38.) This sighting by R. Chayyim Vital was changed to being on the night of Simhat Torah (p. 268), and then the custom of hakafot spread in the 18th century to Europe (p. 275). However, even up to the time of the Mishnah Berurah (1907, 699:10), some places only did three hakafot. In any event, this new custom changed the nature of Simhat Torah from reading the Torah to doing hakafot (p. 276). With the development of hakafot, dancing became a prominent feature of the day. Yaari (pp. 319-327) notes that while some people danced from the time of the Geonim until the 16th century on Simhat Torah, there are a just a few written references to dancing on Simhat Torah in that period, but starting from the end of the 16th century, there are many references to dancing on Simhat Torah. In Sefat, they also had the custom that the hatan makes a meal for friends and family (p.156).

17th century- Europe – Custom began that the congregations recited Bereshit 2:1-3 prior to the baal keriah (baal korei)reading this section, and afterwards there developed the custom for the congregation to say “it was night and day” for each day of creation (p.82). In some places in Israel, Syria and Turkey, the congregation would accompany the hatanim either to the synagogue or to their homes with torches. This custom of taking torches was later abrogated due to fear of desecration of the holiday when one had to extinguish the fires (pp.123,124). In the Sefardi congregation in London, the hatanim would be the gabbis and would have special chairs (pp.121,122). R. Ephraim Zalman Margolis (1762-1828, Brody) writes that at night some communities would read the sections called nedarim, while others would read Ve-zot ha-bracha with five aliyot (p. 200).

18th century – In Europe, the custom began to do hagbah by switching the hands (p.75). In Yerushalayim and Hebron they did hakafot on the night after Shemini Atzeret, which is Simhat Torah in the Diaspora (pp.281-283). Hemdat Hayamim writes that even people in the Diaspora should do hakafot on Shemini Atzeret. This opinion was accepted by Hasidim, who did hakafot on the night of Shemini Atzeret, though some also did during the day of Shemini Atzeret, in addition to doing hakafot on Simhat Torah (pp. 277,278).

19th century – In the Chatam Sofer's beit midrash in Pressburg there were three hatanim, as the maftir was also called hatan (p.95). In the Young Israel of New Rochelle, where I went to for many years, they also followed this practice, and I was called hatan maftir in 1988.

End of 19th century, early 20th century – The Mishnah Berurah (669:15, also see Arukh Hashulchan 669:2) writes that the custom was to read Ve-zot ha-bracha at night with only three aliyot and they would recite kadish afterwards. However, in Russia, the custom of reading nedarim at night remained, as R.Zevin (1888-1978, Moadim be-Halakhah, 1956, p.139, Yaari, p.201) writes that men who were eligible to be drafted in the Russian army would bid for the aliyah, ha-malach ha-goel, Bereshit 48:16, since it was considered a good omen that they would not be drafted.

Late 20th century – When I was a child that there was a custom for the children to tie the talitot of the adults, but I have not seen this done in years. I was told that this was also done in Australia (by Paul Kloot) and in Paris (by Fredrick Duetsch).

Simhat Torah: Completing the reading of the Torah

The Talmud (Megillah 31a) records, from the perspective of the people in Bavel, that on the second day of Shemini Atzeret, the ninth day of Sukkot, one reads Ve-zot ha-berakha. This ends the yearly cycle of Torah readings, but why not read Ve-zot ha-berakha on Shavuot or before Rosh Hashanah?

The Talmud Megillah 31b quotes that Ezra established that the curses of Vayikra (chapter 26) are to read on the Shabbat before Shavuot and the curses of Devarim (chapter 28) are to be read on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, and hence Ve-zot ha-berakha could not be read before either of the two holidays. (Our practice today is to read the curses two Shabbatot before the respective holidays, see Tosafot, Megillah 31B, curses.)

Accordingly, Ve-zot ha-berakha could only have been read after Rosh Hashanah. Yet, still why not finish reading the Torah before Yom Kippur? Yaari (1998, p.18) notes that it is possible that there existed a custom to finish the Torah in the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but if so this custom did not become accepted possibly because the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a pensive period which is inconsistent with the completion of the reading of the Torah a happy event.

Why was the completion of the reading of the Torah associated with Sukkot? One interesting idea is that Simhat Torah is related to law of hakhel (Devarim 31:10-13, Mishnah Sotah 7:8) the public reading of some of the Torah once every seven years. Yaari (pp. 353-358) quotes various people, starting with the Abarbanel (1999, p. 494, on Devarim 31:9-13), who have made this connection. One proof for this idea is that in Israel in the first millennium, hakhel was the Torah reading of the day. Also the version of the Mishnah Sotah 7:8 in the Yerushalmi (Sotah 7:7, 33b) is different than in the Bavli and records that hakhel was celebrated on the night after Shemini Atzeret, which is the "ninth" day of Sukkot, Simhat Torah in the Diaspora.

Yaari rejects this argument for various reasons. Yaari claims that if the holiday was related to hakhel then it should have been celebrated in Israel and not Bavel. This is not convincing since in Israel they could not establish a yearly holiday to celebrate the completion of the reading of the Torah since they did not finish reading the Torah each year, but this would not preclude the people in Bavel from making an association with hakhel. Yaari also doubts that a yearly holiday would be established based on hakhel when hakhel only occurs once every seven years. This too is not convincing since why not? Yaari also points out that the initial name of the holiday Simhat Torah was the day of blessing while one would have thought if the holiday was due to hakhel, then the name would be related to hakhel. However, hakhel also involved many blessings, see Rambam, Laws of chagigah, 3:4. Finally, according to the version of the Mishnah Sotah 7:8 in the Bavli (Sotah 41a), and Bavel is where the holiday of Simhat Torah developed, hakhel took place on the night after the first day of Sukkot, so why was the holiday to remember hakhel on the ninth day of Sukkot?

Machzor Vitry (11th century, quoted in Yaari, p. 32) suggests two reasons for why Ve-zot ha-berakha is read on Simhat Torah. One, to connect the happiness of finishing the reading of the Torah to the happiness of Shemini Atzeret, and two, to connect the blessings of Moshe with the blessings that King Solomon gave to the people by the building of the first Bet ha-Mikdash which were understood to have been pronounced on the eighth day of Sukkot, Kings I, 8:55-66. Both suggestions are difficult since both imply that it that would have been more appropriate to read Ve-zot ha-berakha on Shemini Atzeret, instead of on the second day of Shemini Atzeret. Thus, the haftorah on Shemini Atzeret outside of Israel is Solomon’s blessing to the people, Va-yehi ke-chalot Shelemo, Kings I 8:54, Megillah 31A.

Yaari (p. 34) quotes from the Hida (Israel, 18th century) that Ve-zot ha-berakha is only read on the second day of Shemini Atzeret since we want to read about the festivals on the first day of Shemini Atzeret, which is definitely a holiday. On the second day, where the holiday is only because of our doubt concerning the calendar, we are able to read from the Torah something which does not mention Shemini Atzeret, namely Ve-zot ha-berakha. However, Yaari notes this is a difficult explanation since the Torah reading of Shemini Atzeret, kol ha-bechor, is read on the last days of Pesach and Shavuot which are also “doubtful days.” Furthermore, kol ha-bechor does not explicitly refer to the holiday of Shemini Atzeret.

Yaari quotes a second explanation from R. Shlomo Ben Ezra (Turkey, 17th century), that by the reading of the Torah on the holidays we try as best as possible to follow the written order of the Torah on the festivals. Thus as the reading of kol ha-bechor is from Devarim 15:19-16:17, this is read before Ve-zot ha-berakha which is from Devarim 33, 34. Yet, this idea of following the written order of the Torah is contradicted on the seventh day of Pesach in comparison to the sixth day of Pesach, and if the goal was to match the blessing of Moshe with the blessing of Solomon, then that should have been a sufficient reason to also break the rule.

A variation of R. Shlomo Ben Ezra’s reason is that the reading of the Torah had to be on the last day of the holiday because one cannot say that one finished reading the Torah, and then go back to read something from the middle of the Torah the next day since that would indicate that one did not really finish the reading. (The reading of the maftir does not count.) Thus, if we would read Ve-zot ha-berakha on Shemini Atzeret, and kol ha-bechor on the second day of Shemini Atzeret, then the reading of kol ha-bechor would indicate that we had not finished reading the Torah the previous day. Instead, once Ve-zot ha-berakha is followed by Bereshit, then we can say that the reading of Ve-zot ha-berakha was the completion of the annual reading of the Torah.

Yaari (p. 36) concludes with two other reasons. One, from R. Yisrael Yaakov Algazi and the Ran (14th century, on the Rif, Megillah) that we read Ve-zot ha-berakha on the second day of Shemini Atzeret to end all the holidays with Moshe’s blessing. Two, from the Levush (16th century), that we read Ve-zot ha-berakha on the second day of Shemini Atzeret to fool Satan as to when is the New Year.

My guess is that the Abarbanel is correct that the choice of Simhat Torah to finish the reading of the Torah is related to hakhel. It is not that the holiday of Simhat Torah is to remember hakhel or to re-enact hakhel in some way, but when Chazal had to decide when the Torah reading should end and begin, the law of hakhel was probably one of the deciding factors. Hakhel is the reading of the Torah, so this would make Sukkot an appropriate time to finish reading the Torah. With regard to establishing the reading on the ninth day of Sukkot instead of the second day of Sukkot or on Shemini Atzeret, this was probably done in order to minimize the interference with the rituals from the other days, as on Sukkot, we focus on the lulav and the sukkah, while on Shemini Atzeret, we have the special prayers for rain. The ninth day of Sukkot was "empty" and hence, by making the finishing of the Torah on this day it was not encroaching on any other day and it was giving the day and the completion of the reading of the Torah special significance. Yet, this would not preclude the people from calling the day the day of blessing since the Torah and initially the Haftorah referred to blessings.

Bibliography:

Yaari, Abraham, 1998, (first printed in 1964), The history of Simhat Torah, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook.