Simchat Torah: Rejoicing in God’s instructions
Have you ever experienced a Simchat Torah celebration?
This was my first year truly celebrating with our new Messianic community of Jew & Gentile believers in Yeshua. And I can't explain how much JOY there was!
My Jewish friends know how to party, and I LOVE how we're throwing a party to celebrate our love of the Bible.
People holding a Torah scroll, dancing with joy during Simchat Torah (AI Image: The Ancient Way)
Simchat Torah is Hebrew for "Joy of the Torah." In Israel it's combined with Shemini Atzeret (the eighth day assembly). It's the eighth day and final day at the end of seven days of Sukkot. It’s a day of Sabbath rest, but also serves as the day that we reset our yearly Torah reading cycle in order to start afresh.
In our weekly Shabbat service, there's a moment where the Torah scroll is removed from the ark and carried around the room while everyone sings and claps with joy.
Simchat Torah is like the climax of this event at the end of the year. It's like taking the joy of that weekly moment and putting it all into one night.
As we've all just finished reading through the Torah for the yearly cycle, we collectively read from the final page of Deuteronomy and we open a new scroll to start all over again in Genesis.
God's words to us never end! And what do we do with this realization? We celebrate with joy!
The first seven days of Sukkot are complete, and it's like God gives us a bonus 8th day to celebrate Him, His words, and the life He gives us.
If Yeshua stood up on the seventh day and declared rivers of living water would flow out of the deepest place of our hearts, it's as if Simchat Torah on the eighth day is when they would experience the fullness of that joy.
The Spirit of the living God brings life and joy!
Everyone is dancing around the room, singing loudly and praising our Father and King.
We're celebrating His eternal covenant with the children of Israel.
His goodness that will never end!
We're doing this whole holding a Torah scroll—the very words of God given to Moses.
We're celebrating the Bible and it's such a fun party!
I can't even do it justice!
As this Sukkot season comes to a close, may our Father's joy be complete within you.
May you look forward to this next season as a fresh start, with hopeful expectation of how our Father will work.
And may you be full of His peace and joy!
If this sounds interesting, we’d love for you to join us in reading through the Torah over this next year. We believe it will deepen the way you read the Bible, and give you a new found perspective on a God who graciously chose and pursues His people out of His immense loving kindness.
Shalom 🙏 🙌
