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Simhat Torah

People demonstrate for the release of all hostages held in the Gaza Strip at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, October 14, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
October 16, 2025, 5:02 pm
In Hostages Square, Simhat Torah holiday exposes divide over hostage release celebrations
While the final 20 living abductees were returned to Israel Monday, the remains of many still haven’t made it home, leaving their loved ones in limbo amid a bittersweet moment
By Deborah Danan
Bereaved mother Galit Dan speaks at the Bereaved Families Memorial Ceremony marking two years since the October 7, 2023, massacre, in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park, on October 7, 2025. (Benny Rutloy/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
October 8, 2025, 4:44 pm
As October 7 and Sukkot coincide, Israelis struggle to reconcile grief and joy
Communities and individuals struggle over how – and when – to mark one of the Hebrew calendar’s most festive holidays, now also one of its darkest days
By Deborah Danan
Val Kilmer in 'Top Secret!' (Screenshot)
April 5, 2025, 7:35 pm
‘That’s Simchas Torah’: Kilmer’s Jewish moment you might have missed
A look at a small but funny beat from the late actor’s 1984 debut film ‘Top Secret!’
By Grace Gilson
Jewish men carrying Torah scrolls dance by Israeli protesters calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, during the Simhat Torah holiday, on October 24, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
October 25, 2024, 3:02 am
Israelis mark Simhat Torah in Tel Aviv with dueling protests and celebrations
Hostage protesters, ultra-Orthodox revelers both gather to mark the holiday and Hebrew anniversary of Oct. 7; demonstrators also march near PM’s homes in Jerusalem and Caesarea
By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff
Illustrative image: A Jewish man carries a Torah scroll during Simhat Torah celebrations at Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, on October 21, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
October 24, 2024, 3:55 pm
Daily Briefing Oct. 24: Day 384 – An IDF rabbi weighs in on marking a difficult Simhat Torah
In a special holiday episode, we speak with Rabbi Avi Poupko, who is currently serving in the reserves in an IDF rabbinate unit along the border with Lebanon
By ToI Staff
Simchat Torah Across Brooklyn in 2021, in Grand Army Plaza. (Gili Getz via JTA)
October 24, 2024, 5:45 am
Brooklyn Jews divided since Oct. 7 attack reunite for annual Simhat Torah event
Cantor of synagogue that is the lead organizer of Simchat Torah Across Brooklyn hopes to include Jews from across religious and political spectrum by ‘putting Torah at the center’
By Luke Tress
Israeli military vehicles and tanks near the Gaza border, as they prepare to enter the Strip for a military operation, October 6, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
October 24, 2024, 12:42 am
Hezbollah fires rockets at Tel Aviv, year after Simhat Torah attack; IDF on alert at Gaza border
Report says troops preparing for possible Hamas rocket fire, attempt to carry out attack on Hebrew calendar anniversary of Oct. 7 atrocities
By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian
Hakafot — circular dances around the Torah — are a key ritual on the holiday of Simhat Torah. (Frank Rumpenhorst/picture alliance via Getty Images via JTA)
October 23, 2024, 11:56 pm
Jews around the world rethink joyous Simhat Torah holiday on mournful anniversary
Exactly one year on the Hebrew calendar after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, communities grapple with a seemingly irreconcilable commemoration
By jacob gurvis and Deborah Danan
IDF Reserve soldiers and Orthodox Jews take part in prayer and the weekly reading of a Torah Scroll at dawn just before a military exercise on the Golan Heights, April 1, 2024. (Michael Giladi/ Flash90)
October 23, 2024, 8:21 am
How Israeli Jews face the Simhat Torah holiday, forever marred by Oct. 7 massacre
Rabbis recommend muted celebrations, less festive meals and new liturgy, on the first anniversary of the Hamas atrocities that also celebrates completing the reading of the Torah
By Mati Wagner
Israelis take cover as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Lebanon, in Holon, October 14, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
October 16, 2024, 4:09 pm
After a year of war, how to get to the ‘day after’
Essential domestic and international components of a strategic approach
By David Horovitz
Rockets from Gaza seen from Kibbutz Yad Mordechai's historic battlefield on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
September 25, 2024, 5:13 pm
Aiming for resurrection and hope, southern kibbutz plans Oct. 7 memorial for Simhat Torah
Organizers of ceremony see the Gaza border community of Yad Mordechai as a symbol ‘that represents the might of the people’
By Jessica Steinberg
Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin dedicate a new Torah scroll to their son, hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin on July 18, 2024 (Courtesy)
July 22, 2024, 9:49 am
Family of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin dedicates new Torah scroll to his return
Scribe completes last 120 letters, each one inscribed for a remaining hostage in Gaza, while joined by hundreds of members of the family’s Jerusalem community
By Jessica Steinberg
Michal David holds the tip of a quill as Rabbi David Avraham writes the initials of her five grandchildren in a Torah scroll in Tel Aviv, Israel on November 27, 2023. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
December 13, 2023, 7:05 am
October 7 massacre spurs massive Torah scroll writing project
Thousands of Israeli Jews, including President Isaac Herzog, fill in letters on parchment to commemorate the 1, 200 dead and raise awareness for the 138 hostages still in captivity
By Canaan Lidor
Illustrative: Clergy and congregants sing 'Hatikvah,' Israel's national anthem, while holding Torah scrolls during a muted Simchat Torah service at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, October 7, 2023. (Screenshot via JTA)
October 8, 2023, 4:32 pm
Simhat Torah festivities across US muted by anxiety about war in Israel
Congregations hold prayer vigils and tone down celebrations amid preoccupation with unfolding conflict faced by Jewish state
By JTA
President Isaac Herzog hosts a Sukkot event for the public at his official residence in Jerusalem, October 3, 2023. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)
October 6, 2023, 2:24 pm
Herzog urges unity on Simhat Torah amid divisions over religion in public spaces
President calls on Israelis ‘to act with consideration, tolerance, respect and love’ during the Jewish holiday, with ‘no provocations, disturbances or fights’
By ToI Staff
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