What Is Shemini Atzeret, Anyway?
We ask the experts about the High Holiday season’s least-understood festival
By Zachary Schrieber, Tablet Magazine
October 15, 2014
The Jewish High Holiday season can seem like one giant whirlwind of
atonement, matzoh ball soup, and relatives asking whether you’ve met any
nice girls lately. Plus, with the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the
intensity of Yom Kippur, the grand architecture of Sukkot, and the fun
of Simchat Torah, the low-key holiday of Shemini Atzeret—literally the
“eighth day of assembly”—can get easily overlooked.
The history and story behind Shemini Atzeret, too, is much
lesser-known than those of its fellow fall festivals. To help us
understand the under-appreciated Jewish holiday, We asked rabbis and
professors to explain Shemini Atzeret and its place within Judaism.
Professor Tzvi Novick, Abrams Chair of Jewish Thought and Culture at Notre Dame:
The Bible declares that the eighth day of Tabernacles should be a
holiday unto itself, separate from the holiday of Sukkot. Shmini Atzeret
marks the beginning of the rainy season for ancient Israel and also the
end of the holiday season.
Rabbi Ari Fridkis, Temple of Universal Judaism:
In ancient times, Shmini Atzeret was the final day of our fall
festival, which began with Rosh Hashanah, to celebrate the robust
harvest and welcome in a new year.
Rabbi David Gaffney, The Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue:
The Midrash says that, as the end of Sukkot approaches, God grows
lonely and asks that His people “spend one more day with Me as your
departure will sadden me.” Shemini Atzeret was then added as an extra
bonus holiday.
Fridkis: Hoshana Rabah, the day before Shmini
Atzeret, is the last day to confess sins, to clean up your act. In order
to leave on a happy note, one more holiday was added so everyone could
celebrate together one final time.
Novick: The holiday is also sort of one last chance
for atonement, which has been picked up on in the later liturgy. In
Israel, it also marks the reading of the final section of the Torah,
although outside of the Holy Land this has been pushed off to the next
day.
Gaffney: The holiday itself is also a fitting
conclusion to the emotional ups and downs of the previous couple of
weeks. On the one hand, many eat in the Sukkah and enjoy the
festivities, but at the same time there’s also a serious prayer service
to ask for rain, similar to the traditions of Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur. The holiday is truly a metaphor for the relationship between God
and the Jewish people and a triumphant culmination of the Jewish
holiday season.
