New Holiday editions: The first fruits of 5772

[Gabi Spiewak]

Chag Sameach!

[Shimon Niren]

Good erev Yom Tov. Regarding the source of simchas torah; can you please explain what the source is better? Is it that just because Hashem loves our love for Torah and that we finnish the Torah that we make the day into a yomtov?

On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 12:03 PM, Gabi Spiewak wrote:

 Chag Sameach!

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[Michael Poppers]

On Oct 19, 2:01 pm, Shimon Niren <fishhead...@optonline.net> wrote:
> Good erev Yom Tov. Regarding the source of simchas torah; can you please
> explain what the source is better? Is it that just because Hashem loves
> our love for Torah and that we finnish the Torah that we make the day
> into a yomtov?
>

When I 'Google' "simchas torah origin", a lot of interesting Webpages
are listed. I would especially highlight http://kehillatisrael.net/chagim/sukkot/simchat_torah.html
and the "What is the history or origin of Simchat Torah ?" section of
http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/passover/simchat-torah/what-is-simchat-torah.html
.

Personally, I've always wondered why minhag eretz Yisrael is to squish
the ST celebration into the one-day Chag of Shmini Atzeres. ST began
as a celebration on the 2nd day of ShmAtz chutz laAretz, and I have to
ask whether its concept is really that tied to ShmAtz that in e'Y' it
couldn't instead be celebrated on Shabbos P'B'reishis (by first
leining from the end of the Torah and then celebrating the completion
[and renewal] of the annual reading cycle). I think ShmAtz suffers
from ST being celebrated on the same [one] day. Perhaps those who
have been baAretz over ShmAtz/ST can best speak to the issue....

Best wishes for
a Gut Voch and Gut Chodesh
from Michael Poppers * Elizabeth, NJ, USA