On Simchat Torah, we celebrate the completion of one cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of another.
Simchat Torah Celebration and Service
Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, 6:30 p.m.
Experience one of the most joyful holidays of the year as our Temple Beth Shalom community gathers to celebrate Simchat Torah! Enjoy an evening filled with spirited dancing with the Torah, uplifting services, and so much more!
Yizkor Service
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, 8 a.m., on Zoom (see Links for Members webpage)
Join us for a memorial Yizkor service. Four times per year we honor the memory of those who died; the final day of Sukkot is one of these moments. Please join us for this hour of memory as we remember people dear to use and bring comfort to the bereaved. In order to be accessible to everyone in our congregation, these services are conducted twice per year, with a year in person and on livestream, and twice per year on Zoom only. This year is on Zoom only.
Donate to Our Tree of Life
Simchat Torah is also a meaningful time to donate to our Tree of Life at Temple Beth Shalom.The Tree of Life hangs on the wall of our lobby, where it honors s'machot, joyous sacred moments, and relationships within our temple family. As we move forward with optimism to another year of Torah reading, financial support of our Tree of Life is one way to support and nourish our community.
About Simchat Torah
Immediately following Sukkot, we celebrate Sh'mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, a fun-filled day during which we celebrate the completion of the annual reading of the Torah and affirm Torah as one of the pillars on which we build our lives.
As part of the celebration, it is customary for the Torah scrolls to be taken from the ark and carried or danced around the synagogue seven times.
During the Torah service, the concluding section of the fifth book of the Torah, D'varim (Deuteronomy), is read, and immediately following, the opening section of Genesis, or B'reishit as it is called in Hebrew, is read. This practice represents the cyclical nature of the relationship between the Jewish people and the reading of the Torah.