12
votes
Accepted
Why do we do hosha'nos and hakafos counterclockwise?
Mishna Berura 660:1:3 says that when the Sefer Torah is on the Bimah those on the Mizrach (eastern wall) turn around to face the Torah their right side is now facing Tzafon (north) therfore they start ...
- 139k
8
votes
Accepted
Why are we repeating the Torah portion this week?
If the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls out on Monday or Tuesday (as it did this year):
Nitzavim alone is read on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah.
Vayeilech is read between Rosh Hashanah and Yom ...
- 34.1k
7
votes
Can women in niddah dance and hold a sefer Torah on Simkhat Torah?
There is a Rambam (Laws of Sefer Torah 10:8 based on Berakhot 22a) which explicitly permits niddot to touch a sefer Torah
Any impure person, even [a woman in] a niddah state or a gentile, may
...
- 47.8k
5
votes
Accepted
Why is dancing allowed on Simchas Torah?
from Halachipedia:
Tosfot (Beitzah 30a s.v. Tenan) writes that the gezerah of Chazal only
applied then when they were experts in fixing musical instruments
but it wouldn’t apply to us since we’re not ...
- 17.7k
4
votes
Why is dancing allowed on Simchas Torah?
Yalqut Yosef states (in Se'if 5) that Simhhat Torah was not part of the Rabbinic decree (of not clapping/dancing) to safeguard against fixing tools. He states that, out of honor for the Torah, HaZa"L ...
- 7,423
4
votes
Should we allow women to dance with a Torah on Simchas Torah?
R. Nachum Rabinovitch (Siach Nachum, no. 40) addresses this question. Assuming that the congregation and the rabbi do not object, he says there is no halakhic problem with this, as long as the sefer ...
- 14.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is V'Zot Habracha read on Simchat Torah instead of on Shabbat?
It looks like the original reading of V'Zot Habracha fluctuated in time based on the 3-year Torah reading cycle. As the Bavli custom of finishing the Torah every year took hold, the reading of the ...
- 47.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Burning "pulver" on Simchas Torah?
See here that פּולווער is gunpowder and here and here that it was common in some communities to light firecrackers on Simchat Torah.
- 7,490
4
votes
What are Hakafos Shniyos?
It's another 7 hakafot, but this time with live music.
At the ones i've been to, they do the standard hakafah opening verses (with Hashem's name -- it's just reciting psukim, at least in the Sfardi ...
- 23k
3
votes
Oldest Source for Simchas Torah Hakafos
According to this site, the Machzor Vitry (12th century) was the earliest source to mention hakafos -albeit in the morning, and the Maharam M'Rutenberg (13th century) was the first to record hakafos ...
- 13.8k
3
votes
Why do we change the Haftarah for Simchas Torah?
R. Asher Ben Yechiel cites the Jerusalem Talmud as the source for reading the beginning of Yehoshua as the haftarah:
Rosh Megillah 4:10
ביו"ט אחרון של חג קורין כל הבכור ומפטירין ויהי ככלות שלמה ...
- 49.1k
2
votes
Minhag of bothering the chazzan on Simchas Torah
"What is the source and when did it start?"
The questioner makes two "given"s. I propose there is no source. I cannot answer as to when it started (or a better word would be "begin to evolve).
As to ...
- 1,149
2
votes
Yiddish version of "Tov Li Toras Picha"
טוב לי תורת פיך מאלפי זהב וכסף
"The Torah of your mouth is better for me than thousands of gold and silver." (Tehillim 119:72)
עס איז בעסער צו לערנען די הייליגע תורה מער ווי אלע גאלד און זילבער
(...
- 139k
2
votes
Why is Birkas Kohanim Modified on Simchas Torah
The Halacha - in סימן קכח - דיני נשיאת כפים ואיזה דברים הפוסלים בכהן is that a Cohen chugged a Revi'is of wine or drank more than a Revi'is in multiple sips cannot do Birkas Kohanim until he sobers up....
- 42.8k
2
votes
Why is Birkas Kohanim Modified on Simchas Torah
I can answer question 1:
Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 128:38 rules that a Kohen cannot say Birkas Kohanim after drinking a small amount of wine (either a revi'is neat in one shot or more than a revi'is ...
- 41.7k
2
votes
Simchas Torah Song
I have heard that although the words for this song are attributed to the Zohar, the idea is from the Zohar, however the way the words are sung is based on the writings of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin in ...
- 139k
2
votes
Kriat hatorah simchat torah
Nitei Gavriel writes that when the Chazzan holds the Sefer Torah, the minhag is to add in the word ונורא to אחד אלהינו, just as one does on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
He then quotes sources that ...
- 6,175
2
votes
Can women in niddah dance and hold a sefer Torah on Simkhat Torah?
Q: Chacham Ovadia Mayaan Omer 3: pg.202 was asked a question coming from outside Eretz Yisroel. The question was can women dance with the sefer Torah?
A: Chacham Ovadia answered that they should not ...
- 41k
2
votes
Accepted
Origins of Hakafoth on Simchas Torah
According to this article found on the RCE's website, written by a certain רב ישראל פינחס טירנואר, the minhag of Hakafot began with the Arizal. The author supplies a supporting quote on page 6 of the ...
- 4,313
2
votes
Accepted
Simchas Torah Hakofos participation requirement
See Mishna Berura 669 sk 11:
...ולכן יש להתאמץ בזה לרקד ולזמר לכבוד התורה כמו שכתוב גבי דהע"ה מפזז ומכרכר בכל עוז לפני ד' וכ"כ משם האר"י ז"ל
והעידו על האר"י ז"ל שאמר שהמעלה העליונה שהשיג באה ...
- 22.7k
2
votes
Evolution of Simchas Torah Night reading
Strictly speaking the Torah should be read only in the daytime. But since the scrolls have already been removed from the Ark for the processions, some argue that there ought to be a reading so that ...
- 4,303
2
votes
Accepted
How much of the standard תורה service is done on שמחת תורה?
1. whether, after the nighttime hakafos and before the reading of the Torah, the congregation says "B'rich shmeh";
The לוח דבר בעתו on page 242 (תשע"א) says: Yes.
2. Same question for daytime;
The ...
- 42.8k
1
vote
When Shemini Atzeret is on Shabbat, do we do havdalah? Why?
Good question. Anytime a holiday starts on a Saturday night (whether Shabbat was itself a holiday or not), there are a few things that go on:
No prep for the holiday begins until Shabbat is fully ...
- 131k
1
vote
Why do we do hosha'nos and hakafos counterclockwise?
Everything done in a Beit Kenesset is modeled on the procedures as they were done in the Temple, "HaMikdash", in Jerusalem. That is why a synagogue is known as "Mikdash Me'at", a small Temple (...
- 14.2k
1
vote
What are Hakafos Shniyos?
Indeed, I noticed this interesting phenomena in Gan Hapa'amon ("Liberty Bell" Park) in Jerusalem when I was there in the mid 1980's. 3 Orthodox Israelis explained that the reasoning for this was a ...
- 70k
1
vote
What are Hakafos Shniyos?
When I was in Hebrew University, we had Yom Tov Sheni shel goliyos with Hakafos. There were Israelis who came and played music and danced as well.. It was mutar for them since it was not Yom Tov.
- 42.9k
1
vote
Why do we throw kids in the air on Simchas Torah?
I have seen in a Yeshiva on Simchas Torah that the bochurim sing the words משה אמת ותורתו אמת
and while singing jump up repeatedly, similar to throwing the children in the air.
Is the source of this ...
- 47.2k
1
vote
Author of the song Yom Simcha L'Yisrael
Its author is unknown. According to Rabbi Reuven Ochanah in one of his letters to Rabbi Moshe Buton on the subject of the song (here, pg. 5), he heard from Rabbi Moshe Tzedakah that the song was ...
- 24.8k
1
vote
Cholopshkes or stuffed cabbage on Simchas Torah
Actually, I believe "Rite and Reason" as well as what I heard from a Vishnitzer Chassid a few days ago confirmed that it is customary to eat "covered" foods several times per year:
Purim - the ...
- 70k
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