For [the] seven days [of Sukkot] you shall bring a fire offering to G‑d. On the eighth day, it shall be a holy convocation for you... It is a [day of] detention. (Leviticus 23:36)

The above verse describes the biblical commandment of the holiday called Shemini Atzeres. Shemini means eight and Atzeres means convocation.

Unlike every other holiday, (the three major festivals of Passover, Shavuos and Sukkos as well as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur) the Torah gives no reason for this holiday. The seventh day of Passover, also a holiday, celebrates the Jewish people going through the Sea of Reeds, unharmed.  What are we celebrating on Shemini Atzeres?

By incorporating the word Shemini, (eight), in its name, allows us to recognize that it is linked to the previous seven days of Sukkos. But nowhere is Sukkos referenced in the holiday, rather it is individually called Shemini Atzeres.

The holiday is a culmination of the High Holiday season. And these special days, which usher in the New Year, also reflect the annual experience of the cosmic matrimony between G-d and humanity.

The Hebrew month of Elul precedes the High Holidays. This month is described in Chassidic teachings as a time when “the King goes out to the field to meet with His people, greeting them with kindness and tenderness, displaying a joyous face to all.” Elul provides us the opportunity to get to know G-d.

All of existence was brought into being for the sake of this proposed marriage. If we refuse Him, then it was all in vain. The entire cosmos await our decision.

On the morning of Rosh Hashanah, a piercing sound rises from Earth; the cry of the shofar. It is a simple cry, expressing man’s yearning to connect with the Divine. Simplicity is certainly more critical in this case. We have decided. Our answer is yes.

The wedding day arrives; Yom Kippur. A day described in the Kabbalah as “the time of oneness,” after all, the holiday is call the day of at-one-ment in which cosmic bride and groom forge a bond for eternity. It is Jewish tradition, in fact, that on the day of their wedding, Groom and Bride actually fast. On the day we unite with G-d, we abstain from food or drink as well. The Talmud teaches that upon marriage, all the sins of the groom and bride are forgiven. That’s why this day is called Yom Kippur, “the day of atonement.”

A traditional Jewish marriage ceremony culminates with the bride and groom entering a secluded room to spend time alone with each other. Yom Kippur culminates with the Ne’ilah, or closure prayer, so called because as the sun of Yom Kippur sets, the gates of heaven close--with us inside. During Ne’ilah, every soul is alone with G-d.

When the bride and groom exit their private room, the party begins. From Yom Kippur we leap into the seven-day festival of Sukkot, described in the Torah as “the time of our Joy.” These days are filled with feasting and ecstatic happiness, celebrating the union between G-d and His people.

The wedding feast is over. The guests and relatives have returned home. In a consummation of the relationship, bride and groom experience intimacy for the first time, their lives melded together as a husband and wife.

Hence, following the seven days of Sukkos, we reach the zenith of the High Holiday season: Shemini Atzeres and Simchat Torah, described in the Kabbalah as the “time of intimacy with the Divine.” During these two charged days the joy reaches its peak, as G-d and His people merge into a seamless whole and a Divine seed is planted our hearts.

That is another reason why we recite special prayers for rain on the festival of Shemini Atzeres. In the midst of intimacy between heaven and earth, the rain symbolizes the procreative drops from heaven absorbed, fertilized and nurtured by mother-earth, which in time will give birth to its botanical children.

So Shemini, follows the seven days of celebrating Sukkos, but is its own holiday. Not celebrating a historical event, rather, it celebrates a current event. A day reserved for the celebration of being you – a partner of G-d.

Rabbi Pinchus Ciment

Rabbi Pinchus CIment was born in Boston, Massachusetts and moved to Little Rock with his wife Estie in 1992 to open the Arkansas offices of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, the largest Jewish organization in the world.

Rabbi Ciment is currently the longest serving Rabbi in the state.