Simchat Torah evening is a and child-friendly holiday. After the regular holiday evening prayers, all the Torahs are taken from the . Members of the synagogue march or dance around the synagogue seven times with the Torahs. Each time around the synagogue, the people pray "Save us! Answer us on the day we call!" Sometimes the dancing moves from the synagogue to the street outside. Sometimes the dancing can go late into the evening, with extra songs and prayers added. One very common custom is for people—especially children—to march or dance with flags, sometimes with candles or apples on top. At the end of the dancing in most synagogues, a piece of the last Torah portion in Deuteronomy is read in public. In Orthodox and Conservative synagogues, the very end of Deuteronomy is not read at night. But in Reform synagogues, it sometimes is.
After the regular holiday morning prayers, the dancing and marching of the previous night are repeated. After that, every adult member of the synagogue is called to the Torah for an "aliyah" (honor), says blessings, and has several verses of the Torah read. Depending on the size of the synagogue, this can take a long time. Different synagogues have different ways to do this:
Once all eligible adults have received an honor, the celebration comes to its highest point. The last three honors go to distinguished members of the synagogue:
For all of these honors, the person honored stands under a "tallit" (prayer ) held open like the "ḥuppa," or , in a Jewish wedding.
In Israel, it has become common to add an extra night of celebration to Simchat Torah. This is called "Hakafot Shniyot" (Second Circuits). It happens on 23 Tishrei, the same night as Jews in the rest of the world celebrate Simchat Torah. This is a way for Jews around the world to show Jewish pride together. Because the holiday of Shemini Atzeret is over after one day in Israel, holiday restrictions do not apply. So "Hakafot Shniyot" can include things not normally allowed on Shabbat and Jewish holidays (like bands and photography).
The Torah states that it is a requirement for Jews to be happy on Sukkot. The Talmud writes that this requirement lasts for eight days—the seven days of Sukkot "and" Shemini Atzeret. As part of this, Hallel is said in synagogue during the morning prayers of Shemini Atzeret.
In Israel, this is the only practice from Sukkot that continues into Shemini Atzeret. In every other way Shemini Atzeret is a separate holiday with separate practices.
Outside Israel, this is complicated by the Jewish law of adding an extra day to every Biblical Jewish holiday except Yom Kippur. The holiday of Sukkot, which lasts seven days in Israel lasts eight days outside Israel. But the eighth day is also the first day of the separate holiday of Shemini Atzeret. Sometimes the rules for the two holidays conflict. Figuring out the conflicts can be complicated. But the general rule is that
In practice, what happens "only outside of Israel" is that
None of this happens on the second day of Shemini Atzeret (Simchat Torah), because it is no longer an extra day of Sukkot.
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