With Sh'mini Atzeres we take leave of Sukkos, eventhough it is a separate holiday, we are still sitting and eating in our Sukkah, we are not reciting the blessing. On both nights women and girls light the candles. Shemini Atzeres and Simchas are a two -day holiday in diaspora, in Israel it is a one- day holiday.
In the morning there are special services, the Yizkor and a special rain service. Geshem which we recite during the morning service and after the Torah reading the Yitzkor and with this prayer we are recalling our deceased family members, for the ones who still have parents who are alive, they should leave this part of the service for a short while.
The Torah readings are from Vayikra 22-23, Bamidbar 29 and Devarim 14, these readings together are the laws of the Moed and the celebration of our bond that we have with HaShem, and with the mitzvah of dwelling in our Sukkah
With Shemini Azteres and Simchas Torah we are still in our Sukkah, but without the blessings.
Simchas Torah
With V'zot HaBerachah we are at the end of annual Torah readings, and how the last words reveals what the Torah is really about, with celebrations of the re-giving of the Torah on Simchas Torah is the day of joy in oness with the Torah and the Jewish people.
We are celebrating completing the annual circle Torah reading, three Torah scrolls are taken from the ark and placed on the Bima, the first scroll we read is V'zos HaBerachah, the second one we read is the first section of Bereishis and the third one is from Bamidbar 29:35-30:1. After the readings we are singing and dancing around the Bimah with the Torah Scroll, this is Hakafos and is done twice, on the night before Simchas Torah and with Simchas Torah morning service, starts with verses from Tehillim, blessings and Amidah, the blessings are held during the Amidah and the Shacharis service, the blessings are known as Birkas Kohanim. It is the custom for men to wear their prayer shawls, and small children can stand under or be with their fathers Tallis during these blessings, like on erev Simchas Torah there are blessings and special Torah readings for the day,the morning service fallows with men being called up by the their Hebrew name to the Bimah, each men will recite a blessing while they are holding the Atzei Chayim of the Torah, after every blessing we say omeyn, each of these blessing is reffering as a Aliyah, as there will be a Minyan and probaly even more men ,meaning when we are short of Aliyah's, we can solve this, by more readings to renew more Aliyah's
The one to six Aliyah will cover the final Parsha of the Torah, V'zos HaBrachah
The third and fourth Aliyah are for men who has not been called up, due to not having bought a specific Aliyah.
The fifth Aliyah is known as Kol HaNe'arim and is very special, where children are been called up to the Torah, this can only be done by someone who purchase this Aliyah.
The Sixth Aliyah is the greatest honor of all, as it contains the final words of the Torah, this is the Chatan Torah, which means the Groom of the Torah.
Now we finished the Torah, and are ready to renew our annual reading circle, for the person who gets this Aliyah, it is a great honor to be the Chatan Bereishis which means Groom of Bereishis he is called up to the Torah with a poem full of praises, just like with the Chatan Torah.
We now come to the final aliyah, which is known as the Maftir, and covers a small portion of Bamidbar, whoever gets the Maftir will chant a portion of the prophets from the book, this is known as Haftorah.
And finally the Hagbah, wich means raising the Torah, so can come closer to read the words of the Torah.