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The Festivals and Events in Israel cover the Jewish calendar in a succession of occasions, both religious and social. A major festival in Israel is the Shemini Atzeret and the Simchat Torah which the country celebrates with spirit to commemorate a tradition which the Jews had been following since the Biblical era. Shemini Atzeret and the Simchat Torah is an occasion which the Jewish community observes immediately after the week of Sukkot each year in October. The festival is marked with a spirit of gaiety unlike most of the Jewish events, and though prayers and rituals form an intrinsic part of the event, the Jews observe the festival with a joyousness that extends from the Sukkot. Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are usually observed in the same day in Israel, though the orthodox members seek to assign a separate day for Simchat Torah. The event is then observed on the day following the Shemini Atzeret, thus stretching the Sukkot for a total of nine days. As the day commemorates a happy event, feasting and merriment form an inherent part of the day. With numerous people fleeting out of the synagogues to celebrate the holiday, Israel dons itself in a vibrant spirit of festivity. As the Sukkot symbolizes the exodus to Jerusalem, the Shemini Atzeret is an occasion for rejoicing the return of the Jews from the holy city after paying their homage there for a good harvest. Since the day is a time for home coming, the Jews today celebrate the event by returning home from the booths they had constructed for the Sukkot. For the first time after an entire week the family dines at their own homes, naturally rejoicing sumptuous feasts and gatherings. As the period signals the beginning of the rainy season of Israel, the ritual in Shemini Atzeret naturally includes a prayer for sufficient shower. The Simchat Torah has a separate set of rituals as it marks the end of a cycle of Torah and the beginning of a new cycle of the reading. As the entire Jewish community gathers in the synagogues to hear the Torah being completed, the day is concluded with dancing and celebrating the cycle of life.
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