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For hotels in Jerusalem in particular, occupancy was at 100% capacity as thousands of Jews from throughout the world made a modern pilgrimage to Israel's holy and eternal capital on the first of the three yearly festivals.
Among the highlights that drew the thousands of Diaspora Jews during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday were the following:
The traditional, massive Priestly Blessings at the Western Wall (pictured above) attracted a record number of Jews on Monday, Oct. 9th to the wall outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The ceremony has become a tradition ever since the liberation of the Temple Mount during the 1967 Six-Day War, and is seen as an observance of the Jewish obligation to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple three times a year, on Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). During the weeklong Pesach and Sukkot holidays, the ceremony is held on the second of the intermediate days of the festival.
Attending this special holiday prayer service at the Western Wall were Chief Rabbis of Israel Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger, as well as Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. Rabbi Rabinovitch told Arutz-7 that Monday's priestly blessing marked the largest such gathering for prayers at the site since the first Sukkot after the Six Day War.
The IDF Central Command Rabbinate and HaAgudah LeMa'an HaChayal (Friends of the IDF) sponsored "Operation v'Samachta b'Chagecha" (Rejoice in Your Festival) wherein a number of traditional Beit HaShoeva celebrations were organized for combat battalions that recently returned from Lebanon. In a show of Jewish unity, busloads of Diaspora Jews from the U.S., organized by the OU Israel Center, joined the soldiers to spread the holiday joy with singing and dancing and distribution of many hundreds of gift packages to the soldiers.
The largest such event took place in Karmei Tzur where an armored battalion joined with the residents of the Gush Etzion community together with their OU guests for a remarkably joyous holiday celebration.
As if to sign off on a remarkable Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah, hundreds of thousands of Jews throughout Israel celebrated in public squares a second night of dancing with Torah scrolls. Outside Israel, the Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah holiday is two days long, such that the dancing with Torah scrolls serves to symbolically link Israeli Jews with their brethren in the Diaspora.
According to tradition, the second night of celebrations in Israel began among the Kabbalists of 16th century Tzfat (Safed), who would take all the Torah scrolls out of the synagogue ark at the end of the Simchat Torah holiday and repeat the seven-cycle procession around the reading platform, as was done on the holiday itself. Nowadays, the second night of celebrations, called Hakafot Sh'niyot, is accompanied in most Israeli cities by live music and is attended by local and national political and rabbinical leaders.
In Jerusalem, the main celebration of the Hakafot Sh'niyot was in the capital's Liberty Bell Park. Named for its replica of the American Liberty Bell, it was an apt location for the more than 15,000 Israeli and Diaspora Jews who came to joyously dance and sing together for hours into the night with the many Torah scrolls provided by The Jerusalem Great Synagogue.
Organized by Heichal Shlomo in conjunction with the Jerusalem Municipality and sponsored by Jean and Eugen Gluck of New York, the Liberty Bell Park Hakafot Sh'niyot has become one of Jerusalem's major annual events that, in the words of a prominent Diaspora Jewish leader in attendance, "so symbolizes both the unity and vitality of the Jewish People."
For hotels in Jerusalem in particular, occupancy was at 100% capacity as thousands of Jews from throughout the world made a modern pilgrimage to Israel's holy and eternal capital on the first of the three yearly festivals.
Among the highlights that drew the thousands of Diaspora Jews during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday were the following:
The traditional, massive Priestly Blessings at the Western Wall (pictured above) attracted a record number of Jews on Monday, Oct. 9th to the wall outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The ceremony has become a tradition ever since the liberation of the Temple Mount during the 1967 Six-Day War, and is seen as an observance of the Jewish obligation to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple three times a year, on Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). During the weeklong Pesach and Sukkot holidays, the ceremony is held on the second of the intermediate days of the festival.
Attending this special holiday prayer service at the Western Wall were Chief Rabbis of Israel Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger, as well as Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. Rabbi Rabinovitch told Arutz-7 that Monday's priestly blessing marked the largest such gathering for prayers at the site since the first Sukkot after the Six Day War.
The IDF Central Command Rabbinate and HaAgudah LeMa'an HaChayal (Friends of the IDF) sponsored "Operation v'Samachta b'Chagecha" (Rejoice in Your Festival) wherein a number of traditional Beit HaShoeva celebrations were organized for combat battalions that recently returned from Lebanon. In a show of Jewish unity, busloads of Diaspora Jews from the U.S., organized by the OU Israel Center, joined the soldiers to spread the holiday joy with singing and dancing and distribution of many hundreds of gift packages to the soldiers.
The largest such event took place in Karmei Tzur where an armored battalion joined with the residents of the Gush Etzion community together with their OU guests for a remarkably joyous holiday celebration.
As if to sign off on a remarkable Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah, hundreds of thousands of Jews throughout Israel celebrated in public squares a second night of dancing with Torah scrolls. Outside Israel, the Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah holiday is two days long, such that the dancing with Torah scrolls serves to symbolically link Israeli Jews with their brethren in the Diaspora.
Jerusaelm Hakafot Event sponsor Eugen Gluck shaking hands with Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar
According to tradition, the second night of celebrations in Israel began among the Kabbalists of 16th century Tzfat (Safed), who would take all the Torah scrolls out of the synagogue ark at the end of the Simchat Torah holiday and repeat the seven-cycle procession around the reading platform, as was done on the holiday itself. Nowadays, the second night of celebrations, called Hakafot Sh'niyot, is accompanied in most Israeli cities by live music and is attended by local and national political and rabbinical leaders.
In Jerusalem, the main celebration of the Hakafot Sh'niyot was in the capital's Liberty Bell Park. Named for its replica of the American Liberty Bell, it was an apt location for the more than 15,000 Israeli and Diaspora Jews who came to joyously dance and sing together for hours into the night with the many Torah scrolls provided by The Jerusalem Great Synagogue.
Mr. Eugen Gluck (right) dancing with young celebrants at the central Jerusalem Hakafot Shniyot
Organized by Heichal Shlomo in conjunction with the Jerusalem Municipality and sponsored by Jean and Eugen Gluck of New York, the Liberty Bell Park Hakafot Sh'niyot has become one of Jerusalem's major annual events that, in the words of a prominent Diaspora Jewish leader in attendance, "so symbolizes both the unity and vitality of the Jewish People."