Hakafot

The custom of Hakafot on Simchat Torah appears to have begun no earlier than the 15th century.[1] From the times of the Rishonim the custom was recorded of taking the Torah scroll out on Hoshana Raba and Simchat Torah. The Maharil (Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin), "the father of Ashkenazic custom", writes: "Before taking out the Torah scroll, the reader says the line 'You showed' (אתה הרית) and the congregation answers with each verse. And when he reaches the line 'The Torah shall come forth from Zion' (כי מציון תצא תורה), the Torah is removed from the Ark." The Rema (Moses Isserles), in the 16th century, records the custom of Hakafot and the joy that accompanies the removal of the Torah scrolls from the Ark.

Even though the practice of Hakafot is done in most communities in Israel, in the past it was not an accepted custom in some Western European communities and was sometimes strongly resisted. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Geiger notes in his book "Diveri Kohelet" (an important source for the customs of the Jewish community of Frankfurt), that the custom of Ashkenazi Jews was not to do Hakafot and he chastised whoever tried to do Hakafot, as was the custom of Poland. Likewise, the four communities of the "Provence Customs" did not accept the custom of Hakafot.

Hakafot are held (in most communities) at night, at the end of the Maariv prayers and during the day in the Shacharit prayers, either before or after the Torah reading. Today, the practice is to extend the Hakafot of Simchat Torah and bring singing and dancing with the Torah scrolls throughout the synagogue. All of the Torah scrolls are taken from the Ark, and members of the congregation circle the reader’s platform seven times or more as they carry the Torah scroll with them and say the Piuyt "God of the winds, save us now" (אלוהי הרוחות הושיע נא).

In every round of Hakafot the reader, or another member of the congregation, walks at the front of the procession and reads verses of prayer arranged alphabetically along with the congregation. At the end of these verses the congregation erupts in song and dance with the Torah scrolls. Children take part in Hakafot by carrying tiny Torah scrolls or special flags decorated with the symbols of the holiday, and adults entertain the children by dancing and carrying the children on their shoulders. In the Diaspora, there is a custom to put an apple with a lit candle on the flag.

In some communities and the Hasidic world there is a custom to observe "The Sixth Hakafa" in remembrance of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. During this Hakafa, all the Torah scrolls are placed on the Bima and covered with a Talit (during "Second Hakafot" after the holiday they also dim the lights of the synagogue) and the congregation sings a sad nigun. The Modzitz Hasidim sing the song "Ani Ma'amin" [I believe in the coming of the Messiah] of Azriel-David Fastig—a Modzitz Hasid who wrote the tune in a traincar on the way to Treblinka—which is closely identified with The Holocaust.

In Israel, Hakafot are held on the 22nd of Tisheri (Shemini Atzeret) and in the Diaspora on the 23rd of Tisheri (Simchat Torah). However, in some congregations in the Diaspora there is a custom to do Hakafot both on Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. This custom is accepted by some Hasidic communities (for example the Chabad Hasidim) and some Sefardi communities. Yet there are those who oppose this custom out of fear that it will belittle Second Day Yom Tov of the Diaspora.

At the conclusion of holiday and the beginning of the Second Day Yom Tov of the Diaspora (Simchat Torah in the Diaspora), there is a custom in Israel to do Second Hakafot, during which people go into the streets with Torah scrolls and dance another time. The source of this custom is attributed to Rabbi Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, who described the customs of his teacher, Isaac Luria, in Safed. Vital explains Luria had the custom to visit a number of synagogues after Simchat Torah, which delayed the end of the prayer services and did Hakafot. From there the custom spread to Hebron and the Beit El Synagogue in Jerusalem, and subsequently spread to other congregations in Jerusalem before becoming accepted across Israel. The custom spread from Israel to communities in Italy and the Near East—Turkey, Baghdad, Persia, Kurdistan, and India.

Aside from Luria, additional reasons are recorded:

• A connection with the Diaspora, which was beginning celebration at the same time
• After the conclusion of the holiday, one is allowed to play instruments and more people can therefore take part in the celebration, upholding the idea that "with more people comes a greater blessing of God".
• A source for the custom today comes from Rabbi Frankel, a Rabbi in Tel Aviv during the British Mandate, who initiated Second Hakafot in Tel Aviv in 1942 at the conclusion of Simchat Torah in solidarity with the Jews of Europe who were destined for a great tragedy.
• At the end of the 1950s, people on Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi began the custom of Second Hakafot to connect the irreligious kibbutzim with the experiences of their neighbors, and its successes caused Bnei Akiva branches in large cities to adopt the practice. After the Six-Day War and the changes within the religious-nationalist community, the custom spread across the country. It became a proposal of synagogues, community centers, Yeshivas, and community councils.