Hakafot
Hakafot are joyful processions in Judaism in which congregants walk circles around the synagogue's bimah, especially on Simchat Torah—while dancing with the synagogue's Torah scrolls—and during Shacharit during Sukkot—while waving the four species. Performing hakafot is a minhag in Judaism, not an obligation mandated by Halakha or a mitzvah given in the Tanakh itself. Conservative rabbi Reuven Hammer, in Or Hadash, his commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals first published in 2003, hakafot—at least as they are recognized in contemporary Judaism—originated in Safed in the sixteenth century.
Hakafot symbolize communal harmony and the joy of learning Torah. Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, in a September 27, 2021, article published in the Jewish Journal, wrote: "We dance our Torahs in an act of gratitude, reaffirmation, and because we know in our bones that it is," referencing Proverbs 3:18, a tree of life to those who cling to it'." An account recorded in Joshua 6:3–20 describes the Israelites, led by Joshua, circumambulating the city of Jericho—a strategic walled city in ancient Canaan—once daily for six days. Each day, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant, a sacred chest representing God's presence, as they led the procession around the city walls. On the seventh day, the Israelites marched around Jericho seven times. During the final procession, the priests blew their shofars, and the people shouted in unison. Miraculously, the walls of Jericho collapsed, allowing the Israelite soldiers to breach the city. During the era of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, when Jewish officials sought to expand the Temple Mount, they would first surround the proposed expansion area with temporary boundaries, then gradually extend the land outward to enlarge the sacred space, ensuring proper religious and political procedures were observed.
On Sukkot
During the Shacharit prayers on the first day of Sukkot and the five intermediate days when work is permitted, a Torah scroll is taken from the Ark and held by one of the members of the congregation at the reader's platform. The other members of the congregation encircle the reader's platform once while holding the Four Species and sing the day's Hoshanot Piyyutim. Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of doing these Hakafot at the end of the Musaf prayers, while some Sefardi Jews have the custom of doing them before the Torah reading service. However, no Hakafot are done on Shabbat.On Hoshana Raba—the seventh, and final, day of Chol HaMoed—the Torah scroll is taken out and encircled like the previous days, yet is done so seven times in accordance with the encirclement of Jericho by the People of Israel. Likewise, in addition to the special Hoshanot Piutyim for Hoshana Raba, the congregation also sings the Hoshanot Piutyim of the other days.
On Simchat Torah
Custom
The custom of doing hakafot on Simchat Torah appears to have begun no earlier than the 15th century. From the times of the Rishonim, a custom of taking the Torah scroll out on Hoshana Rabbah and Simchat Torah is recorded by the Maharil, "the father of Ashkenazi custom":The Rema, in the 16th century, records the custom of doing hakafot and the joy that accompanies the removal of the Torah scrolls from the Ark.
Though hakafot are now common in Israel communities, they were once resisted or not practiced in some Western European communities. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Geiger notes in his book "Diveri Kohelet", that the custom of Ashkenazi Jews was not to do Hakafot. 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.
Order of Hakafot
Hakafot are held 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".In every round of Hakafot, the reader, or another congregation member, 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 holding 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, and the congregation sings a sad nigun. The Modzitz Hasidim sing the song "Ani Ma'amin" 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 Tishri and in the Diaspora on the 23rd of Tishri. 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 and some Sephardic communities. Yet some oppose this custom, fearing that it will belittle Second Day Yom Tov of the Diaspora.
Second Hakafot
At the conclusion of the holiday and the beginning of the Second Day Yom Tov of 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 that 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 participate 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 Zvi 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.
Hakafot of the groom