Stay One More Day

Shemini Atzeret is the eighth and concluding day of the festival of Sukkot. Because we live in the diaspora, we celebrate it a day later than it is celebrated in Israel, as a kind of extra festival day preceding Simchat Torah.

Unlike every other Jewish holiday, there are no observances for Shemini Atzeret: no texts to read, no sounds to listen to, no special foods to eat. We have come through an intense period of prayer and personal introspection (Elul and the High Holidays) and the pleasantness of the third harvest festival (Sukkot). It is as if there is nothing more to do, and we are about to leave this period, but we are lingering for a moment, and God also says, "Please, stay just a little longer."