Shemini Atzeret – Is It Sukkot, or Isn’t It?

In one place, the Torah describes Sukkot as lasting seven days (Deut. 16:13–15). Similarly, the mitzvot of lulav and etrog and of dwelling in a sukkah are explicitly commanded for seven days (Lev. 23:34, 42). Elsewhere, however, the Torah speaks of the eighth day of Sukkot as Atzeret – “the Assembly” (Lev. 23:35–36). And in yet another passage, it is called simply “the eighth day,” while being clearly distinguished from the preceding seven days (Num. 29:35).

The rabbis saw in this distinction between Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret a profound message. During the seven days of Sukkot, seventy bulls were offered as sacrifices, while on Shemini Atzeret only a single bull was offered. This difference in the sacrifices led to the following parable:

Rabbi Alexandri told the parable of a king whose son had an occasion for rejoicing. Throughout the seven days of feasting, the king’s son was occupied with the guests. But when the seven days of feasting had come to an end, the king said to his son: “My son, I know that throughout the seven days of feasting you were occupied with the guests. Now let you and me rejoice together for one day, and I shall not burden you further, except to ask you for one bullock and one ram.”

So too, throughout the seven days of Sukkot, Israel is occupied with offerings for the nations of the world. As Rabbi Phinehas said: “All those seventy bullocks that Israel offers during Sukkot are on behalf of the seventy nations of the world.” After the seven days of Sukkot had come to an end, the Holy One said to Israel: “My children, I know that throughout Sukkot’s seven days you were occupied with offerings for the nations of the world. Now let you and Me rejoice together, and I shall not burden you greatly, except to ask you for one bullock and one ram.” When Israel heard God speak thus, they began to praise the Holy One, saying: “This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). (Adapted from Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 28:9, Mandelbaum ed., p. 432.)

The takeaway from this midrash is that Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret are one that are two, or two that are one.

On Sukkot, the children of Israel express their concern for the nations of the world. The holiday has a universal dimension: it reminds Jews that God’s concern extends beyond Israel to all of humanity. The seventy bulls symbolize the seventy nations of the world, and Israel’s worship during Sukkot embraces the entire human community.

But Shemini Atzeret introduces another dimension. After turning outward toward the nations of the world, Israel turns inward. The intimate relationship between God and Israel comes once again to the foreground. Shemini Atzeret reminds us that the Jewish people cannot sustain their concern for the world unless they also maintain their own identity as Jews and nourish their own particular covenant with God.

For a Jew, these two visions are not at odds with one another. They are complementary. Judaism calls upon us both to recognize our particular obligations as Jews and to remain concerned with the fate of humanity as a whole. Sukkot looks outward; Shemini Atzeret draws us back home.

Perhaps that is why Shemini Atzeret is both part of Sukkot and not quite part of Sukkot. It is the eighth day of the festival, yet it stands apart from the seven days that precede it. It is, in a sense, the culmination of Sukkot precisely because it gives us a different kind of relationship with God: after seven days spent in the presence of the world, we are invited to spend one more day simply rejoicing together with God.

Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret are therefore not competing visions. They are two dimensions of Jewish existence: to be a particular people, and yet to remain part of the universal human family.