How to Greet Someone on Simchat Torah

Traditional hellos for the holiday that celebrates the cycle of Torah reading.

Jews read their central sacred text, the Torah, on a yearly cycle. Each week, a designated section (called a portion or parsha) of the Torah is read. That yearly cycle of about 50 portions is completed, and restarts, on the holiday of Simchat Torah — literally “joy of the Torah.”

There are no Simchat Torah-specific greetings, but the usual Jewish holiday greetings are appropriate for this day. They are:

  • chag sameach (khahg sah-MAY-akh), which literally means ‘happy holiday’
  • gut yontiff (goot YUHN-tiff), a yiddishized version of the Hebrew phrase yom tov meaning ‘good day’ and referring to any major holiday on which work is traditionally forbidden

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