Shemini Atzeret: Stay A Little Longer!

And Play Some Bluegrass! The Holiday of Sukkot is almost behind us. Today we celebrate Hoshana Rabba (see The Great Hosanna), which is technically the seventh day of the Festival of Booths.

And tomorrow is the Holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Assembly. In the Land of Israel, it's also Simchat Torah; here in חו״ל (the Diaspora), Simchat Torah follows Shemini Atzeret.

We all know what Simchat Torah means. But what about Shemini Atzeret?

As it turns out - חז״ל (Our Sages, of blessed memory) also had a problem with Shemini Atzeret.

• In some ways, Shemini Atzeret is the Eighth, Concluding Day of Sukkot. Why else would 'Eighth' be its very name? But Pesach also has concluding days - known simply as Pesach 7 (and in the Diaspora) Pesach 8.
  
• And in other ways, Shemini Atzeret is its very own holiday. For example: we are not required to eat / dwell in the Sukkah on Shemini Atzeret. We are allowed to (of course) - but we don't have to. And we already wrecked our Lulav and Etrog on Hoshana Rabba. As Chabad tells us:

The day after the seventh day of Sukkot ...  is a mysterious Jewish holiday. In some respects, Shemini Atzeret is considered as part of Sukkot, but in other respects it is a distinct holiday unto itself. 

The enigmatic nature of the day is perhaps most overt in the way the Torah introduces it. 

After Sukkot, during which all nations, Jews and non-Jews, celebrated and brought sacrificial offerings to the Temple, G‑d makes a special request of the Jewish people (Leviticus 23:36):

On the eighth day [from the start of Sukkot], it shall be an atzeret to you . . .

The commentator Rashi elaborates that the term atzeret, literally “holding back,” is one of affection, as a father would say to his children who are departing him: 

Your departure is difficult for me. Please stay with me for just one more day!

After all the other nations have gone home, G‑d asks the Jewish people to “hold back” for one more day of celebration—Shemini Atzeret.

Which of course brings to what is left, after all these years, of Abq Jew's mind - the Bob Willis-Tommy Duncan Western swing song Stay A Little Longer.

Here performed by the award-winning bluegrass band The Grascals (formerly Dolly Parton's back-up band and opening act).

Featuring (on banjo, of course) Kristin Scott Benson, this year's winner of the Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin) Prize of Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.

“My family and I are overwhelmed with gratefulness! Getting to know my banjo heroes, many of whom are on the board, is prize enough, but Steve Martin’s graciousness is a huge blessing. We don’t know how to adequately say thank you for something like this!”
Kristin Scott Benson, 2018 Steve Martin Prize
for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Recipient

Hag Sameach, New Mexico!

Good Yontif, Albuquerque!

and next week ... 5 days of work!