Simchat Torah, also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei.
Torah reading is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is also commonly called "laining".
Reform Judaism, formally the Movement for Reform Judaism (MRJ) and known as Reform Synagogues of Great Britain until 2005, is one of the two World Union for Progressive Judaism–affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom. Reform is relatively traditional in comparison with its smaller counterpart, Liberal Judaism, though it does not regard Jewish law as binding. As of 2010, it was the second-largest Jewish religious group in the United Kingdom, with 19.4% of synagogue-member households. On 17 April 2023, Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism announced their intention to merge as one single unified progressive Jewish movement. The new movement, which may be called Progressive Judaism, will represent about 30% of British Jewry who are affiliated to synagogues.
The West London Synagogue, abbreviated WLS, and fully the West London Synagogue of British Jews is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located near Marble Arch, at 34 Upper Berkeley Street, in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England, in the United Kingdom.
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, abbreviated as LJS, is a Liberal Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in St John's Wood, in the City of Westminster, London, England, in the United Kingdom.
Beit Ha'Chidush, abbreviated as BHC is a Progressive Jewish congregation, located in Amsterdam, in the North Holland region of The Netherlands. The congregation was founded in 1995 by predominately expatriate Jews with secular and religious backgrounds who wanted to create a welcoming, inspiring and renewed Jewish congregation.
The Olomouc Synagogue was a former Orthodox Jewish synagogue, located in Olomouc, in the Czech Republic. The synagogue was built in 1897 and was destroyed during a Nazi attack in March 1939.
Tempel Synagogue was a Progressive Jewish synagogue, located at the Old Market Square 14 in Lviv, at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; and, since 1991, now in Ukraine. Lviv was one of the first Galician cities to have a modernized synagogue. The synagogue was destroyed by Nazi Germany in 1941, following Operation Barbarossa.
The Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, in the United Kingdom.
The Exeter Synagogue is a Jewish synagogue, located in Synagogue Place, Mary Arches Street, in the old city of Exeter, Devon, England, in the United Kingdom. Established in the 1720s as the Exeter Hebrew Congregation, an Orthodox congregation that worshiped in the Ashkenazi rite, the congregation has been led by laity since c. 1990s, and caters to all shades of Judaism including Reform, Liberal, Masorti and other Jewish denominations.
Congregation Kol Ami is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue in Frederick, Maryland, in the United States.
Beth Shalom Reform Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Auckland Road, in the City of Cambridge, England, in the United Kingdom.
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah ("CBST") is a non-denominational, pluralistic, progressive LGBTQ+ Jewish synagogue located at 130 West 30th Street, in Manhattan New York City, New York, United States.
The Westminster Synagogue is an independent Progressive Jewish congregation and synagogue, located near Hyde Park, in Central London, England, in the United Kingdom. The synagogue is located in Kent House, a restored Victorian town house in Knightsbridge. The building, which dates from the late 1800s, also houses the Czech Memorial Scrolls Centre.
Hakafot ; Hakafah —meaning "[to] circle" or "going around" in Hebrew—are a Jewish minhag (tradition) in which people walk or dance around a specific object, generally in a religious setting.
Belsize Square Synagogue is a continental Liberal Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Belsize Park, Hampstead, in the Borough of Camden, London, England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation is independent of the two Progressive (Reform) Jewish movements in the United Kingdom, drawing from the worship tradition of German Liberal Judaism.
Mosaic Reform Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Stanmore, in the Borough of Harrow, England, in the United Kingdom.
Temple Israel, also known as the Cape Town Progressive Jewish Congregation (CTPJC), is a Progressive Jewish congregation in Cape Town, with three centres in Green Point, Wynberg and Milnerton. As three centres combined, they are the largest Progressive congregation in South Africa, and the second largest Jewish congregation in Cape Town after Marais Road Shul in Sea Point. The congregation first started in Green Point in 1944, eight years after South Africa's first progressive synagogue, also Temple Israel, opened in Hillbrow in Johannesburg. The Cape Town congregation caters to over 3000 Progressive Jews in the city. The congregation is an affiliate of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism, which is part of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). The congregation represents around 18% of Cape Town Jewry.
Temple Beth Israel (TBI) is a synagogue affiliated with Progressive Judaism in St Kilda, an inner seaside suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The organisation is a member of the Union for Progressive Judaism, an umbrella organisation for Progressive Judaism in Asia and the Pacific.
