(א) בְּהַאי יוֹמָא מִסְתַּיְּימֵי דִּינָא. וּבְגִין כָּךְ בָּעֵינָן לְבַטְּשָׁא לוֹן בְּאַרְעָא, וּלְסַיְימָא לוֹן דְּלָא מִשְׁתַּכְחוּ, דְּהַאי יוֹמָא אִתְּעָרוּתָא וְסִיּוּמָא הוּא. וְעַל דָּא אִתְּעָרוּתָא וְסִיּוּמָא הוּא דְּעַבְדִינָן בְּעַרְבֵי נַחַל.
This is the final day of judgment for water, source of all blessings (Levush). On the seventh day of Sukkot the judgement of the world is finalized and the edicts are sent forth from the King.
(לו) שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֔ים תַּקְרִ֥יבוּ אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַיהוָ֑ה בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֡י מִקְרָא־קֹדֶשׁ֩ יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֜ם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֨ם אִשֶּׁ֤ה לַֽיהוָה֙ עֲצֶ֣רֶת הִ֔וא כָּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֥א תַעֲשֽׂוּ׃
(א) סדר יום שמחת תורה ובו סעיף אחד
במקום שעושין שני ימים טובים ליל תשיעי מקדשין ואומרים זמן ולמחר מוציאין שלשה ספרים וקורין באחד וזאת הברכה עד סוף התורה ובשניה בראשית עד אשר ברא אלהים לעשות ובשלישית קורא המפטיר כמו אתמול ומפטיר ויהי אחרי מות משה:
(א) הַמִּנְהָג הַפָּשׁוּט בְּכָל יִשְׂרָאל שֶׁמַּשְׁלִימִין אֶת הַתּוֹרָה בְּשָׁנָה אַחַת. מַתְחִילִין בְּשַׁבָּת שֶׁאַחַר חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת וְקוֹרִין בְּסֵדֶר (בראשית א א) ״בְּרֵאשִׁית״. בַּשְּׁנִיָּה (בראשית ו ט) ״אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת״. בַּשְּׁלִישִׁית (בראשית יב א) ״וַיֹּאמֶר יְיָ׳ אֶל אַבְרָם״. וְקוֹרְאִין וְהוֹלְכִין עַל הַסֵּדֶר הַזֶּה עַד שֶׁגּוֹמְרִין אֶת הַתּוֹרָה בְּחַג הַסֻּכּוֹת. וְיֵשׁ מִי שֶׁמַּשְׁלִים אֶת הַתּוֹרָה בְּשָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים וְאֵינוֹ מִנְהָג פָּשׁוּט:
(1) The custom prevailing through Israel is [that the reading of the Pentateuch is completed in one year]*The passage in brackets is omitted in the manuscript, apparently erased.. It is begun on the Sabbath after the feast of Tabernacles, when the portion commencing Bereshith "In the Beginning" (Genesis 1:1) is read. On the second Sabbath, that beginning, "These are the generations of Noah" (Genesis 6:9) is read; on the third, that beginning, "And the Lord said to Abraham" (ibid. 12:1), and so on in regular order till the last portion is read on the feast of Tabernacles. Some complete the reading of the Pentateuch in three years, but this is not a prevalent custom.
Benjamin of Tudela, "Itinerary", 1170
"[In Memphis] are two synagogues, one of the congregations of Palestine, called the syrian, the other the Babylonian Jews. They follow different customs regarding the division of the Pentuach into Parshiot and Sedarim. The Babylonians read one Parsha every week, as is the custom throughout Spain, and finish the whole Pentuach every year, whereas the Syrians have the custom of dividing every Parsha into three Sedarim and concluding the lecture of the whole every three years. They uphold however the long-established custom to assemble both congregations and to perform the public service together, as well as on the day of the joy of the law as on that of the dispensation of the law."
Samuel Pepy's Diary
Wednesday, October 14th, 1663: Thence home and after dinner my wife and I, by Mr. Rawlinson’s conduct, to the Jewish Synagogue: where the men and boys in their vayles, and the women behind a lattice out of sight; and some things stand up, which I believe is their Law, in a press to which all coming in do bow; and at the putting on their vayles do say something, to which others that hear him do cry Amen, and the party do kiss his vayle. Their service all in a singing way, and in Hebrew. And anon their Laws that they take out of the press are carried by several men, four or five several burthens in all, and they do relieve one another; and whether it is that every one desires to have the carrying of it, I cannot tell, thus they carried it round about the room while such a service is singing. And in the end they had a prayer for the King, which they pronounced his name in Portugall; but the prayer, like the rest, in Hebrew. But, Lord! to see the disorder, laughing, sporting, and no attention, but confusion in all their service, more like brutes than people knowing the true God, would make a man forswear ever seeing them more and indeed I never did see so much, or could have imagined there had been any religion in the whole world so absurdly performed as this. Away thence with my mind strongly disturbed with them, by coach and set down my wife in Westminster Hall
(א) ולתוספת ביאור באר היטב לשון "תפיסא" שאמר אליהו, "לית מחשבה תפיסא בך" כו'...
...When a person knows and grasps in his mind a Torah law... he thereby grasps and holds and encompasses with his mind the divine wisdom and will... while his mind is simultaneously enveloped within them. This makes for a wonderful union, like which there is none other and which has no parallel anywhere in the terresterial world, whereby complete oneness and unity, from every side and angle, is attained.
A king had many daughters. Some of them were married off nearby, and some of them were married off in faraway places. One day, they all came to visit with the king, their father. Said the king: Those who are married off nearby have the time to go and come; but those who are married off afar, do not have the time to go and come. Since they are all here with me, I will make one festival for them all, and I shall rejoice with them.
Thus, with the atzeret of Passover, when we are coming from winter into summer, G‑d says: They have the time to go and come. But with the atzeret of Sukkot, since we are coming from summer into winter, and the dust of the roads is difficult, and the byroads are difficult . . . G‑d says: They do not have the time to go and come; since they are all here, I will make one festival for them all, and I shall rejoice with them.
(Midrash Rabbah, Song of Songs 7:4)