As the Simchat Torah holiday came to an end, second hakafot celebrations were held Saturday night across Israel, with crowds dancing and singing with Torah scrolls.

Three years after the holiday festivities were cut short by the terrorist attack on communities in the western Negev, large second hakafot celebrations were held in Sderot. Among those taking part, alongside the mayor, was Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor.

Second hakafot in Kiryat Shmona

ההקפות השניות בשדרותההקפות השניות בשדרות

Second hakafot in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv

Second hakafot also were held at IDF Square in Kiryat Shmona, with the band of the local hesder yeshiva, attended by residents and the mayor.

Hundreds of students from the Bnei Akiva Givat Shmuel Yeshiva, led by yeshiva head Rabbi Shraga Fruchter, went to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer to dance and lift the spirits of patients, including the sick and wounded, as part of the second hakafot celebrations.תלמידי ישיבת בני עקיבא גבעת שמואל בהקפות שניות בשיבא תל השומרתלמידי ישיבת בני עקיבא גבעת שמואל בהקפות שניות בשיבא תל השומר

Dancing with Torah scrolls alongside patients at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer

Second hakafor at Sheba Medical Center

Dancing with Torah scrolls at the Ramat Gan hesder yeshiva

הקפות שניות בישיבת ההסדר אור וישועה בחיפההקפות שניות בישיבת ההסדר אור וישועה בחיפה

Second hakafot at the Hesder Yeshiva Or Yishua in Haifa

Second hakafot in Kfar Chabad

Celebrations also were held in various ultra-Orthodox communities. At the Ger Hasidic study hall in Jerusalem, the rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, led the festivities.

Second hakafot at the Ger Hasidic study hall in Jerusalem, led by Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter

Alongside the many gender-segregated events, there was also a second hakafot celebration where women and men danced together. At Jerusalem’s First Station complex, an egalitarian celebration was led by the Reform congregation Kol HaNeshama, which has recently suffered repeated incidents of vandalism and harassment.הקפות שניות בהובלת התנועה הרפורמית בירושליםהקפות שניות בהובלת התנועה הרפורמית בירושלים

Second hakafot led by the Reform movement in Jerusalem

(Photo: Elad Gutman)

The purpose of the second hakafot custom is to extend the joy of the Tishrei holidays as they come to an end with the conclusion of Simchat Torah.

The celebrations continue the hakafot held during the holiday itself, when Torah scrolls are taken out of the synagogue’s ark and carried in seven circuits accompanied by singing and dancing, on the holiday marking the completion of the annual Torah-reading cycle and the beginning of a new one.