# simchah (שִׂמְחָה)

pronounced: sim-KHAH


**Joy, gladness — the rejoicing the Torah commands at its feasts, above all at Sukkot**

## In Scripture

> You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates.
> — Deuteronomy 16:14 (The verb of the same root: joy at the feast is commanded, and the guest list includes the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.)

> All the assembly of those who had come again out of the captivity made booths, and lived in the booths; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the children of Israel had not done so. There was very great gladness.
> — Nehemiah 8:17 (Sukkot kept again after the exile; the account closes with the noun simchah: very great gladness.)


## How to read this entry

The definition comes from the IsraelForYou lexicon. Scripture quotations and their translation are named below; later tradition or modern usage is identified when it appears.


https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/simchah/