Simchat Torah is a Jewish holiday that marks the end of the annual Torah reading cycle and the beginning of a new cycle. On this day, the last Torah Parasha, Parashat Vezot HaBerachah, is read, followed immediately by the beginning of the first Parasha, Parashat Bereshit.

The head of the organization of Tzohar Rabbis, Rabbi David Stav, appealed to Ron Huldai and called on him to allow every community in Tel Aviv to celebrate the prayers of Simchat Torah as they have done in previous years: "Do not let extremists from all sides destroy what has been built"

Many Orthodox rabbis permit women to carry the Torah scroll. Every year, there are more and more Orthodox minyanim (prayer quorums) where both men and women participate, and women dance with the Torah, ascend to the Torah, and read from it