Two years after Simchat Torah celebrations across Israel were canceled following the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, Israelis marked on Tuesday the traditional hakafot shniyot — the “second round” of dancing with Torah scrolls — with renewed spirit, buoyed by the return of hostages from Gaza.
In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, crowds gathered for celebrations led by the municipality, the local religious council and students from the nearby Ma’ale Eliyahu Yeshiva, who arrived carrying Torah scrolls and Israeli flags. Participants danced and sang in gratitude for the released hostages and prayed for the return of the bodies of those killed in captivity.
Dancing and singing during hakafot shniyot at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv
(Video: Netanel Moyal)
“This is a complex evening,” said Genia Tsohar, aunt of the late Omer Neutra, whose body remains held by Hamas. “We hold both joy for those who came home and hope and pain for those who haven’t. We are one people, one heart. Let’s respect each other.”
At Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center, Dani Miran — whose son Omri was freed from Gaza on Monday — was filmed dancing with a Torah scroll as others sang “Your children shall return to their borders.” Later that night, he joined the Hostages Square gathering, reciting Psalm 100, Mizmor le’Todah (“A Psalm of Thanksgiving”).
Dani Miran, father of freed hostage Omri Miran, dances with a Torah scroll at Sourasky Medical Center
Miran reads Mizmor Le’Todah (A Psalm of Thanksgiving)
(Video: Ma’ale Eliyahu Yeshiva)
In the Shomron community of Reihan, Omri’s brother Nadav Miran held a Torah scroll during local celebrations and urged that “the remaining 24 fallen hostages be brought home, just as the 20 living captives were. With strength and determination, we’ll ensure the government fulfills its promise.”
In Givat Shmuel, Yaron Or — whose son Avinatan was among those freed — joined residents in dancing to Vehi She’amda and Your Children Shall Return. “The fact that our children came back alive and whole is an open miracle,” he said. “We must continue praying for the return of the fallen and the safety of our soldiers.”
Hakafot shniyot in Givat Shmuel with Yaron Or, father of Avinatan
(Video: Liron Nagler-Cohen)
Footage from the hakafot shniyot in Sderot
(Video: Sderot Municipality)
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Hakafot shniyot in Ofakim, two years after the Simchat Torah massacre
(Photo: Guy Ezra)
Across the country, hakafot shniyot celebrations carried both joy and remembrance. In Sderot, thousands gathered near the site of the police station destroyed in the 2023 attack. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, speaking while holding a Torah scroll, repeated his call for Jewish resettlement in Gaza. “There will be no Hamas in Gaza, and yes, there will be Jewish communities there,” he said, drawing applause.
Families from the Tikvah Forum, representing relatives of hostages who support the government’s stance, held a ceremony at the site of the Nova music festival massacre in southern Israel, originally planned as a show of resilience but transformed into a thanksgiving event after the hostages’ return.
Hakafot shniyot at the Courage Camp in Jerusalem
Hakafot shniyot in Lod, following Simchat Torah
Hakafot shniyot in Kiryat Bialik, celebrating the return of Matan Angrest from captivity
(Video: Kiryat Bialik Municipality)
Bereaved families who lost loved ones on Simchat Torah and during the war held celebrations at Jerusalem’s Courage Camp, while others marked the occasion in cities including Lod, Kiryat Bialik, and Kiryat Shmona.
In Lod, relatives of Mordechai Amoyal, an IDF soldier killed in Lebanon last year, led celebrations near his home with a Torah scroll dedicated in his memory. In Kiryat Bialik, green — the color of soccer club Maccabi Haifa — dominated festivities in honor of hometown hostage Matan Angrest.
Hakafot shniyot in Kiryat Shmona
Bnei Akiva Yeshiva students from Givat Shmuel at Sheba Medical Center
At Tel Hashomer’s Sheba Medical Center, students from the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva in Givat Shmuel led hakafot shniyot for wounded soldiers and freed hostages receiving treatment there.
The hakafot shniyot tradition, held on the night after Simchat Torah, extends the holiday’s joy with additional dancing and singing with Torah scrolls — celebrating both the completion and renewal of the annual Torah reading cycle. This year, Israelis said, the dancing carried a deeper meaning: joy for those returned, and faith that all will yet come home.
Lihi Gordon and Lior El-Hai contributed to this report.