The Pilgrim feasts

Deu 16:16  “Three times a year all your males appear before יהוה your Elohim in the place which He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Booths. And none should appear before יהוה empty-handed, 

The Three Pilgrimage Festivals, in Hebrew Shalosh Regalim (שלוש רגלים), are three major festivals in Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks or Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles, Tents or Booths)—when the ancient Yasharalites would make a pilgrimage to the heykal Yerushalayim as commanded by the Torah. In Jerusalem, they would participate in festivities and ritual worship in conjunction with the services of the Kohenim ("priests") at the Temple.

Ragal H7272 journey, walking on foot, follow on foot

Exo 12:11  ‘And this is how you eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet/ragal H7272, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Passover of יהוה. 

Yasharal in the night of Pesach were told to eat the Lamb with their sandals on their ragal 

The significance of the washing of the feet by Yahusha of his disciples show us that while the feet go out of Yerushalayim to the ends of the earth, these same feet will come back to New Yerushalayim

 Unleavened: A hard and flat bread or cake made without leaven. As a food that can be sucked on. [freq. 53] |kjv: unleavened bread, cakes, unleavened, without leaven| {str: 4682)

While the Torah mentions the three pilgrim feasts, does it mean that they had not to visit Yerushalam during the other feasts?

Consider these timelines:

The males appearing three times a year for Unleavened bread, Shabouth and Tabernacles would also be in Yerushalayim for all the feasts both spring as well as the fall feasts.

Those males coming to observe Unleavened bread/Matsah would also observe Pesach, firstfruits as Unleavened bread begins on the night of the Passover itself and firstfruits is three days after Passover.

Deu 16:1  “Guard the month of Aḇiḇ, and perform the Passover to יהוה your Elohim, for in the month of Aḇiḇ יהוה your Elohim brought you out of Mitsrayim by night. 

Deu 16:2  “And you shall slaughter the Passover to יהוה your Elohim, from the flock and the herd, in the place where יהוה chooses to put His Name. 

Deu 16:3  “Eat no leavened bread with it. For seven days you eat unleavened bread with it, bread of affliction, because you came out of the land of Mitsrayim in haste – so that you remember the day in which you came out of the land of Mitsrayim, all the days of your life.

Lev 23:9  And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, 

Lev 23:10  “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and you shall say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. 

Lev 23:11  ‘And he shall wave the sheaf before יהוה, for your acceptance. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest waves it. 

Morrow of the weekly Shabbath the priest waves the offering

While Shabouth was 7 weeks from firstfruits, those in far away lands would still stay back until the completion of Shabouth and leave back to the far away lands from where they came

The word for males is zakar H2138 זָכוּר which comes from the word zakar H2142 זָכַר which means 'remember'

The males appearing would be appearing in Mashiyach as he is the firstborn over all creation and the firstfruits

Col 1:15  who is the likeness of the invisible Elohim, the first-born of all creation.

Pesach H6453 is a similar word to H6452 which means to limp/lame

Yaaqob wrestled with the Messenger of Yahuah 

Gen 32:24  And Yaʽaqoḇ was left alone. And a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 

Gen 32:25  And when He saw that He did not overcome him, He touched the socket of his hip. And the socket of Yaʽaqoḇ’s hip was dislocated as He wrestled with him. 

Gen 32:26  And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I am not letting You go until You have blessed me!” 

Gen 32:27  So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Yaʽaqoḇ.” 

Gen 32:28  And He said, “Your name is no longer called Yaʽaqoḇ, but Yisra’ĕl1, because you have striven with Elohim and with men, and have overcome.” Footnote: 1Yisra’ĕl means “to strive with Ěl, to overcome with Ěl, (then) to rule with Ěl” 

Gen 32:29  And Yaʽaqoḇ asked Him, saying, “Please let me know Your Name.” And He said, “Why do you ask about My Name?” And He blessed him there. 

Gen 32:30  And Yaʽaqoḇ called the name of the place Peni’ĕl, “For I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life is preserved.” 

Gen 32:31  And the sun rose on him as he passed over Penu’ĕl, and he limped on his hip. 

Gen 32:32  That is why the children of Yisra’ĕl to this day do not eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of the thigh of Yaʽaqoḇ, in the sinew of the hip. 

Pesach H6453: Pey/mouth and sach: H7808 which means 'meditation/thought' is from H7879 seach סיח which means 'meditation/prayer/speak/utter' 

The same word we saw H6452 and means limp/lame

This limping is leaning on Yahuah

Heb 11:21  By belief, Yaʽaqoḇ, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Yosĕph, and did reverence on the top of his staff. 

We see Yahuah in creation speaking/uttering from His mouth bringing forth the creation who would be in want,to lean on Him

Rashayath H7225: first in rank, Gen 1:1 begins with the word Barashayath which means 'In the beginning' and has the Son/Bar as the firstborn over all creation/rashayath

Hence, he commanded that everything that opened the womb had to redeemed with a lamb without a blemish or one who was without defect pointing to Himself coming as the self-sufficient and without limping lamb to offer Himself for us so that we lean on Him

Exo 13:12  that you shall pass over to יהוה every one opening the womb, and every first-born that comes from your livestock, the males belong to יהוה. 

Exo 13:13  “But every first-born of a donkey you are to ransom with a lamb. And if you do not ransom it, then you shall break its neck. And every first-born of man among your sons you are to ransom.

Matsah H4682: is a similar word to H4680 and means 'to squeeze out/suck out'

He sucked out/squeezed out the sin from His people in making them unleavened in Him and filled us with His Ruach which is His leaven of fullness of Himself

1Co 5:7  Therefore cleanse out the old leaven, so that you are a new lump, as you are unleavened. For also Messiah our Passover was offered for us. 

1Co 5:8  So then let us observe the festival, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

Shabaouth H7651: Shab means to turn back & ooth H5790 which means 'hasten/speak in season'

Torah was given at Mount Horeb and in their sojourning, Yasharal was at this Mountain of Yahuah for a long long time

Deu 1:6  “יהוה our Elohim spoke to us in Ḥorĕḇ, saying, ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. 

We see the purpose of the spiritual fulfillment of tarrying when Yahusha told his disciples to tarry in Yerushalayim until endued with Power from on high.

He turned back to hasten His word in fulfilling it through the promise of His Ruach and asked His people to tarry in Yerushalayim. Its as though saying, don't leave yet until you are endued with Power from on high.

Luk 24:49 And, behold, I send את eth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Yerushalayim, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Then there is 4-5 months gap, the pilgrims who came to Yerushalayim went back to their homelands. 

The coming back to Yerushalayim:

While the pilgrim feast to appear before Yahuah was on the 15th day of the seventh month, a Yasharalite would never miss the first two feasts in the same month i.e. Yom Teruah on the first day of the seventh month and Yom Kaphar on the 10th day of the seventh month. We will understand this by the term Simchat Torah which we will look about in a minute.

Yom H3117 Teruah H8643: The word Teruah comes from the word 'tar' means 'border' and the word tur' H8446 means 'search/seek/'

We see the spiritual relevance of this feast with a memorial blowing of the trumpets in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, while the foolish virgins went to buy oil, the bridegroom came and the door was shut.

The Hebew word 'tar' shows the relevance of the true worshiper seeking Yahuah within the border of Yerushalayim

Yom H3117 Kaphar H3772: Kaphar means lid/cover/atonement

Hos 14:1  O Yisra’ĕl, return to יהוה your Elohim, for you have stumbled by your crookedness. 

Hos 14:2  Take words/dabar H1697 with you, and return to יהוה. Say to Him, “Take away all crookedness, and accept what is good, and we render the bulls/par H6499 of our lips

Sacrifice of Red Heifer/Adam Parah on Day of Atonement:

Num 19:1  And יהוה spoke to Mosheh and to Aharon, saying, 

Num 19:2  “This is a law of the Torah which יהוה has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, that they bring you a red/adam H122 heifer/parah H6510, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish and on which a yoke has never come. 

Num 19:3  ‘And you shall give it to Elʽazar the priest, and he shall bring it outside the camp, and shall slaughter it before him. 

Num 19:4  ‘And Elʽazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. 

Num 19:5  ‘And the heifer shall be burned before his eyes – he burns its hide, and its flesh, and its blood, and its dung. 

Num 19:6  ‘And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet/shaniy H8144 tola H8438, and throw them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. 

Num 19:7  ‘The priest shall then wash his garments, and shall bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest is unclean until evening. 

Num 19:8  ‘And he who is burning it washes his garments in water, and shall bathe his body in water, and is unclean until evening. 

Num 19:9  ‘And a clean man shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and shall place them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl for the water for uncleanness, it is for cleansing from sin. 

Num 19:10  ‘And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his garments, and is unclean until evening. And it shall be a law forever to the children of Yisra’ĕl and to the stranger who sojourns in their midst. 

Num 19:11  ‘He who naga/came near H5060 the dead of any human being is unclean for seven days. 

Num 19:12  ‘He is to cleanse himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he is clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean. 

Num 19:13  ‘Anyone who touches the dead of a human being, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the Dwelling Place of יהוה. And that being shall be cut off from Yisra’ĕl. He is unclean, for the water for uncleanness was not sprinkled on him, his uncleanness is still upon him.

Key points to be shared:

1. Adam Parah: The word parah which means heifer has the root word 'par' which means bull

2. The sacrifice was brought outside the camp and sacrificed there

3. The priest would sprinkle the blood seven times before the Tent of the Meeting

4. Priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet/shaniy H8144 tola H8438 (double red/crimson), and throw them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer

5. The water was for water of cleansing

6. They translated naga as touch instead of coming near. Anyone coming near a dead body had to be cleansed with the water of the ashes of the red heifer on the 3rd day and then on the 7th day he is clean. And, if he doesnt cleanse himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean and will be cut off from Yasharal

Yahusha was impaled near this place on a tree and the Yahudites placed Him in a tomb in a garden there. Hence, those who impaled him came near his dead body and only those who turned to Him went through the cleansing water of the third day as He was raised from the dead on the third day. Whoever who did not went through this cleansing water will not be cleansed on the seventh day but is cut off from Yasharal forever.

Heb 13:10  We have an altar from which those serving the Tent have no authority to eat. 

Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the Set-apart Place by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 

Heb 13:12  And so יהושע also suffered outside the gate, to set apart the people with His own blood. 

Heb 13:13  Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 

Heb 13:14  For we have no lasting city here, but we seek the one coming. 

This altar on Mount of Olives where this adam parah was sacrificed was prepared by Adam when he and Chauah was cast out of the garden of Eden towards the east of the garden, this was the very same altar where Abraham offered the ram caught by its horns in the thickets instead of Yitshaq.

Sukkoth H5221: comes from the word 'suk' H7753 and means 'fence/hedge'

The fall feasts come in succession and the one coming into Yerushalayim was bound by a 2000 meter perimeter boundary/tar

Jos 3:2 And it came to be, after three days, that the officers went into the midst of the camp,

Jos 3:3 and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of יהוה your Elohim, and the priests, the Lĕwites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and follow it.

Jos 3:4 “Only, keep a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, so that you know which way to go, for you have not passed over this way before.”

The Torah clearly asked all other 11 tribes to maintain a distance of 2,000 cubits from the ark, that is why Yahuah also commanded all the tribes to give the Levites from the wall habitation in a 2,000 cubits radius on all sides i.e. north, south, east and west. Hence, its evident that once Yerushalayim was a fortified city and the temple built in it, the 2,000 cubits from the ark of the covenant would be inhabited by them, thousand cubits within the city and thousand from the wall of the city. (Num 35:4)

Num 35:4 “And the open land of the cities which you give the Lĕwites are from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around.

We can see this with the place from where Yahusha ascended into heaven was the point within the 2,000 cubits perimeter also called a Sabbath's day journey, a permission to journey within the boundary

Act 1:12  Then they went back to Yerushalayim from the Mount of Olives, which is near Yerushalayim, a Sabbath day’s journey. 

Simchat Torah:

Simchat Torah, this term is no where to be found in scriptures but is a synonym the Yahudites
use for Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkoth

These were the special instructions Masha gave the children of Yasharal who were to cross over the Yarden when he himself was about to die and forbidden to cross over

Deu 31:1 And Mosheh went and spoke these words to all Yisra’ĕl,
Deu 31:2 and he said to them, “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. And יהוה has said to me, ‘You do not pass over this Yardĕn.’

The instructions:

Deu 31:9 And Mosheh wrote this Torah and gave it to the priests, the sons of Lĕwi, who bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה, and to all the elders of Yisra’ĕl.
Deu 31:10 And Mosheh commanded them, saying, “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time, the year of release, at the Festival of Booths,
Deu 31:11 when all Yisra’ĕl comes to appear before יהוה your Elohim in the place which He chooses, read this Torah before all Yisra’ĕl in their hearing.
Deu 31:12 “Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your sojourner who is within your gates, so that they hear, and so that they learn to fear יהוה your Elohim and guard to do all the Words of this Torah.
Deu 31:13 “And their children, who have not known it, should hear and learn to fear יהוה your Elohim as long as you live in the land you are passing over the Yardĕn to possess.”

How old was Moses when he came to visit the children of Yasharal?

Exo 7:7 Now Mosheh was eighty years old and Aharon eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

His age is broken down into 3 x 40 years where the first part of his 40 years he lived as a Mitsri prince

Stephen records that when he was full 40 it came into his heart to visit his brethren.

Acts 7:23 But when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Yisra’El.

Exo 3:1 And Mosheh was shepherding the flock of Yithro his father-in-law, the priest of Miḏyan. And he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to Ḥorĕḇ, the mountain of Elohim.

So its evident that the 2nd 40 years were fleeing Pharaoh and living in Midian tending his father in law Yethro's sheep and the other 40 leading Yasharal in the wilderness to the border of Yarden where he was forbidden to cross over and as recorded by him in Deut 31:2 that he is 120 years old

Deu 34:7 And Mosheh was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his freshness gone.
Deut 31:10 in his instructions to Yasharal he told them at the end of 7 years in the time appointed/muaed H4150 in the year of release/shemittah H8059 in the feast of Tabernacles/Sukkoth the entire Torah was to be read before Yasharal in their hearning
Deu 31:10 And Mosheh commanded them, saying, “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time, the year of release, at the Festival of Booths,
Deu 31:11 when all Yisra’ĕl comes to appear before יהוה your Elohim in the place which He chooses, read this Torah before all Yisra’ĕl in their hearing.

The shemittah cycle:

The sabbath year (shemittah Hebrew: שמיטה, literally "release") also called the sabbatical year or shǝvi'it (שביעית, literally "seventh") is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the Land of Israel

Where 7 x 7 =49 and the 50th year was a year of release where all bondmen, bondwomen, servants, debts, land holding etc were all let loose from those under their masters debt and they were free men and women

Each 7 year was a year of Shabbath where 6 years they were to sow and reap but the 7th year they were commanded neither to sow nor reap but eat what grows of itself.

The first 6 years when they were to sow and reap they were to leave the four corners of their fields for the poor of the land to eat what grows from it there. All this can be read in Leviticus 25

Hence, when Masha said ''At the end of seven years, at the appointed time,'' he meant the year of Jubilee/Yobel

Hence the 50th year was significant in the reading of the Torah in the 7 days of the feast of Sukkoth where the 8th day was Simchat Torah which means 'Rejoicing with Torah'

In Joshua 8 we read that Yahushua/Joshua obeyed the instructions given to him and built an altar to Yahuah on Mount Eybal an altar of unhewn stones and offered offerings. He made the people stand in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Eybal and read all the barakat and the curses written in the Torah and not a word was left out.

Jos 8:30 And Yehoshua built an altar to יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl in Mount Ěyḇal,
Jos 8:31 as Mosheh the servant of יהוה had commanded the children of Yisra’ĕl, as it is written in the Book of the Torah of Mosheh, “an altar of unhewn stones over which no man has wielded iron.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to יהוה, and slaughtered peace offerings.
Jos 8:32 And there, in the presence of the children of Yisra’ĕl, he wrote on the stones a copy of the Torah of Mosheh, which he had written.
Jos 8:33 And all Yisra’ĕl – the sojourner as well as the native – with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Lĕwites, who bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ěyḇal, as Mosheh the servant of יהוה had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Yisra’ĕl.
Jos 8:34 And afterward he read all the words of the Torah, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Torah.
Jos 8:35 There was not a word of all that Mosheh had commanded which Yehoshua did not read before all the assembly of Yisra’ĕl, with the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who accompanied them.
Deu 11:29 ‘And it shall be, when יהוה your Elohim has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ěyḇal.

While scripture doesn't record that this was the year of release, it definitely would be as the entire Torah was read in the hearing of the people when they were in the promised land. This was the beginning of the Shemittah cycle for the children of Yasharal as they entered the promised land

The actual Yobel/Jubilee proclamation was done during Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) i.e. the 50th year of the release of captives

Lev 25:8 ‘And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years. And the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years.
Lev 25:9 ‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn to pass through on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement cause a ram’s horn to pass through all your land.
Lev 25:10 ‘And you shall set the fiftieth year apart, and proclaim release throughout all the land to all its inhabitants, it is a Jubilee for you. And each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you return to his clan.
Lev 25:11 ‘The fiftieth year is a Jubilee to you. Do not sow, nor reap what grows of its own, nor gather from its unpruned vine.
Lev 25:12 ‘It is a Jubilee, it is set-apart to you. Eat from the field its crops.
Lev 25:13 ‘In the Year of this Jubilee let each one of you return to his possession.

When Masha said in Deu 31:10 “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time, the year of release, at the Festival of Booths, when all Yisra’ĕl comes to appear before יהוה your Elohim in the place which He chooses, read this Torah before all Yisra’ĕl in their hearing, he didn't mean that the release was during the feast of Sukkoth but the reading of the entire Torah in that year of release. Sukkoth falls 5 days after Yom Kippur and hence in the year of release the Torah would set them free.

Now let's turn to Nehemiah 8

Neh 8:1 And when the seventh month came, the children of Yisra’ĕl were in their cities. And all the people gathered together as one man in the open space that was in front of the Water Gate. And they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Torah of Mosheh, which יהוה had commanded Yisra’ĕl.
Neh 8:2 And Ezra the priest brought the Torah before the assembly of both men and women and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
Neh 8:3 And he read from it in the open space in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people listened to the Book of the Torah.
Neh 8:4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose. And beside him on his right stood Mattithyah, and Shema, and Anayah, and Uriyah, and Ḥilqiyah, and Maʽasĕyah. And on his left stood Peḏayah, and Misha’ĕl, and Malkiyah, and Ḥashum, and Ḥashbaddanah, Zeḵaryah, Meshullam.
Neh 8:5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up.
Neh 8:6 And Ezra blessed יהוה, the great Elohim. Then all the people answered, “Amĕn, Amĕn!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped יהוה with faces to the ground.
Neh 8:7 And Yĕshua, and Bani, and Shĕrĕḇyah, Yamin, Aqquḇ, Shabbethai, Hoḏiyah, Maʽasĕyah, Qelita, Azaryah, Yozaḇaḏ, Ḥanan, Pelayah, and the Lĕwites, caused the people to understand the Torah while the people were in their place.
Neh 8:8 And they read in the Book of the Torah of Elohim, translating to give the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
Neh 8:9 And Neḥemyah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Lĕwites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is set-apart to יהוה your Elohim. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Torah.
Neh 8:10 Then he said to them, “Go, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom none is prepared. For this day is set-apart to our יהוה. Do not be sad, for the joy of יהוה is your strength.”
Neh 8:11 And the Lĕwites were silencing all the people, saying, “Hush, for the day is set-apart, do not be sad.”
Neh 8:12 And all the people went to eat and to drink, and to send portions and make a great rejoicing, because they understood the words that were made known to them.
Neh 8:13 And on the second day the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and Lĕwites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to study the words of the Torah.
Neh 8:14 And they found written in the Torah, which יהוה had commanded by Mosheh, that the children of Yisra’ĕl should dwell in booths in the festival of the seventh month,
Neh 8:15 and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Yerushalayim, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”
Neh 8:16 So the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, and in their courtyards and in the courtyards of the House of Elohim, and in the open space of the Water Gate and in the open space of the Gate of Ephrayim.
Neh 8:17 And the entire assembly of those who had come back from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths, for since the days of Yeshua son of Nun until that day the children of Yisra’ĕl had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.
Neh 8:18 And day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Torah of Elohim. And they performed the festival seven days. And on the eighth day there was an assembly, according to the right-ruling.

The first day of the seventh month stated in Neh 8:2 shouldn't be mistaken for the feast of Trumpets but it was the first day of Sukkoth when the solemn assembly which had come back into the land after the Babylonian captivity gathered and Ezra read the entire Torah from morning until afternoon, and they read in the book of the Torah of Aluahym, translating to give the sense and caused them understand the reading. v 2 says all the heads of the houses and the priests and elders gathered on the 2nd day of the feast to study the Torah. v 18 says that day by day from the first day until the last day he read from the book of the Torah of Elohim. While the people wept when they were given the understanding of Torah, they were told not to weep but rejoice and they all lived in booths/sukkah's

Neh 8:8 And they read in the Book of the Torah of Elohim, translating to give the sense, and caused them to understand the reading

What is the significance of Simchat Torah?

The OT scripture consists of Torah the first five books, the kethubim i.e.the writings, Tehillim i.e. Pslams and poetic songs and the Nebim i.e. the prophets
The number 5 in scripture referring to the 5 books of Torah is the number of chan/favor and the 5 books of Torah are broken into fragments which are read yearly in synagogues and Sukkoth is the holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. On the eighth day called the Shemini Atzeret which is the conclusion of the annual Torah reading cycle, the final Parsha from Deuteronomy is read in synagogue. Everyone is called to the Torah reading. Then first Parsha from Genesis is read.

Gen 1:1 IN the beginning ELOHIYM created את eth the heavens and את eth the earth

Everything is reset to the first cycle and it has a deep meaning for those in Mashiyach because the cycle resets to Gen 1:1 Barashaiyth bara Aluahym alaph tau ha shamayim uau ha arets, where the alpah tau before the heavens and the earth point to the renewed heavens and the renewed earth in Mashiyach

Gen 2:4 These are the generations/toldah H8435 of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that YAHUAH ELOHIYM made the earth and the heavens,
The same word is used for the human race, below is just one example:
Gen 6:9 These are the generations/toldah H8435 of Noach: Noach was a just man and perfect in his generations/dur H1755, and Noach walked with את eth-ELOHIYM.
Gen 6:10 And Noach begat three sons, את eth-Shem, את eth-Cham, and את eth-Yapheth.

Dur H1755 is from H1752 means moving in a circle while toldah H8435 comes from the root word yalad H3205 which means beget, bare, born, bring forth, bear, travail, midwife, child, deliver, borne, birth, labour, brought up|

Toldah: Tau/covenant yalad/born or brought forth

The covenant in Mashiyach is brought forth in through the present heavens and the earth and hence the present heavens and the earth are marked with a mark 'alaph tau' before them. Its a promise to enter into renewed Yerushalayim in Mashiyach. While the terms 'Shimchat Torah' and Shemini/Eighth Atzeret/Assembly is not mentioned directly in scripture but the commandments to do what they did is mentioned in Torah as we saw from scriptures. Modern Yahudism adds many things to the Torah as oral commands which are not mentioned in scripture and we will not get into what they do and what they don't as most of them are actually not true Yahudites.

The Living Torah:

Rom 8:1 There is, then, now no condemnation to those who are in Messiah יהושע, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Ruach.
Rom 8:2 For the Torah of the Ruach of the life in Messiah יהושע has set me free from the law of sin and of death.

The Torah exposition done by the Levites under the leadership of Ezra the scribe reveals that the Torah had the Ruach hidden in the letter which Shaul the emissary speaks about which sets us free from the Torah of sin and death, and that Torah is the Torah of the Ruach of life in Mashiyach. He is the living Torah.

Mat 21:4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
Mat 21:5 Tell ye the daughter of Tsiyon, Behold, your King comes unto you, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. (Zakaryahu 9:9)
Mat 21:6 And the Talmidiym went, and did as YAHUSHA commanded them,
Mat 21:7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
Mat 21:8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
Mat 21:9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Husha’na to the Son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of YAHUAH; Husha’na (Save us) in the highest.

Joh 12:12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that YAHUSHA was coming to Yerushalayim,
Joh 12:13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Husha’na: Blessed is the King of Yashar’el that comes in the name of YAHUAH.
Joh 12:14 And YAHUSHA, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
Joh 12:15 Fear not, daughter of Tsiyon: behold, your King comes, sitting on an ass's colt. (Zakaryahu 9:9)
Joh 12:16 These things understood not his Talmidiym at the first: but when YAHUSHA was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

It was the feast of Pesach and Yahusha was entering Yerushalayim to fulfill Torah by dying on the stake and the people met him with palm tree branches, spread their garments on the road and goodly branches for him to ride on the foal of a donkey. There was going to be a reset of the Shemittah cycle when in Yahusha ha Mashiyach all of the creation chosen for salvation would be renewed

2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known MASHIACH after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in MASHIACH, he is a renewed creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become renewed.

The surety of the covenant which was toldah (Covenant brought forth or birthed) will find its completion in Him.

John 19:30 `Yahusha took the vinegar and He said, “Finished/Kalah.” Then He bowed His head and His spirit departed.

The 120 years of Masha are significant as in the upper room were gathered a hundred and twenty taught ones on whom descended the Ruach

Act 1:15 And in those days Kĕpha, standing up in the midst of the taught ones – and there was a gathering of about a hundred and twenty – said,

While Masha wrote and handed over the Torah in the year of his death i.e. 120 years and he was not allowed to cross over the Yarden, Yahuah paints a beautiful picture of the transition from the Torah of sin and death to the Torah of Ruach of life in Mashiyach

Deu 31:9 And Mosheh wrote this Torah and gave it to the priests, the sons of Lĕwi, who bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה, and to all the elders of Yisra’ĕl.

The four corners of the field which were not to be garnished but left for the poor of the land indicating that the people of Yahuah will be scattered to the four ends of the earth where they will be nourished until the year of their release/shemittah H8059

Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time/muaed, and times/muaedim, and half a time/chatsay, from the face of the serpent

The 7 x 7 completion of the Shemittah cycle was done by the blowing of the trumpets on the Day of Atonement followed by the completion of the reading, hearing and exposition of the Torah to a renewed cycle as the land and its people enter into a high Shabbath in Mashiyach where the Shemini Atzeret (the Eighth Assembly) is gathered in Renewed Yerushalayim.