Dancing on Simchat Torah

• One should dance and sing in honor of the Torah as it says concerning King David: ‘King David [was] skipping and dancing before the L-rd).’ It was testified regarding the Arizal that he said that the highest level that he achieved was in the merit that he rejoiced with all his strength at a simcha (joy) of a mitzvah.”
• One may not refuse the honor of holding the Torah during a hakafah just as one may not refuse the honor of receiving an aliyah.
• The Sifrei Torah should be adorned with their crowns for this dancing.
• The Sifrei Torah should be held (primarily) with one’s right arm and leaned on one’s right shoulder.
• While the Sifrei Torah are being carried, it is proper for all present to stand and not to sit. If one is weak and needs to sit, he may do so during the hakafot but (preferably) not while the Sifrei Torah are being placed in or taken out of the Aron Kodesh. In addition, one should try to stand for the first time the Torah is taken around the Bimah for each of the Hakafot.
• It is not proper to give the Sefer Torah to a child for him to carry (alone) and dance with.
• If one completed the hakafot in his shul and then goes to visit another shul where they are still doing the hakafot, he should rejoice and sing with them.
• The Chabad custom is to return the Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls) to the Aron Kodesh between each hakafah.
• There are certain songs that were customarily sung by the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Hakafot. Some of these are: The Hakafot Niggun, the Hakafot Nigun of Reb Levi Yitzchak (the Rebbe’s father), Al HaSela Hach, Vechol Karnei Reshaim and others.
• The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe once said that since the Torah cannot dance, we become the feet of the Torah when we dance with it at Hakafot.
• One who is in the year of mourning after the loss of a parent (G-d forbid) should not dance with the Torah. He may, however, be present during the Hakafot. According to Chabad custom, he may walk around the Bimah while holding a Sefer Torah if he is accompanied by someone else.
• It is the custom of the Jewish people to rejoice on these days even more than on other Yamim Tovim or on Simchat Bait Hasho’eva.
• The Kabbalistic meaning of clapping one’s hands is to overpower the left with the right, the kindness over the strength, and the mercy over the judgment. The five fingers of the right hand represent the five levels of Divine kindness while the five fingers of the left hand represent the five levels of Divine judgment.
• It is customary for the children to wave flags during the hakafot of Simchat Torah. This represents that our “flag” (i.e., our identity) is the Torah.
• Some have a custom to read from the Torah on the evening of Simchat Torah after the Hakafot. This is not the Chabad custom.
• Aleinu is recited after the end of Hakafot.

In Israel

It is customary in many communities in Israel to make a "second Hakafot" on the night after Shmini Atzeret although the Yom Tov is finished in Israel at that time. The reason for this custom, which was the practice of the Arizal, is to share in the joy of the Jews outside of Israel.