A ritual before the start of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat TorahRefers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, also called the Five Books of Moses, Pentateuch or the Hebrew equivalent, Humash. This is also called the Written Torah. The term may also refer to teachings that expound on Jewish tradition. based on the actions of Mar:  

Mar, son of Ravina, made a wedding meal for his sons. Seeing that the sages were celebrating too much, he took an expensive goblet worth four hundred zuz and broke it before them and they were saddened. (Berakhot 30b-31a) 

Moments before the holiday, we enter the synagogue and join our community; we grasp a fragile vessel in our hands and say: 

If I forget you, Enveloper of Israel 
Let my right-hand wither 
Let my tongue cleave to my palate 
If I cease to think of you 
If I do not keep our lost and precious ones 
Even at my happiest hour. 

We break the vessel upon the floor of the synagogue. There it will remain until the holiday departs.