Weekly Torah Portion

Weekly Torah Portion

It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion, popularly referred to as a parashah, to be read during Jewish prayer services. The parashah (Hebrew: פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ Parashat ha-Shavua), popularly just parashah (or parshah /pɑːrʃə/ or parsha) and also known as a Sidra (or Sedra /sɛdrə/) is a section of the Torah (Five Books of Moses) used in Jewish liturgy during a particular week. There are 54 weekly parashiyot (plural) or parshahs (anglicized pluralization), and the full cycle is read over the course of one Jewish year. Each Torah portion consists of two to six chapters to be read during the week. Torah reading mostly follows an annual cycle beginning and ending on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, with the divisions corresponding to the lunisolar Hebrew calendar, which contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between leap years and regular years.[1] The annual completion of the Torah readings on Simchat Torah, translating to “Rejoicing in the Law”, is marked by Jewish communities around the world. Each weekly Torah portion takes its name from the first distinctive word in the Hebrew text of the portion in question, often from the first verse.

A Torah scroll and silver pointer (yad) used in reading.

The appropriate parashah is chanted publicly by a designated reader (ba’al koreh) in Jewish prayer services, starting with a partial reading on the afternoon of Shabbat(Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath), again during the Monday and Thursday morning services, and ending with a full reading during the following Shabbat morning services. The weekly reading is pre-empted by a special reading on major religious holidays. The Saturday morning and holiday readings are followed by an often similarly themed reading (Haftarah) from the Book of Prophets (Nevi’im).

The custom dates to the time of the Babylonian captivity (6th century BCE). The origin of the first public Torah readings is found in the Book of Nehemiah, where Ezra the scribe writes about wanting to find a way to ensure the Israelites would not go astray again. This led to the creation of a weekly system to read the portions of the Torah at synagogues.[2]

In ancient times some Jewish communities practiced a triennial cycle of readings. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many congregations in the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements implemented an alternative triennial cycle in which only one-third of each weekly parashah was read in a given year; and this pattern continues. The parashot read are still consistent with the annual cycle but the entire Torah is completed over three years. Orthodox Judaism does not follow this practice.

Due to different lengths of holidays in Israel and the Diaspora, the portion that is read on a particular week will sometimes not be the same inside and outside Israel.

Division into weekly parashot

The division of parashiot found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite communities is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls, Chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of the parashot for the Torah on the Masoretic text of the Aleppo Codex.[3]

Table of weekly readings

In the table, a portion that may be combined with the following portion to compensate for the changing number of weeks in the lunisolar year, is marked with an asterisk. The following chart will show the weekly readings.

Book Parsha Name English Equivalent[4] Parsha Portion
Bereshit (Genesis) Bereshit, בְּרֵאשִׁית In the beginning Gen. 1:1-6:8
  Noach, נֹחַ Noah (rest) 6:9-11:32
  Lech-Lecha, לֶךְ-לְךָ Go forth, yourself! 12:1-17:27
  Vayeira, וַיֵּרָא And He appeared 18:1-22:24
  Chayei Sarah, חַיֵּי שָׂרָה Life of Sarah 23:1-25:18
  Toledot, תּוֹלְדֹת Generations 25:19-28:9
  Vayetze, וַיֵּצֵא And he went out 28:10-32:3
  Vayishlach, וַיִּשְׁלַח And he sent 32:4-36:43
  Vayeshev, וַיֵּשֶׁב And he settled 37:1-40:23
  Miketz, מִקֵּץ At the end of 41:1-44:17
  Vayigash, וַיִּגַּשׁ And he drew near 44:18-47:27
  Vayechi, וַיְחִי And he lived 47:28-50:26
Shemot (Exodus) Shemot, שְׁמוֹת Names Ex. 1:1-6:1
  Va’eira, וָאֵרָא Appeared 6:2-9:35
  Bo, בֹּא Go! 10:1-13:16
  Beshalach, בְּשַׁלַּח When he sent out 13:17-17:16
  Yitro, יִתְרוֹ Jethro 18:1-20:23
  Mishpatim, מִּשְׁפָּטִים Laws 21:1-24:18
  Terumah, תְּרוּמָה Offering 25:1-27:19
  Tetzaveh, תְּצַוֶּה You shall command 27:20-30:10
  Ki Tisa, כִּי תִשָּׂא When you elevate 30:11-34:35
  *Vayakhel, וַיַּקְהֵל And he assembled 35:1-38:20
  Pekudei, פְקוּדֵי Accountings 38:21-40:38
Vayikra (Leviticus) Vayikra, וַיִּקְרָא And he called Lev. 1:1-5:26
  Tzav, צַו Command! 6:1-8:36
  Shemini, שְּׁמִינִי Eighth 9:1-11:47
  *Tazria, תַזְרִיעַ She bears seed 12:1-13:59
  Metzora, מְּצֹרָע Infected one 14:1-15:33
  *Acharei Mot, אַחֲרֵי מוֹת After the death 16:1-18:30
  Kedoshim, קְדֹשִׁים Holy ones 19:1-20:27
  Emor, אֱמֹר Say gently 21:1-24:23
  *Behar, בְּהַר On the Mount 25:1-26:2
  Bechukotai, בְּחֻקֹּתַי In My laws 26:3-27:34
Bemidbar (Numbers) Bamidbar, בְּמִדְבַּר In the wilderness Num. 1:1-4:20
  Naso, נָשֹׂא Elevate! 4:21-7:89
  Behaalotecha, בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ In your uplifting 8:1-12:16
  Shlach, שְׁלַח-לְךָ Send for yourself 13:1-15:41
  Korach, קֹרַח Korach 16:1-18:32
  *Chukat, חֻקַּת Law 19:1-22:1
  Balak, בָּלָק Balak 22:2-25:9
  Pinchas, פִּינְחָס Phinehas 25:10-30:1
  *Matot, מַּטּוֹת Tribes 30:2-32:42
  Masei, מַסְעֵי Journeys of 33:1-36:13
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Devarim, דְּבָרִים Words Deut. 1:1-3:22
  Va’etchanan, וָאֶתְחַנַּן Pleaded 3:23-7:11
  Eikev, עֵקֶב As a result 7:12-11:25
  Re’eh, רְאֵה See! 11:26-16:17
  Shoftim, שֹׁפְטִים Judges 16:18-21:9
  Ki Teitzei, כִּי-תֵצֵא When you go out 21:10-25:19
  Ki Tavo, כִּי-תָבוֹא When you enter in 26:1-29:8
  *Nitzavim, נִצָּבִים Standing (Witnessing) 29:9-30:20
  Vayelech, וַיֵּלֶךְ And he went 31:1-31:30
  Haazinu, הַאֲזִינוּ Listen! 32:1-32:52
  V’Zot HaBerachah, וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה And this is the blessing 33:1-34:12

References

  1.  One week is always Passover and another is always Sukkot, and the final parashah, V’Zot HaBerachah, is always read on Simchat Torah. Therefore, there can be up to 53 weeks available for the other 53 portions. In years with fewer than 53 available weeks, some readings are combined to achieve the needed number of weekly readings.
  2.  “This Week’s Torah Portion | Parsha Brought To Life”. www.alephbeta.org. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  3.  Though initially doubted by Umberto Cassuto, this has become the established position in modern scholarship. (See the Aleppo Codex article for more information.)
  4.  Philologos.org

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