Theweekly Torah portion refers to a lectionary custom inJudaism in which a portion of theTorah (or Pentateuch) is read duringJewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name,Parashat HaShavua (Hebrew:פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ), is popularly abbreviated toparashah (alsoparshah/pɑːrʃə/ orparsha), and is also known as aSidra orSedra/sɛdrə/. Theparashah is a section of the Torah used in Jewish liturgy during a particular week. There are 54 parshas, orparashiyot inHebrew, and the full cycle is read over the course of one Biblical year.
Each Torah portion consists of two to six chapters to be read during the week. There are 54 weekly portions orparashot. Torah reading mostly follows an annual cycle beginning and ending on the Jewish holiday ofSimchat Torah, with the divisions corresponding to thelunisolarHebrew calendar, which contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying betweenleap years and regular years.
There are some deviations to the cyclic regularity noted above, all related to the week ofPassover and the week ofSukkot. For both holidays, the first day of the holiday may fall on a Sabbath, in which case the Torah reading consists of a special portion relevant to the holiday rather than a portion in the normal cyclical sequence. When either holiday doesnot begin on a Sabbath, yet a different 'out of cycle' portion is read on the Sabbath within the holiday week.
Immediately following Sukkot is the holiday ofShemini Atzeret. In Israel, this holiday coincides with Simchat Torah; in theJewish Diaspora, Simchat Torah is celebrated on the day following Shemini Atzeret. If Shemini Atzeret falls on a Sabbath, in the Diaspora a special 'out of cycle' Torah reading is inserted for that day. The finalparashah,V'Zot HaBerachah, is always read on Simchat Torah.
Apart from this "immovable" final portion, 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 fit into the needed number of weekly readings.
The annual completion of the Torah readings on Simchat Torah, translating to "Rejoicing of the Torah", is marked by Jewish communities around the world.
Each weekly Torah portion takes its name from the first distinctive word or two in the Hebrew text of the portion in question, often from the first verse.
| Parshah name | Passage[1] | Name origin |
|---|---|---|
| Bereishit (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית) | Genesis 1:1-6:8 | First word of the passage |
| Noach (נֹ֔חַ) | Genesis 6.9-11.32 | Noach (Noah), the central figure of the passage[2] |
| Lech Lecha (לֶךְ־לְךָ֛) | Genesis 12:1-17:27 | Lech lecha means "go forth," a key phrase in the first line: "[God] said toAbram, 'Go forth from your native land...'"[3] |
The appropriateparashah ischanted publicly. In most communities, it is read by a designated reader (ba'al koreh) in Jewish prayer services, starting with a partial reading on the afternoon ofShabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, i.e. Saturday afternoon, again during the Monday and Thursday morning services, and ending with a full reading during the following Shabbat morning services (Saturday morning). The weekly reading is pre-empted by a special reading on majorreligious holidays. Each Saturday morning and holiday reading is followed by an often similarly themed reading (Haftarah) from the Book of Prophets (Nevi'im).
The custom of dividing the Torah readings dates to the time of theBabylonian captivity (6th century BCE).[4] The origin of the first public Torah readings is found in theBook 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 atsynagogues.[5]
In ancient times some Jewish communities practiced atriennial cycle of readings.[6] In the 19th and 20th centuries, many congregations in theReform andConservative Jewish movements implemented an alternative triennial cycle in which only one-third of each weeklyparashah was read in a given year; and this pattern continues.[7][8] Theparashot read are still consistent with the annual cycle, but the entire Torah is completed over three years.Orthodox Judaism does not follow this practice.[4]
Due to different lengths of holidays inIsrael and theDiaspora, the portion that is read on a particular week will sometimes not be the same inside and outside Israel. This only occurs when a Diaspora holiday—which are one day longer than those in Israel—extends into Shabbat.[9]
While theParshyot divisions are fairly standardized, there are various communities with differingparsha divisions. For example, manyYemenites combineKorach with the first half ofChukat and the second half ofChukat ("Vayis'u mi-kadesh") withBalak instead of combiningMatot andMasei,[10] and someSyrian communities combineKorach andChukat instead ofMatot andMasei.[11] InProvence andTunisia,Mishpatim andIm Kesef Talveh were occasionally divided so thatMatot andMasei would always be read together.[12]
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[13] | Parsha Portion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bereshit (Genesis): 12 | Bereshit,בְּרֵאשִׁית | In the Beginning | Gen. 1:1-6:8 |
| Noach,נֹחַ | Noah | 6:9-11:32 | |
| Lech-Lecha,לֶךְ־לְךָ | Go Forth! | 12:1-17:27 | |
| Vayeira,וַיֵּרָא | And He Appeared | 18:1-22:24 | |
| Chayei Sarah,חַיֵּי שָׂרָה | The 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 Out | 32:4-36:43 | |
| Vayeshev,וַיֵּשֶׁב | And He Settled | 37:1-40:23 | |
| Miketz,מִקֵּץ | At the End | 41:1-44:17 | |
| Vayigash,וַיִּגַּשׁ | And He Approached | 44:18-47:27 | |
| Vaychi,וַיְחִי | And He Lived | 47:28-50:26 | |
| Shemot (Exodus): 11 | Shemot,שְׁמוֹת | Names | Ex. 1:1-6:1 |
| Va'eira,וָאֵרָא | And I Appeared | 6:2-9:35 | |
| Bo,בֹּא | Come! | 10:1-13:16 | |
| Beshalach,בְּשַׁלַּח | When He Sent Out | 13:17-17:16 | |
| Yitro,יִתְרוֹ | Jethro | 18:1-20:22 | |
| Mishpatim,מִּשְׁפָּטִים | Laws | 21:1-24:18 | |
| Terumah,תְּרוּמָה | Donation | 25:1-27:19 | |
| Tetzaveh,תְּצַוֶּה | You Shall Command | 27:20-30:10 | |
| Ki Tissa,כִּי תִשָּׂא | When You Count | 30:11-34:35 | |
| *Vayakhel,וַיַּקְהֵל | And He Assembled | 35:1-38:20 | |
| Pekudei,פְקוּדֵי | Accountings | 38:21-40:38 | |
| Vayikra (Leviticus): 10 | 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 | Leprous | 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 | Speak! | 21:1-24:23 | |
| *Behar,בְּהַר | On the Mount | 25:1-26:2 | |
| Bechukotai,בְּחֻקֹּתַי | In My Statutes | 26:3-27:34 | |
| Bemidbar (Numbers): 10 | Bamidbar,בְּמִדְבַּר | In the Wilderness | Num. 1:1-4:20 |
| Naso,נָשֹׂא | Count! | 4:21-7:89 | |
| Behaalotecha,בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ | When You Raise | 8:1-12:16 | |
| Shlach,שְׁלַח־לְךָ | Send Out! | 13:1-15:41 | |
| Korach,קֹרַח | Korach | 16:1-18:32 | |
| *Chukat,חֻקַּת | Statute | 19:1-22:1 | |
| Balak,בָּלָק | Balak | 22:2-25:9 | |
| Pinchas,פִּינְחָס | Phineas | 25:10-30:1 | |
| *Matot,מַּטּוֹת | Tribes | 30:2-32:42 | |
| Masei,מַסְעֵי | Journeys | 33:1-36:13 | |
| Devarim (Deuteronomy): 11 | Devarim,דְּבָרִים | Words | Deut. 1:1-3:22 |
| Va'etchanan,וָאֶתְחַנַּן | And I Pleaded | 3:23-7:11 | |
| Eikev,עֵקֶב | As a Consequence | 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 Come In | 26:1-29:8 | |
| *Nitzavim,נִצָּבִים | Standing | 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 |
The Parshah is named 'Noach' (Noah) after the protagonist of its major event: The Great Flood.
