The weekly Torah portion

What is a parashah

“Parashah” (פרשה) means “section” or “portion.” The written Torah, the five books of Moses, is divided into 54 parashiot, and one is read each Shabbat in the synagogue. After a year the whole Torah has been read, and the festival of Simchat Torah marks both the end of the last portion and the beginning of the first.

“Parashat” is the Hebrew construct form (“the portion of…”), which is why we say “parashat Vayera.” “Parashiot” is the plural. The Talmud already uses it when it teaches that everyone should complete “their parashiot” together with the community (Berachot 8a).

Each portion takes its name from the first distinctive words of its text: Bereshit (“in the beginning”), Lech Lecha (“go forth”), Vayera (“and he appeared”). Some, like Noach, carry the name of the central figure.

Why the Torah is read in public

Public reading of the Torah appears already in the Bible: Nehemiah 8:1-8 tells how Ezra read “the book of the Torah of Moses” before all the people while the Levites explained its meaning.

The Talmud (Bava Kamma 82a) explains the weekly rhythm from Exodus 15:22: “they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.” The sages read “water” as Torah (compare Isaiah 55:1, “every one who thirsts, come to the waters”) and taught that the prophets ordained that three days should not pass without Torah: hence the reading on Shabbat, Monday and Thursday. Among the ten ordinances the Talmud attributes to Ezra is the reading at the Shabbat afternoon prayer, on Monday and on Thursday; according to the Gemara, Ezra also fixed that three people read, ten verses in all.

Tradition traces to Moses another custom: teaching the laws of each festival at its time (Megillah 32a).

A one-year cycle or a three-year cycle

The Talmud (Megillah 29b) knows two customs: in Babylonia the Torah was completed in one year, and “the people of the West,” that is, of the Land of Israel, completed it in three years. In the triennial cycle each portion was shorter, so the divisions were more numerous.

In time the Babylonian annual cycle prevailed in the traditional Jewish world, and it is the one followed today by Orthodox communities. Some modern non-Orthodox communities have returned to a triennial cycle, reading one third of each portion every year. We do not give a date for the shift from the triennial to the annual cycle here, because we have not verified one.

How the 54 are ordered

The order is that of the text itself, book by book: Bereshit has 12 portions, Shemot 11, Vayikra 10, Bamidbar 10 and Devarim 11. The cycle begins with Bereshit on the Shabbat after Simchat Torah. The last one, Vezot Haberachah, is not read on an ordinary Shabbat: it is read on the festival of Simchat Torah itself, and from there we return to the beginning.

The portions do not coincide with the numbered chapters now used for citations (Genesis 18, Exodus 3…): that numbering is a later medieval division of Christian origin. The parashiot follow divisions of the Jewish tradition, marked in the Torah scroll by blank spaces (the breaks called petuchot and setumot).

Why two are sometimes read together

The Jewish year does not always have the same number of Shabbatot: an ordinary year and a year with an added month differ by about four weeks. So that the Torah is always finished by Simchat Torah, seven portions can be read joined to the next: Vayakhel and Pekudei, Tazria and Metzora, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, Behar and Bechukotai, Chukat and Balak, Matot and Masei, Nitzavim and Vayelech.

In the year 5787 (2026-27), according to the Hebcal calendar for the Diaspora, Chukat and Balak, Matot and Masei, and Nitzavim and Vayelech are read together. Also, Israel and the Diaspora are sometimes a week apart, because the Diaspora keeps an extra day of some festivals.

Some communities join portions differently: for example, Yemenite Jews join Korach with the first half of Chukat, and the second half of Chukat with Balak.

Tied to the calendar

The order is combined with the calendar so that some readings always fall on meaningful dates: Bamidbar is read before Shavuot, Devarim before Tisha B’Av, and Nitzavim (or Nitzavim and Vayelech) before Rosh Hashanah.

The Talmud (Megillah 31b) explains this with a teaching of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar: Ezra ordained that the curses of Leviticus (Bechukotai) be read before Shavuot and those of Deuteronomy (Ki Tavo) before Rosh Hashanah. The reason, says Abaye (or Resh Lakish), is “so that the year may end with its curses.”

On certain Shabbatot a special reading is added, or the reading of the festival replaces the weekly one. The Mishnah (tractate Megillah) lists the special readings of the Shabbatot before Passover.

The haftarah

After the Torah reading a passage from the Prophets, the haftarah, is read, usually related to the portion or to the date. Its origin is explained in several ways; a medieval tradition links it to a time when reading the Torah was forbidden and a prophetic text was read instead. We give this as tradition, not as demonstrated historical fact.

How it is studied during the week

The Talmud (Berachot 8a) teaches: “A person should always complete his parashiot together with the community: twice the text and once the Targum (the Aramaic translation).” Hence the custom of reviewing the portion each week in Hebrew, with Rashi’s commentary as the usual companion, before Shabbat.

The four levels of reading (PaRDeS)

Tradition distinguishes four levels for reading the same verse, summed up by the acronym PaRDeS (פרדס): Peshat (פשט), the plain sense of the text; Remez (רמז), the hinted, what the text suggests by clues; Drash (דרש), the sense interpreted by the sages in the Talmud and the Midrash; and Sod (סוד), the hidden, the level of Kabbalah.

The acronym appears in medieval authors and should not be confused with the “Pardes” of the Talmud (Chagigah 14b), which four sages “entered.” On this site each parashah is gradually being arranged in these four levels; those not yet written appear as “coming soon.”

The parashah in Kabbalah and Hasidism

The Zohar comments on the Torah following the order of the portions, which is why it is cited by parashah (“Zohar, Vayera”). Several classic works of Hasidism and of later tradition are organized by portion.

That is why, on this site, each parashah has its own page, arranged from the simple to the hidden: peshat (summary), drash (the sages’ teaching and practical application) and sod (the Zohar and the related sefirah or attribute), with remez when there is something to say.

Classic works arranged by parashah

These works, which have a guide on this site, follow the order of the portions:

• The Zohar: what it is, structure, authorship and how it is studied
• Sefer HaChinuch (“Book of Education”): what it is, authorship and structure
• Keter Shem Tov: teachings of the Baal Shem Tov on the parashah
• Degel Machaneh Ephraim by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov
• Kedushat Levi by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev: structure and themes
• Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, the Ben Ish Chai (1835–1909): biography and works