Weekly Torah Readings

Level:  Intermediate

Each week in synagogue, we read (or, more accurately, chant, because it is sung) a passage from the Torah.  This passage is referred to as a parashah.  The first parashah, for example, is Parashat Bereishit, which covers from the beginning of Genesis to the story of Noah.  There are 54 parashahs (parashiyot), one for each week of a leap year, so that in the course of a year, we read the entire Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) in our services.  During non-leap years, there are 50 weeks, so some of the shorter portions are doubled up.  We reach the last portion of the Torah around a holiday called Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in the Law), which occurs in September or October, a few weeks after Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year).  On Simchat Torah, we read the last portion of the Torah, and proceed immediately to the first paragraph of Genesis, showing that the Torah is a circle, and never ends.

In the synagogue service, the weekly parashah is followed by a passage from the prophets, which is referred to as a haftarah.  Contrary to common misconception, "haftarah" does not mean "half-Torah".  The word comes from a Hebrew root meaning end or conclusion.  Usually, the haftarah portion is no longer than one chapter, and has some relation to the Torah portion of the week.

The Torah and haftarah readings are performed with great ceremony:  the Torah is paraded around the room before it is brought to rest on the bimah (podium).  The reading is divided up into portions, and various members of the congregation have the honor of reciting blessings over a portion of the reading and doing the reading.  This honor is referred to as an "aliyah" (literally, ascension).

The first aliyah of any day's reading is customarily reserved for a kohein, the second for a Levite, and priority for subsequent aliyoth is given to people celebrating major life events, such as marriage or the birth of a child.  In fact, a Bar Mitzvah was originally nothing more than the first aliyah of a boy who had reached the age to be permitted by custom such an honor (the Torah permits children to take an aliyah and to read, just like adults, and in Yemenite congregations most six-year-olds already can take an aliyah and read for themselves).

Celebrants of life events are customarily given the last aliyah, which includes blessings on the last part of the Torah reading as well as several blessings of the haftarah reading.  The person given this honor is referred to as the "maftir", from the same root as haftarah, meaning the one who concludes.

For more information about services, see Jewish Liturgy.

Jewish scriptures are sometimes bound in a form that corresponds to this division into weekly readings.  Scriptures bound in this way are generally referred to as a chumash.  The word "chumash" comes from the Hebrew word meaning five, and refers to the five books of the Torah.  Sometimes, the word chumash simply refers to a collection of the five books of the Torah.  But often, a chumash contains the entire first five books, divided up by the weekly parashiyot, with the haftarah portion inserted after each week's parashah.
 

Table of Weekly Parashiyot

Below is a table of the regular weekly scriptural readings.  Haftarot in parentheses indicate Sephardic ritual where it differs from Ashkenazic.  There are other variations on the readings for Yemenites (and others), but these are the most commonly used ones.

There are alternative and additional special readings for certain holidays and other special days, listed in a separate table below.

Table of Special Parashiyot

Below are additional readings for holidays and special sabbaths.  Haftarot in parentheses indicate Sephardic ritual where it differs from Ashkenazic.  Note that on holidays, the Maftir portion ordinarily comes from a different Torah scroll.  The Maftir portion is usually the Torah portion that institutes the holiday or specifies the holiday's offerings.

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