Weekly Torah Portion

Lecture 1
Introduction
Written by: Shira Golani, Yaakov Dolgopolsky-Geva and Julia
Blum
 WELCOME TO THE COURSE!
Together we will learn about Themes taken from weekly Trh Portions,

their meaning in the original Hebrew Bible Context, and the themes

occurrences and meaning in the New Testament

 READING THE TORAH:
PORTION BY PORTION
(1) Trh = ()
teachings, Law.
(2) The Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses.

The Torah is read constantly in its entirety, in set consecutive increments, a new
portion each week.
Prh ( = ) portion, increment, episode.
Pra Haa ( - = ) weekly Torah portion.
 READING THE TORAH:
CONSTANTLY

Joshua 1:8 8 '

This book of the law shall
not depart out of your
-
mouth;
you shall meditate on it
day and night

Day and Night
 READING THE TORAH:
PUBLICLY AND IN FULL
Nehemiah 8 '
2 The priest Ezra brought the law
-
before the assembly, both men

and women and all who could hear
with understanding. This was on the -
first day of the seventh month. 3 He .
read from it in the presence of the ...-
men and the women and those who -
could understand; and the ears of
...
-
all the people were attentive to
the book of the law.
 READING CYCLE

The Torah is read in its entirety, every verse and every word, in consecutive
portions: Pr . Jewish tradition has known two main cycles, established in the
Second Temple Period:

- Three years (est. in the Land of Israel )

- One year (est. in Babylonia; eventually accepted by all )

Carl Schleicher, " A question from the Talmud "
 STARTING AFRESH
AT IMA TRH

The final prh (Wz Habbrh) is read.

Its reader is called:
tan Trh (
)

Later in the service, from a different

scroll, another reader reads the first
chapter of the first prh of the new
cycle: Pra Br .
This reader is called: tan Br
 HOW MANY PR ?
The Jewish calendar a lunisolar calendar.

12 lunar months, or 13 months in leap years.

+
Holidays ( including ima Trh ) shift days of the week each year.

=
Up to Fifty-Four Pr
But
Most years need less than 54 pr!
The solution:
A complex mechanism, with pairs of consecutive pr that:
- In longer years may be read apart;
- In shorter years may be read together in the same week.
 DIVIDING THE TRH
INTO PR

- According to various criteria of content.

- Pr do not necessarily correspond to the division into chapters.
- But do correspond to the division into books:
A Prh is always contained within a single book.
The first Prh of each of the five books bears the same name as the
book.
 A PRH GETS ITS NAME
FROM A WORD IN THE FIRST
Pra Bmidbar (In the [Sinai]VERSE
Desert/Wilderness)
Numbers 1:1: :1 '
The LORD spoke to Moses in the
-
wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of
meeting, on the first day of the
second month, in the second
year after they had come out of
the land of Egypt, saying: .

The same method is used in naming the books of the Trh such as the Book
of Bmidbar = The Book of Numbers.
 WEEKLY SCHEDULE
The weeks prh is read at the synagogue several times a week:
On Monday, Thursday and on the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath it is usually read on Saturday morning services.

Continuity of cycle: At the Saturday afternoon service (minh ), the

beginning of the following weeks prh is read.
 READING AT THE
SYNAGOGUE
Each prh is divided to eight sections, meant for eight readers:

Rin ( )First m ( )Fifth

n ( )Second i ( )Sixth
l ( )Third ( )Seventh
R ( )Fourth Map r ()

The Mapr is the reader responsible for the haprh, read after the Trh
Portions.
 BASICS OF THE TRH
SYNAGOGUE READING
Before reading each prh section:
The congregant is summoned to come up and read (lyyh).
The reader (with some participation of the congregation) recites blessings for
God, on giving his people his Trh:
Praise to God for whom our praise is due!
Praised be God, to whom our praise is due, now and for ever!
We praise You, our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has
chosen us of all people, by giving us his Trh.
Praised are You, O God, Giver of the Trh.

After reading from the Trh, the reader recites a similar blessing, also
culminating with blessing God for the gift of the Trh.
 THE SCROLL AND THE BOOK
Scroll
No markings other than text.
Reader uses a ritual hand.
Book
Extra Marking: points, punctuation.
Some Bibles include the name of
the prh and the sections for
the eight readers.
Pages from the Letteris Bible
 THE HAPRH
Haprh ( = ) a section from the books of prophets, read after
the prh. The hapr were chosen to accompany specific pr,
with which they share themes and ideas.
Connections
 EACH HAPRH HAS ONE
But PRH.
A prh may have more than one haprh!

Many pr have a different haprh

in the reading traditions of various Jewish communities.

Most common are different Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Yemenite reading

traditions.
 HOLIDAY TORAH
READING
Ym (( = ) religious) holiday.

When a Ym occurs on the Sabbath, the reading may change, to

include the Trh-portion relating to the specific holiday.
For example: passages from the Exodus narrative on Passover.
Holidays also have their own traditional readings from the books of the
Prophets and the Writings, alongside the haprh (to be read if the
holiday occurs on the Sabbath).
For example: the Book of Jonah for Ym Kppr; Ecclesiastes for Skkt
(=Festival of Booth).
ima Trh
 1ST CENTURY
SYNAGOGUES
By the first century, synagogues already existed in many places in the Land.
The Gospels specifically mention synagogues in Nazareth (Luke 4:16) and in
Capernaum (Mark 1:21), and we find many more occasions in the Gospels
when Jesus ministry took place in a synagogue. For example, in Matthew
4:23 we read: And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues.
Ruins of the great synagogue of
Capernaum, Israel.
PUBLIC READING OF THE SCRIPTURES
IN THE TIME OF JESUS
There were many different sects, directions and teachings in Judaism in the first
century of our era, before the destruction of the Temple. Yet there was something
that all these sects shared: the central place of the Torah in the life of the Jewish
people. According to the testimony of the NT, as well as the writings of Josephus,
the public reading of the Torah was practiced every Shabbat in every synagogue.
Ancient Scrolls
 WHICH CYCLE DID JESUS
FOLLOW?
The book of Acts tells us explicitly: 21 For Moses has had throughout many
generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues
every Sabbath. (Acts 15:21)
Josephus writes: people have to leave off their other employments and to
assemble together for the hearing of the law, and learning it exactly, and this
not once or twice, or oftener, but every week. (Against Apion, 2.175)
Whatever synagogue Jesus would enter on Shabbat, as his custom was,
Jesus would listen to the Torah there. The question is, whether he was listening
to the same Torah portions and following the same annual cycle we know
today?
White Synagogue in which Jesus Christ Preached
 AT THE NAZARETH
The earliest source we have SYNAGOGUE
on this custom is occurs in the New Testament. In the
well-known scene in Luke (4:16-21), Jesus had returned to his hometown,
Nazareth, and on the Sabbath (Saturday), went to the synagogue as his custom
was:
6 So he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom

was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to
read. 17 And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had
opened the book, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of
the LORD is upon Me
Jesus Preaches in the Synagogue
 FIRST BELIEVERS:
STILL IN SYNAGOGUE
From the book of Acts, we know that it was a regular custom of Apostle Paul to
attend synagogue every Shabbat.

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth And he reasoned in the
synagogue every Sabbath (Acts 18:1-4)

And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the
synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. (Acts 18:19)
Selcuk, Izmir, Turkey
Next week we begin, at the beginning

See you next time