Did you know that in Synagogues everywhere the same Torah Portions are studied on the same day?

First, some basics: The Torah is the Five Books of Moses, or the Pentateuch or Chumash. The Torah is part of the Tanach, or Hebrew Bible, known in Christianity as the Old Testament. Tanach is an acronym for Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings).

History: The first mention of a scheduled Torah-reading cycle appears in the Bible, in Deuteronomy, where Moses instructs the tribe of Levi and the elders of Israel to gather all the people for a public reading from portions of the Torah once every seven years. The need to read the Torah publicly intensified after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE; Jews were dispersed into other parts of the Middle East, into North Africa, and into Europe; and their earlier religious and cultural world became decentralized. By the beginning of the 7th century CE the Jews of Babylon established the custom of completing the entire cycle each year, which they did by dividing the Torah into 54 weekly portions. In Hebrew, the word for portion is parsha (plural, parshiyot).

Today: The weekly Torah portion, parshat hashavuah, serves as the focal point for much Jewish learning, from individual study to informal discussion groups to rabbis’ sermons. Each portion is named for the first word or words of the passage — and each linked to a specific week. The weekly portion is read aloud, or chanted, from the Torah scroll as part of the Torah service in synagogue on Shabbat (Saturday) morning.

Good sources for Torah portions include the First Fruits of Zion website, and Ahavat Ammi Pearls of Torah.

adapted from:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-the-torah-portion/

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