TORAH PARASHAT & HEBREW CALENDAR 5784 (2023-2024)

Torah Parashat

The Torah is the written collection of God’s word, including its main laws and teachings. The weekly Torah portion, parshat hashavuah (also spelled parashat hashavuah) are readings from the Torah that are divided into 54 separate portions, each one named for the first word or words of the passage — and each linked to a specific week. 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). 

The annual cycle of Torah reading begins and ends on Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday that celebrates the annual Torah reading cycle. According to the Jewish tradition, the Torah is the written word of God that contains the main laws and teachings of the tradition. These laws include food laws, relationship laws, clothing laws, and religious teachings and practices, and are the core of Judaism.

One of the many reasons why we study the Torah in portions is due to the spiritual and mental nature of humans. Studying in portion sizes helps us mentally digest the information learned at a balanced pace. This is needed so that our brains do not overload on large doses of information at the same time.

You may have heard many Rabbis and teachers refer to teaching on the Torah Portion as “Daily Manna” or “Doses of Torah”, or “Bite-sized Spiritual Nuggets”, etc. This is because each week there is always something different or new that we receive from Hashem that is needed during the time we are studying. This teaching corresponds to the physical calendar as well. Many teachings like those around Passover also spiritually relate to physical things going on around us that only happen during the time we are prepping for Passover. 

The same can be same about the Torah readings around Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Spiritually, it seems that the Torah Portions align with its corresponding Hebrew calendar- just the way Hashem intended. And for this purpose, it is wise to read in doses or portions to always be in sync with our creator and with our world. It is even taught that our birthdate also corresponds to the life purpose we all individually have, which can be found in our own Torah Portion (the Torah portion of the day we were born). This is why on our Bar/Bat Mitzvah, we read from the Torah Portion of our birthday.

How amazing is this! Those who do not believe in g-d would say everything happens by chance. But we see that Hashem is the author and grand architect of all things, and that He loves His creation so much that he ordains our paths, sets goals and desires in our hearts, and then gives us a blueprint through the Torah Portions to help guide us! Baruch Hashem for such a loving creator!

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Torah Parashat 5785