Weekly Torah Portion

Weekly Torah Portion is the section that the Jewish people read in the synagogue on Shabbat. The beginning of the parsha is read during Mincha of the preceding Shabbat, and during Shacharit on Monday and Thursday of that week.

Reading and Learning Weekly Torah Portion

The Torah is divided into fifty-four parshiot (53 plus Bereishit), and every Shabbat one or two connected portions are read from the Torah scroll. According to the ordinance of Ezra the Scribe, the Torah is also read on Mondays and Thursdays of the week, so that unlearned people who don't study at all won't go three days without Torah learning. However, on these days they don't read the entire parsha, but only a small part of it. Another difference is that on Shabbat at least seven people are called up to read from the Torah scroll, while on weekdays there are only three people called up.

The first parsha, Parshat Bereishit, begins to be read on Simchat Torah and on Shabbat Bereishit, and each week an additional parsha is read (except on Shabbatot when holidays fall) until completing the reading with Parshat V'Zot HaBracha on Simchat Torah.

In addition to reading Weekly Torah Portion from the Torah publicly in the synagogue, it is ruled in the Shulchan Aruch that every week each person must "review the sedra" as "Shnayim Mikra V'echad Targum" - reading the weekly parsha twice and the Targum Onkelos once.

The Alter Rebbe, the first leader of Chabad Chassidut, established an additional ordinance to study the Chumash portion as the parsha is divided for the days of the week.

According to this ordinance, each day of the week Chassidim learn the section of the parsha relevant to that day with Rashi's commentary. This ordinance was later included in the Chitas regimen established by the Rebbe Rayatz and especially strengthened by the Rebbe.

Living with the Times

In his early years of leadership, the Alter Rebbe would publicly say that "one must live with the times." Through his brother, the Maharil, the elder Chassidim discovered that the Rebbe meant: one should 'live' with Weekly Torah Portion and the daily portion of the weekly parsha. Not just to learn the weekly Torah portion each day, but to 'live' with it. Later, in connection with this saying, the Rebbe Rayatz established as part of the Chitas regimen, the daily study of a portion of the parsha with Rashi's commentary.

On many occasions, the Rebbe connected the weekly Torah portion to the date in the year and/or to events that occurred at that time. This is based on the words of the Shelah (in his book, at the beginning of Parshat Vayeshev) that the holidays of the year have a special connection also to the parsha in which they fall.