Commentary
What is a parashah?
For those who may not know, the Parashot (or “Sidras”) are the weekly readings of the Torah which are read and studied each week in synagogues and Torah-based congregations around the world. There are two systems which have been in used for at least two millenium, one of which has been espoused to have been instituted during the time of Ezra. They are the annual cycle and the triennial cycle. They are dubiously named. The annual Torah cycle takes the reader through the Torah (B’reisheet/Genesis through Devarim/Deuteronomy) within a one year period. The triennial Torah cycle accomplishes this within a three year period. Our congregation uses the annual cycle, as do most. However, the triennial cycle is more ancient, and can be traced to be at least as ancient as the New Testament period, and was in use during the time of Yeshua.
The weekly reading is called a parashah (selection / portion). Parashah is the singluar. Parashot is the plural. They are usually a few chapters in length (but not being limited to manmade chapter breaks), the common factor being they revolve around a central idea or theme. The parashot take their name from a word which is unique to the parashah, from the first sentence or two in the Hebrew text. An example of this can be seen from my first posting: Kedoshim. This comes from the beginning of the parashah in which Hashem commands us, “You shall be holy (kedoshim), for holy am I, Hashem, your God.”
If you do not know how the parashot work, or how they are broken up and arranged, or would like to know which parashah to begin reading, etc. you can go to www.hebcal.com to find out what the current reading is for either the annual or triennial cycle. They list the reading from the Torah and the Haftarah. If you are a believer in Yeshua, you will want to supplement this with selected readings from the Apostolic Scriptures through either David Stern’s Haftarah-like reading schedule, or FFOZ’s Torah-like reading schedule. We have adopted the FFOZ reading schedule, which takes us through the Gospels and Acts within the annual Torah cycle.
I will eventually have a complete set of commentaries on the parashot. I’m currently working through a few select, previous commentaries to finalize them for posting. I will also attempt to continue with the weekly parashah and post commentary on them as soon as possible. Please select the parashah from the list below.
(I’m in the middle of bringing this all over into WordPress. Thanks for your patience.)
