What is the weekly Torah portion called?
Parashat HaShavua
The full name, Parashat HaShavua (Hebrew: פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ), is popularly abbreviated to parashah (also parshah /pɑːrʃə/ or parsha), and is also known as a Sidra or Sedra /sɛdrə/.
What is the shortest Torah portion?
The parashah constitutes Exodus 18:1–20:23. The parashah is the shortest of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Exodus and is also one of the shortest parashot in the Torah. It is made up of 4,022 Hebrew letters, 1,105 Hebrew words, and 75 verses.
What is Shabbat Parah?
Shabbat Parah (“Sabbath [of the] red heifer” שבת פרה) takes place on the Shabbat preceding Shabbat HaChodesh, in preparation for Passover.
What does Elul stand for?
Elul is the 6th month of the Biblical calendar (late summer/early fall), the month set apart for repentance, or teshuvah, in spiritual preparation for the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur).
What is the difference between Torah and Haftarah?
The haftara reading follows the Torah reading on each Sabbath and on Jewish festivals and fast days. Typically, the haftara is thematically linked to the parashah (weekly Torah portion) that precedes it. The haftara is sung in a chant.
How long does it take to read the Torah?
Some Conservative congregations use a triennial cycle, reading approximately a third of the Torah every year and completing the reading in three years.
What is the longest Torah reading?
The parashah is the longest of the weekly Torah portions in the book of Exodus (although not the longest in the Torah, which is Naso), and is made up of 7,424 Hebrew letters, 2,002 Hebrew words, 139 verses, and 245 lines in a Torah scroll (Sefer Torah).
What is the longest parsha in the Torah?
Naso
Naso has the largest number of letters, words, and verses of any of the 54 weekly Torah portions. The parashah is made up of 8,632 Hebrew letters, 2,264 Hebrew words, 176 verses, and 311 lines in a Torah Scroll ( סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah).
What does Maftir mean in Hebrew?
Definition of ‘maftir’
1. the concluding section of the portion of the Torah chanted or read in a Jewish service on the Sabbath and festivals. 2. the person who recites the blessings before and after the chanting or reading of this section and who often also chants or reads the Haftarah.
What does Metzora mean in Hebrew?
one being diseased
Metzora, Metzorah, M’tzora, Mezora, Metsora, M’tsora, Metsoro, Meṣora, or Maṣoro (מְצֹרָע — Hebrew for “one being diseased,” the ninth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 28th weekly Torah portion ( פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the Book of …
What does the heart mean in Judaism?
“Lev” means “heart” in Hebrew, and it wasn’t a body part to the Israelites. They had a broader understanding of heart than we do in our modern context. They thought of the heart as the organ that gives physical life and the place where you think and make sense of the world—where you feel emotions and make choices.
Do we say Selichot on Shabbat?
In most modern Sephardic communities, Selichot services are identical each day. However, some North African communities still recite different Selichot on Mondays, Thursdays and Shabbat, following the order in Siftei Renanot, while keeping the “standard” order on days without Torah Reading.
What are the 5 Megillot and when are they read?
In most Mizrahi Jewish communities it is read publicly each week at the onset of the Shabbat (Sabbath). There is also a widespread custom to read it at the end of the Passover Seder. In the Sephardi ritual it is read before the Mincha service on the afternoon of the seventh day of Passover (eighth day outside Israel).
What is the person who reads the Torah called?
According to Orthodox Judaism, the first oleh (person called to read) is a kohen and the second a levi; the remaining olim are yisr’elim — Jews who are neither kohen nor levi.
Who wrote the Torah?
The scholars gave each of these four books (or writers) a name: the Yahwist, the Elohist, the Priestly writers, and the Deuteronomist.
What does Ki Tisa mean in Hebrew?
when you take
Ki Tisa, Ki Tissa, Ki Thissa, or Ki Sisa (כִּי תִשָּׂא — Hebrew for “when you take,” the sixth and seventh words, and first distinctive words in the parashah) is the 21st weekly Torah portion (parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Exodus.
What does Nasso mean in Hebrew?
take a census
Naso or Nasso (נָשֹׂא — Hebrew for “take a census” or “lift up,” the sixth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 35th weekly Torah portion ( פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Numbers. It constitutes Numbers 4:21–7:89.
What does Parsha mean in Hebrew?
: a passage in Jewish Scripture dealing with a single topic specifically : a section of the Torah assigned for weekly reading in synagogue worship.
What does Tazria mean in Hebrew?
childbirth
Tazria, Thazria, Thazri’a, Sazria, or Ki Tazria’ (תַזְרִיעַ—Hebrew for “childbirth”, the 13th word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah, where the root word זֶרַע means “seed”) is the 27th weekly Torah portion ( פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book …
What does Tzaraat mean in Hebrew?
Tzaraath (Hebrew צָרַעַת ṣāraʿaṯ), variously transcribed into English and frequently mistranslated as leprosy, describes various ritually unclean disfigurative conditions of the skin, hair of the beard and head, clothing made of linen or wool, or stones of homes in the Bible.
What is the soul in Hebrew?
The only Hebrew word traditionally translated “soul” (nephesh) in English-language Bibles refers to a living, breathing conscious body, rather than to an immortal soul.
What is the Hebrew Shema?
Shema, (Hebrew: “Hear”), the Jewish confession of faith made up of three scriptural texts (Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21; Numbers 15:37–41), which, together with appropriate prayers, forms an integral part of the evening and morning services.
What does Leil mean in Hebrew?
Leil means: the eve(ning) of. So leil shabbat is: Shabbat Eve or Friday evening. Leil pesach is: Passover Eve, (the first) Passover evening.
What is teshuvah in Hebrew?
Teshuvah is the central theme of the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, known collectively as the “Ten Days of Teshuvah.” Typically, teshuvah is translated from the Hebrew as repentance, but it literally means return, as if turning back to something you’ve strayed or looked away from.
What does the word megillah mean?
a long involved story or account
Definition of megillah
1 slang : a long involved story or account Shaffer has Salieri declaring war on Heaven … and determined to ruin Mozart because God’s voice is speaking through him.