Introduction

What is a “Parashah”

Traditionally, religious Jews will attend synagogue and hear a small portion of the Torah read on Monday and Thursday mornings, and a larger version of that weekday portion read on the Sabbath. This segmenting of the Torah is based on various traditions, and one group, say, Yemenite Jews, may not be reading the exact same portion that Ashkenazi Jews in Israel will be reading. Also, Reform and Conservative Jews will typically have a different reading cycle, especially outside of Israel.

This segment of the Torah is called the “parashah”.

 Throughout the week, religious Jews will also take time out to “learn the parashah”, or so they say. This typically consists of reading through the text, then reading through the Aramaic Targum, which is an approved Rabbinical interpretation of the text with more than 10,000 changes in the Hebrew Masoretic text, and then an ideologically driven commentary, say, by Rashi. Some may refer to “Torah Tamima”, which will point to where that same text is referred to in the Talmud to see how the ancient sages viewed the verse. And in schools, the children will often memorize large sections of the text.

But memorizing, following an approved way of interpreting the text, and deferring to religious leaders as to what a text means is not really learning the parashah. That is simply parroting the words of others.

In this sub-blog, I will be following a traditional Israeli Ashkenai Orthodox breakdown of the parashah, and I will be pointing out things that are typically missed: the inconsistencies, the contradictions, the use of language that is often ignored, and other areas that are typically missed.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them and I will try to respond to them when I can. For a faster response, feel free to send me a “tweet” at @ElishaBenAbuya.