This week's Torah portion and the full parasha schedule

Coming up

Dates are the Shabbat on which the portion is read, following the Diaspora calendar. In Israel the reading runs one week ahead for part of some years.

How the weekly cycle works

The Torah is divided into 54 portions, each called a parasha (plural parashot) or sidra. One is read in synagogue every Shabbat morning, in order, so that the whole Torah is completed in a year. The cycle ends and restarts on Simchat Torah in the autumn, when the last verses of Deuteronomy and the first verses of Genesis are read back to back.

A Jewish year has between 50 and 55 weeks, and festivals that fall on Shabbat take the place of the regular reading. To make the 54 portions fit, seven pairs are combined in most years: Vayakhel and Pekudei, Tazria and Metzora, Achrei Mot and Kedoshim, Behar and Bechukotai, Chukat and Balak, Matot and Masei, and Nitzavim and Vayeilech. In a leap year, which has an extra month, most of these are read separately.

Each portion is named for its first distinctive Hebrew word. Bereshit means “in the beginning”; Noach is simply Noah; Lech Lecha is “go forth.” The names are not summaries of the content, which is one reason a short summary of each portion is useful.

All 54 portions