Rabbi Doctor's
Weekly Torah Study
Wednesdays 12:00 p.m.
Torah Study
TORAH STUDY
Study at Beth Jacob Wednesdays at noon, we literally live the commandment to, "la'asok b'divrei Torah," immerse our-selves and engage in the words of Torah. Through which, we continue and preserve one of the most sacred links in our tradition the passing on of our learning and knowledge, "l'dor v'dor," from one generation to another.
Each week we study the words of the Parsha, going beyond the surface of the text. We collectively seek to understand and teach each other the underlying meanings of the words of our Tradition and how they continue to apply and influence our lives today.
You are invited to join us whenever you can. Torah study is an ongoing learning opportunity. No prior knowledge needed.
TRIENIAL READING CYCLE
In Judaism, the Torah is read publicly three times per week, Saturday, Monday and Thursday. A majority of the portion of the Torah is read each week in the Shabbat morning service, except when a holiday coincides with Shabbat. Each weekly Torah portion adopts its name from the first unique words in the Hebrew text. Dating back to the time of the Babylonian captivity (6th century BCE), public Torah reading mostly followed an annual cycle beginning and ending on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, with the Torah divided into 54 weekly portions to correspond to the lunar Hebrew calendar, which contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between leap years and regular years.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, many congregations in the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements implemented an alternative triennial cycle in which only one-third of each weekly parashah is read in a given year; the parashot read are still consistent with the annual cycle but the entire Torah is completed over three years. Beth Jacob Galveston adheres to this practice.