A Condensed Guide to the Weekly Torah Readings

Jewish tradition teaches that not even a single letter of the Torah is extraneous or un-necessary, that each and every letter is necessary and carries meaning. Since the Torah has 304,805 letters, which make up 79,847 words, which in turn form 4,845 verses, that is A LOT of meaning. In fact, tradition teaches us that the Torah is “black fire written on white fire” - that what is NOT written, what is between the lines, is as important as the words themselves.

The Edible Torah web site is designed to help people create a unique, weekly pot-luck Shabbat experience where friends and family are invited to bring food which matches the themes of the weekly Torah reading. While the Torah itself (or at least a good translation) is a key resource, having a 100,000-foot view of the flow of the narrative is also helpful.

This Guide should give you a handy amuse-bouche for what can be found in each weekly Torah reading. Each section provides a summary of the entire book of Torah, and then the name of each portion, the chapter and verses it covers, and the main events it describes. I've also included a section for the special readings associated with various holidays. Because that has everyone fahklumpt!