weekly Torah portion

The weekly Torah portion (, popularly just parashah or parshah or parsha and also known as a Sidra or Sedra) is a section of the Torah (Hebrew Bible). It is read publicly and aloud by a designated reader (ba'al koreh) in Jewish prayer services, usually in full during the Shabbat (Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath) morning service and in part during the Shabbat afternoon and Monday and Thursday morning services, in all cases except when pre-empted by a religious holiday. There are 54 such parashiyot (plural) or parshahs (anglicized pluralization) in Judaism, and the full cycle is read over the course of a Jewish year.