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.