Public Torah Reading—A Short History and a Contemporary Encouragement
By Yisrael Levitt
How long can you last without a sip of water? Although I’ve never wanted to try this experiment, there are those who have gone on hunger strikes and miraculously lasted as long as eight days; however, the average time, given average conditions, is three days. Given this basic biological fact, we can see a parallel in the aftermath of the Exodus from Egypt where it recounts that, “Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur; they walked for three days in the desert but did not find water. They came to Marah, but they could not drink water from Marah because it was bitter; therefore, it was named Marah [bitter]. The people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’” (Exodus 15:22-25). From this incident, the sages interpret that…
“Water actually stands for Torah, as it is said (by Isaiah, 55:1), ‘Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water.’ Having gone for three days without Torah, the prophets among them stepped forth and legislated that the Torah should be read on the second [Monday] and fifth [Thursday] days of the week as well as on Shabbat so that they would not let three days pass without Torah” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kama 82a).
We might wonder why the Creator designed our bodies to necessitate a daily intake of food and water, but we could conclude that it is actually connected to and an example of how our souls need to be attached to the Divine on a daily basis. In fact, step into any traditional synagogue around the world, and you’ll notice a special table, sometimes on a raised platform, most likely placed somewhere centered in the sanctuary. Its central placement is a symbol of what takes place there—the public reading of Gd’s word. Why publically read the Torah? When did this practice take place? What is our relation, as followers of the Messiah Yeshua, to this practice?
What is the Public Torah Reading?
The concept of publically reading the Torah is first mentioned in the Torah itself as part of a seven year cycle known as the “shemita” (see Deuteronomy 31:10-13) and was reinstituted by Ezra, the scribe and priest, after the Babylonian exile (see Nehemiah 8). Ezra is credited with instituting readings on Mondays and Thursdays during the week, therefore making sure that three days would never pass without a public reading of Gd’s word. These days were considered market days in ancient Israel when most would travel to the larger cities, days when people would restock food and supplies from the past weekend and stock up for the upcoming Shabbat respectively. The public reading also takes place on special occasions—the weekly Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh (the New Month celebration), Festivals, and fast days. But what exactly is read, and how was this decided?
Long before the Bible even had chapters or verses, an innovation that was only first introduced in the 13th century and not widely accepted until the 16th century, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, was broken up into 54 different chapters[1] called “sedrot,” or “sedra[2]” in singular, meaning “orders”. These sedrot were then further broken up into “parashiot[3]”, or “parashia[4]” in singular, roughly meaning “paragraphs”[5]. The earliest copies of Torah scrolls that exist, the Dead Sea Scrolls, bear witness to the section breaks, marked by white spaces in the text, that divide up the readings. As R. Manachem Leibtag, founder of the Tanach Study Center (http://www.tanach.org), puts it:
From a thematic perspective, the “parshiya” divisions are very important, for they were given by God to Moshe Rabeinu [Moses] together with the Torah! Therefore, if God found it necessary to provide us with “parshiya” breaks to aid us in our study of His Torah, it only makes sense that we should pay careful attention to them when we study. In fact, Rashi himself provides us with a very similar insight: “These short breaks were given [together with the Torah by God] to allow Moshe Rabeinu [Moses] the opportunity to contemplate from one “parshiya” to the next, [in order] to understand the flow from one topic to the next…(see Rashi’s commentary to Vayikra [Leviticus] 1:1)[6]
The sedrot, or as they are commonly called the “weekly Torah portions,” (parashat hashavua), were normalized over nine centuries ago, although there were earlier weekly systems used, by R. Moshe ben Maimon in his compendium of Jewish practice and custom known as the Mishne Torah (Repetition of the Torah)[7]. This system is what is still used today for Jews all around the world every week and in every synagogue.[8] The same Torah portions are read on a weekly basis so that the entire Torah is completed in one year’s time, culminating on Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in the Torah) during the Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) holiday, which occurs a few weeks after Rosh Hashana in September or October. There is a further breaking down of each weekly section into seven sections (parashiot) which are read and studied, one per day, in order for individuals to study and complete the weekly reading each week.
The sections that are publically read are actually chanted with an ancient melodic notation system that is designed to help with memorization, grammatical structure, and interpretation of the text called “te’amim[9]”, roughly translated as “musical notes”. On Monday, Thursday, and on Shabbat afternoons, the first section (parashia) is broken up into three parts and three individuals are called up during the prayers to publically read the respective sections. This has been most popularized by Bar/Bat Mitzvah boys and girls who commemorate their official entrances into the community as responsible adults, often times by publically engaging in the morning prayers by reading from the Torah scroll.
Public Torah Reading in the Gospels and Apostolic Writings
So now that we have a small amount of background concerning the practice of publically reading God’s word, we now return to the question of what relation we, as followers of Yeshua, have to this practice? Did Yeshua take part in this service? Is this something practiced by the early followers of Yeshua? Our Master’s public ministry began, as described in the Gospel of Luke 4:14-21, with His being called up to a public Torah reading[10]. It appears that this custom was widespread, as not only was it practiced in Yeshua’s home town of Nazareth in Israel, but it was practiced in the Greek diaspora communities outside of Israel, too.[11]
Learning about the custom of public Torah readings is vital, not only for the follower of Yeshua to connect with his or her roots to the larger people of Israel, but also to fulfill the early Yeshua-believing community’s system of public worship. It is very apparent that the early Yeshua-believing communities practiced public Bible readings (see 1 Timothy 4:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:27; and Colossians 4:16), but what was read? To answer this question, let us consider a few often overlooked points.
The first of these points to consider is that there was no collection of Apostolic writings (i.e. there was no New Testament) that existed at that time. Additionally, there is ample evidence that the Gospels were most likely still in an oral form during the early few decades of the Yeshua-believing community. Lastly, when we consider that the larger Jewish communities already had the custom of reading from the Torah and the Prophets on a weekly basis, it begins to clear up the meaning of Paul’s encouragement to Timothy to “give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.” It’s not only safe to say but logical to conclude that these sections—that is the weekly Torah portions as well as Paul’s and others’ letters—were what were read each week in the communities of the early Yeshua-believers. Paul seems to confirm this when he instructs Timothy in his second letter that, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate [and] equipped for every good work” (3:15-17). Again, since there was no “New Testament” compiled at this time, Paul can only be referring to the weekly public Torah readings, traditionally read on Monday and Thursday, along with the Haftarah[12] readings read on Shabbat mornings. We do well to heed Paul’s encouragement and the examples of both the early Yeshua communities and our Master Himself in participating in and engaging in public Torah readings. Even in today’s age when God’s word is available to us in numerous colors, shapes, and sizes of Bibles, on the internet, and even on our personal, hand-held devices, there is still a certain enriching quality, inspiring sense of reverence, and physical symbolism of making God’s word central in our lives when, as a community, we come together to hear those ancient, life-giving words. We plug into a chain of centuries of past believers and a connection to the Master when we, as a part of the body of Messiah, imitate Yeshua and the early Yeshua-believers in partaking in this most holy of practices. We dance, we sing, we read, and we listen as the words that give life transform, shape, and mold us.
[1] Note the idea of dividing the books of the Bible didn’t exist until the early 13th century and the idea of further dividing those into verses until the mid-16th century. This number is according to the lunar cycle of a year which contains 55 weeks (including leap years); certain sections are paired up on non-leap years.
[2] Also transliterated as “sidra” or “seder”.
[3] Also transliterated as “parashot” and “parashiyot”
[4] Also transliterated as “parsha”, “parasha”, “parshah”, and “parashah”
[5] In printed versions of the Torah, the place where an “open portion” would appear in the Torah scroll is marked with the Hebrew letter pei (Heb. פ), and a “closed portion” is marked with the letter samech (Heb. ס).
[6] http://www.tanach.org/breishit/brintro/brintro1.htm
[7] Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls, chapter 8
[9] This is also known by the Yiddish word “trope” (pronounced like “t” + “rope” in English) meaning “stress”, as in which syllables to stress.
[10] Yeshua here actually reads the Haftarah section—the section from the Prophets.
[11] See Acts 13:15; cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14.
[12] This is the section from the Prophets that is chosen thematically and accompanies the weekly Torah portion (parashat hashavua), and includes readings from books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.
A Short History and a Contemporary Encouragement
