The Torah, also known in book form as the Chumash, meaning “Five” Books of Moses, is studied and chanted aloud in weekly segments known as the parsha, or “portion.” This annual process ends and starts all over again on the holy day known as Simchat Torah, which is a day of “Rejoicing in the Torah.” Since Judaism follows a lunar cycle, with certain years containing leap “months,” one year’s Jewish calendar does not help with the next. For the same reason, in some years two portions will be assigned to one date. On festivals and holidays special portions are read that go out of order with the sequence of the year.
