[Avodah] division of parshas hashavua

[Zev Sero]

Micha Berger wrote:
> As for the substance of the cycle, see
> <http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=327&letter=T>. In it,
> Joseph Jacobs writes:


>> The number
>> varies, however, so that Menahem Me'iri reckoned 161 divisions,
>> corresponding to the greatest number of Sabbaths possible in three
>> years;

That would imply that the sidra of the week was read even on yomtov
and chol hamoed.  At least two shabbatot of each year *must* be on
yomtov or chol hamoed, which should reduce the need for sidrot by
at least 6, to 155, unless the sidra is read *every* week regardless
of what else is happening that day.



> Bottom line, before the guesswork, it seems likely they matched the
> sedarim in the seifer Torah, not 1/3 of our parshiyos.

There are no sedarim in the seifer Torah.


> That said, I don't see how they can hold like Rav, and have the tochakhah
> said 2nd week before RH, etc... Did they make them maftir, like the
> 4 parshiyos of Adar/Nissan? Was Rav the one who made the annual cycle
> the norm?

Rav was in Bavel, where they read on our annual cycle.


PS: The Zohar speaks of "GaN sidrei oraita"; the usual explanations are
that Nitzavim-Vayelech is one sidra that is sometimes split, and that
Bereshit is a preface to the rest of the Torah so it doesn't count.
If Mishpatim was originally two, then both explanations could be valid,
54 - 2 + 1 = 53.



-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas