Editing Parashah (section)

{{italic title}}
{{short description|Section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text}}
{{about|section divisions throughout the Tanakh|the weekly portion (Parashat HaShavua)|Weekly Torah portion}}
[[File:Aleppo Codex (Deut).jpg|thumb|right|300px|A page from the [[Aleppo Codex]], Deuteronomy 32:50–33:29. ''Parashah'' breaks visible on this page are as follows: {P} 33:1–6 (right column blank line 8th from top) {S} 33:7 (right column indentation line 23) {P} 33:8–11 (right column blank line 2nd from bottom) {S} 33:12 (middle column 1st indentation) {S} 33:13–17 (middle column 2nd indentation) {S} 33:18–19 (left column indentation at top) {S} 33:20–21 (left column space in middle of 6th line) {S} 33:22 (left column 13th line indentation) {S} 33:24–39 (left column 17th line indentation).]]

The term '''''parashah''''', '''''parasha''''' or '''''parashat''''' ({{langx|he|פָּרָשָׁה}} ''Pārāšâ'', "portion", [[Tiberian Hebrew|Tiberian]] {{IPA|/pɔrɔˈʃɔ/|}}, [[Sephardi Hebrew|Sephardi]] {{IPA|/paraˈʃa/|}}, plural: ''parashot'' or ''parashiyot'', also called '''''parsha''''') formally means a section of a biblical book in the [[Masoretic Text]] of the [[Tanakh]] ([[Hebrew Bible]]). In common usage today the word often refers to the [[weekly Torah portion]] (a shortened form of ''Parashat HaShavua''). This article deals with the first, formal meaning of the word. In the Masoretic Text, ''parashah'' sections are designated by various types of spacing between them, as found in [[Torah scroll]]s, scrolls of the books of [[Nevi'im]] or [[Ketuvim]] (especially the [[five megillot|Megillot]]), masoretic [[codex|codices]] from the [[Middle Ages]] and printed editions of the masoretic text.

The division of the text into ''parashot'' for the biblical books is independent of [[Chapters and verses of the Bible|chapter and verse numbers]], which are not part of the masoretic tradition. ''Parashot'' are not numbered, but some have special names.

The division of ''parashot'' found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities is based upon the systematic list provided by [[Maimonides]] in [[Mishneh Torah]], ''Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls'', chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of the ''parashot'' for the Torah on the [[Aleppo Codex]].<ref>Though initially doubted by [[Umberto Cassuto]], this has become the established position in modern scholarship. As Goshen–Gottstein, Penkower, and Ofer have shown, Cassuto's doubts were based upon apparent discrepancies he noted between the ''parashah'' divisions in the Aleppo Codex and those recorded by Maimonides. However, the most striking of these apparent discrepancies are rooted in the faulty manuscripts and printed editions of Maimonides that Cassuto consulted (as noted in his personal journals), while the remaining cases can be reasonably explained as differing interpretations of very small spaces in the Aleppo Codex. Furthermore, the best manuscripts of Maimonides describe highly unusual implementations of spacing techniques that are found in no other masoretic manuscript besides the Aleppo Codex. Full explanations of each individual discrepancy appear in the notes to this article.</ref>  The division of ''parashot'' for the books of [[Nevi'im]] and [[Ketuvim]] was never completely standardized in printed Hebrew bibles and handwritten scrolls, though important attempts were made to document it and create fixed rules.

Incorrect division of the text into ''parashot'', either by indicating a ''parashah'' in the wrong place or by using the wrong spacing technique, [[halakhah|halakhically]] invalidates a [[Torah scroll]] according to Maimonides.<ref>For more details see the section on [[#Halakhic significance|Halakhic significance]] below.</ref>