352. The Annual Cycle of Reading the Torah

Tefillah u’Birkas Kohanim 13:1

The general practice among Jews is to complete the reading of the Torah in a one-year cycle, starting the Shabbos after Succos with parshas Bereishis, followed by Noach and then Lech L’cha. We continue like this until we complete the Torah again, during the next Succos. There was also a three-year cycle but this was not very common, even in the Rambam’s day.

Tefillah u’Birkas Kohanim 13:2

Ezra instituted reading the curses in the Book of Leviticus before Shavuos and those in Deuteronomy before Rosh Hashana. The common practice is to read the portion of Bemidbar before Shavuos, Va’eschanan after Tisha b’Av, Nitzavim before Rosh Hashana, and Tzav before Pesach in a regular year. To make this happen, there some are weeks in which two Torah portions are read. For example, the portions of Tazria and Metzora are often combined, as are Behar and Bechukosai. This enables the Torah to be completed in a year with all the various portions read in their appropriate times.