Parashah
A
parashah (Hebrew: פָּרָשָׁה (Pārāšâ) "portion," plural:
parashot or
parashiyot) formally means a section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). In the Masoretic Text,
parashah sections are designated by various types of spacing between them, as found in Torah scrolls, scrolls of the books of Nevi'im or Ketuvim (especially megillot), masoretic 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 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.