Parashat Shemi

[debi b]

Many messianics read the weekly Torah readings. Generally, Torah is the name given to the first five books of the Bible, although there are times when it refers to a larger body of text. The most basic meaning of the word Torah is teaching. Torah is HaShem’s (G-d’s) teaching to His people. In the Torah, HaShem tells us how to live. They are HaShem’s instructions to us. Each week we read a passage from the Torah. This passage is referred to as a parashah (if used in combination with the name of the passage parashah becomes parashat).

The Hebrew names of the first five books are derived from the first few words of the book. Bereshit = Genesis; Shemot = Exodus; Vayikra = Leviticus; Bamidbar = Numbers; Devarim = Deuteronomy. The Hebrew names for the parashah (passage) comes from the first few words in the reading.

Let us try to understand the Torah,
not as a book of law, and surely not as a book of lore, but as the book of life.
Let us read with our eyes and listen with our souls.
May our lives be transformed to what HaShem intended them to be.

Weekly Torah reading for April 2, 2005

Parashat Shemini
Vayikra [Leviticus] 9:1-11:47

Vayikra 9: 1 And it came to pass on the eighth [eighth = shemini] day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel;