Good Question

Why did we read a different Torah portion on Shabbat?

A congregant recently sent me a question. She was trying to read up on the Torah portion in advance for this past Shabbat. When she looked on line for what we would be reading, she got different answers from different websites. Why? Here is part of my answer: Usually the Reform Judaism website is good for the Torah portion, but not this week! Most Reform synagogues do not keep two days of holidays. Therefore, since for those who do keep two days (Riverdale Temple included), Saturday was the 8th day of Passover, we read a special Passover Torah reading. For those who do not keep two days, there are only 7 days to Passover, and so Saturday was a regular Shabbat. Therefore they read the next portion in the yearly cycle. This is true also in Israel, where they only keep one day. So are we all on different Torah portions now? No. Adjustments are made. For example, the Reform movement will read the same portion next week, putting them back in sync with everyone else. Great question!