Tradition of Parsha reading in Judaism (Weekly torah readings)

Today's Judaism is rooted in the cultural and religious reforms during the return from the Babylonian exile under the leadership of Ezra. As a result of Kohen Ezra's practices in this period, Torah-centred ritual was formed instead of Temple-centred ritual. Ezra started weekly Torah reading custom for everyone to listen and sectioned Torah into 54 parsha (weekly Torah portion) to be completed in one calender year. ''Weekly Torah reading custom'' taking part at the core of synagogue worship from the period of 2nd Temple period, necessitated a critical study and interpretation of Torah, thus contributed into the development of the Torah exegetical tradition. This study, aiming to show the educational aspect of weekly parsha in terms of keeping Jewish identity, looks into the contents of the daily parsha read in special days, feasts and Shabbat. The first part of this research which consists of three parts, studies history leading to the emergence of this custom and Torah reading studies until today. Second part presents Torah reading ritual in Shabbats and various examples of parsha readings during the year. Third part looks into Torah reading studies by Turkish Jews as well as examples of ''This Week Parsha'' readings from Şalom Newspaper.