Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the Week

just to answer a question from #1, but others may be interested

First the Bible is divided in three basic sections, each of those sections separate books. Parshat Shavua is from the first section, the Torah, the Five Books of Moshe (Moses).

The Torah is then divided into enough readings/parshot, so a different one can be read each week, even the leap years, which in the Jewish calendar has an extra month to keep the Jewish lunar calendar in line with the solar. (The Moslem is a simple lunar, without leap years, so their holidays aren't seasonal, simply put, a 13 year old Moslem is the age of a 12 year old Jew or Christian.)

Every week, on Shabbat, we read the full portion for that week, a shortened version is read on Monday and Thursday mornings. Each of those readings is divided into 7 parts, and then 7 people are "called up," one for each reading to recite the blessings for the reading of the Torah. The last few sentences of the last one is repeated for the 8th person called up, who then reads the Haftara, generally a section from "Prophets" or "Writings."

The "Torah reading year" begins and ends with the holiday of Simchat Torah, Joy in the Torah which is the final holiday in the fall holiday season, which starts with Rosh Hashanah.

This is a very simplistic explanation, and if someone wants to elaborate, question or correct, please comment.