This week’s traditional Torah reading is the double portion Matot/Mas’ei , Numbers 30:2?36:13. I have a general idea that there are more parshot than Shabbats in non-leap years, therefore some portions are combined in the shorter years so that by the time Simchat Torah rolls around we are ready to seemlessly end and begin our annual cycle through the entire Torah. But the details, involving when a year begins, how many days the year has, which days of the week on which various holidays begin or end, were a complete mystery to me.
No more, however, due to a recent explication by our sometime High Holiday Chazan. If you are interested in everything you could possibly want to know about double portion Torah readings but didn’t know how to ask, enjoy.
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