Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Moshe Shulman <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com>]

>Pardon my ignorance, but I was wondering if someone could inform me of
>contemporary Jewish practice regarding daily/weekly readings from the
>Tanakh. Specifically, I would like to know how the psalms are read. Are they
>assigned each day/week to accompany the Torah readings? Are all the psalms
>used in this way, or a selection? Are they read in order?

Every Shabbat and Yom Tov there is a reading from the Tenach that relates
to the weekkly (or Yom Tov) portion. The only excepts are the 10 weeks
before Rosh HaShanah. Then there are two sets of 'types' of readings. The
first three weeks are about the sins during the first temple that brought
about it's distrutction (which relates to the fast day of the 9th of Av
which commemorates this event.) Then there are 7 weeks of redings fromt he
prophets (primarily Isaiah) of passages of consolation, dealing with the
redemption from exile.

There are no set readings from Psalms outside of the daily Psalm, which was
likewise read in the temple. Many have the custom to say Psalms, and finish
it either, weekly or monthly.

>I am taking a course currently on the Psalms. In this we examined a few
>contemporary Christian lectionaries and hymnals to see what percentage of
>the lament psalms were included. The results were not very encouraging,
>ranging from about 10 to 32%. Someone asked about Jewish practices, but no
>one was certain. So I thought I would ask the list.

There are a number of Psalms that are in the daily order of prayer, but
they are small in number. Some extra ones are added for Shabbat and Yom Tov.
Moshe Shulman mshulman AT ix.netcom.com    718-436-7705
http://www.pobox.com/~chassidus         Chassidus Website