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  • From: Brak <Brak AT neo.rr.com>
  • To: JAMES CHRISTIAN READ <JCR128 AT student.apu.ac.uk>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psalms and Sedarim
  • Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 19:42:37 -0500

I was kind of suspect that this might be the reason behind the divisions - but it was just a thought.

Since you gave the same idea/theory,I decided to actually check this to see if it is so.

I ran a program to analyze sedarim breaks calculating both the number of verses and number of words.
The result: the sedarim division DO NOT separate the text into equal parts - not even close.

Here are the actual output from the program. I only checked the first three books of the Prophets - Joshua, Judges, and Samuel.

************************************************************************************
01: Jos 001:001 - Jos 003:006 Verses: 48 Words: 823
02: Jos 003:007 - Jos 004:023 Verses: 34 Words: 569
03: Jos 004:024 - Jos 006:026 Verses: 42 Words: 777
04: Jos 006:027 - Jos 007:026 Verses: 27 Words: 503
05: Jos 008:001 - Jos 008:032 Verses: 32 Words: 547
06: Jos 008:033 - Jos 010:007 Verses: 37 Words: 629
07: Jos 010:008 - Jos 010:041 Verses: 34 Words: 600
08: Jos 010:042 - Jos 012:024 Verses: 49 Words: 681
09: Jos 013:001 - Jos 014:014 Verses: 47 Words: 705
10: Jos 014:015 - Jos 017:003 Verses: 77 Words: 763
11: Jos 017:004 - Jos 018:027 Verses: 42 Words: 661
12: Jos 018:028 - Jos 019:050 Verses: 51 Words: 478
13: Jos 019:051 - Jos 021:040 Verses: 50 Words: 713
14: Jos 021:041 - Jos 022:033 Verses: 38 Words: 745
15: Jos 022:034 - Jos 024:033 Verses: 50 Words: 889

01: Jud 001:001 - Jud 002:006 Verses: 42 Words: 618
02: Jud 002:007 - Jud 003:030 Verses: 47 Words: 738
03: Jud 003:031 - Jud 005:030 Verses: 55 Words: 792
04: Jud 005:031 - Jud 006:039 Verses: 40 Words: 678
05: Jud 006:040 - Jud 008:002 Verses: 28 Words: 552
06: Jud 008:003 - Jud 009:006 Verses: 39 Words: 612
07: Jud 009:007 - Jud 009:057 Verses: 51 Words: 761
08: Jud 010:001 - Jud 011:031 Verses: 49 Words: 764
09: Jud 011:032 - Jud 013:023 Verses: 47 Words: 757
10: Jud 013:024 - Jud 016:002 Verses: 44 Words: 707
11: Jud 016:003 - Jud 018:005 Verses: 47 Words: 824
12: Jud 018:006 - Jud 019:019 Verses: 45 Words: 775
13: Jud 019:020 - Jud 020:026 Verses: 37 Words: 601
14: Jud 020:027 - Jud 021:025 Verses: 47 Words: 727

01: 1Sa 001:001 - 1Sa 002:009 Verses: 37 Words: 517
02: 1Sa 002:010 - 1Sa 003:019 Verses: 46 Words: 740
03: 1Sa 003:020 - 1Sa 006:013 Verses: 49 Words: 855
04: 1Sa 006:014 - 1Sa 009:001 Verses: 48 Words: 738
05: 1Sa 009:002 - 1Sa 010:023 Verses: 49 Words: 856
06: 1Sa 010:024 - 1Sa 012:021 Verses: 40 Words: 697
07: 1Sa 012:022 - 1Sa 014:022 Verses: 49 Words: 768
08: 1Sa 014:023 - 1Sa 015:016 Verses: 46 Words: 749
09: 1Sa 015:017 - 1Sa 016:017 Verses: 36 Words: 549
10: 1Sa 016:018 - 1Sa 017:036 Verses: 42 Words: 639
11: 1Sa 017:037 - 1Sa 018:013 Verses: 35 Words: 548
12: 1Sa 018:014 - 1Sa 020:004 Verses: 45 Words: 747
13: 1Sa 020:005 - 1Sa 020:041 Verses: 37 Words: 599
14: 1Sa 020:042 - 1Sa 022:003 Verses: 20 Words: 365
15: 1Sa 022:004 - 1Sa 024:019 Verses: 67 Words: 1127
16: 1Sa 024:020 - 1Sa 025:032 Verses: 36 Words: 604
17: 1Sa 025:033 - 1Sa 026:024 Verses: 36 Words: 665
18: 1Sa 026:025 - 1Sa 028:023 Verses: 36 Words: 642
19: 1Sa 028:024 - 1Sa 030:024 Verses: 37 Words: 662
20: 1Sa 030:025 - 2Sa 002:006 Verses: 53 Words: 740
21: 2Sa 002:007 - 2Sa 003:020 Verses: 46 Words: 745
22: 2Sa 003:021 - 2Sa 005:009 Verses: 40 Words: 729
23: 2Sa 005:010 - 2Sa 007:015 Verses: 54 Words: 806
24: 2Sa 007:016 - 2Sa 010:011 Verses: 56 Words: 908
25: 2Sa 010:012 - 2Sa 012:012 Verses: 47 Words: 780
26: 2Sa 012:013 - 2Sa 013:024 Verses: 43 Words: 715
27: 2Sa 013:025 - 2Sa 014:032 Verses: 47 Words: 830
28: 2Sa 014:033 - 2Sa 015:036 Verses: 37 Words: 620
29: 2Sa 015:037 - 2Sa 017:019 Verses: 43 Words: 750
30: 2Sa 017:020 - 2Sa 018:026 Verses: 36 Words: 664
31: 2Sa 018:027 - 2Sa 019:039 Verses: 45 Words: 813
32: 2Sa 019:040 - 2Sa 021:006 Verses: 37 Words: 679
33: 2Sa 021:007 - 2Sa 022:050 Verses: 66 Words: 691
34: 2Sa 022:051 - 2Sa 024:025 Verses: 65 Words: 927
************************************************************************************

So the question remains:
What is the rhyme and reason behind the placement of these break points?
What is the method to this apperent madness?


B"H
Brak


JAMES CHRISTIAN READ wrote:

I haven't looked into this much but in light of Yigal's explanation it would seem that making the separations in logical places was of little importance and that the aim was rather to divide the reading up into equally sized chunks.

I find this most interesting actually, because it does bring to light evidences about the older form and order of the cannon.

-----Original Message-----
From: Brak <Brak AT neo.rr.com>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:23:04 -0500
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psalms and Sedarim

So this goes to my original question. IF these breaks indicate reading portions why are a lot of them placed in places where (in my logic) should be placed. Such as in the middle or the 2nd to the last or third to the last verse of a Psalm, or no breaks at the beginning of a book in the Minor Prophets. In many places the breaks are put in the middle of conversations and thoughts. In one place there is a list of genealogies. And a break is place in between a man's 4th son and his 5th son (I don't remember where it is at, I would have to look for it at a later time).



Yigal Levin wrote:


Dear James,

The sedarim are meand for daily reading, one seder a day. So the reader would go through the entire book in two months!

The intrduction to the Koren Tanakh, while not dealing specifically with the Psalms, does say the following: the division of the Torah into 154 sedarim follows the ancient custom of reading the Torah over a triannual cycle, one seder for each Sabbath (the present custom is to divide the whole Torah into 52 "parshiyot", one for each Sabbath of the year). Additionally, according to the Koren, the entire Tanakh is divided into 293 sedarim, which is the number of non-holydays in the solar year (that is, 365 minus 52 Sabbaths, 7 days of Passover, 1 of Shavuot, 2 of Rosh Hashanah, 1 Yom Kippur, 8 Sukkot and the 9th of Av). So, the division enables one to read through the entire Tanakh in a year of "weekdays", leaving the holidays and Sabbaths for their own assigned readings.

Yigal





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