September 22, 2007

Breadcrumb: Now hear this

Today, Jews read the first five books of the Torah every year, a few chapters at the time. But if Moses had his way, we'd be reading the whole thing, cover-to-cover, in a one-week sitting every seven years. In Deut. 31:9-13, Moses tells the priests that every seven years, during the Feast of Tabernacles (today known as Sukkot), they were to read the law in its entirety to all the people, so that the children who didn't previously know the law could learn it. In other words, if you think today's Yom Kippur services are long, they've got nothing on the ancient Israelites' marathon Torah-reading sessions.

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