Разделы текста в масоретском тексте (Razdely teksta v masoretskom tekste)

Section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text
section divisions throughout the Tanakh

The term parashah, parasha or parashat ( Pārāšâ, "portion", Tiberian , Sephardi , plural: parashot or parashiyot, also called parsha) formally means a section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). In common usage today the word often refers to the weekly Torah portion (a shortened form of Parashat HaShavua). This article deals with the first, formal meaning of the word. In the Masoretic Text, parashah sections are designated by various types of spacing between them, as found in Torah scrolls, scrolls of the books of Nevi'im or Ketuvim (especially the Megillot), masoretic codices from the Middle Ages and printed editions of the masoretic text. Each parashah is divided into 7 aliyot (aliyahs), each corresponding to the days of the week. The division of the text into parashot for the biblical books is independent of chapter and verse numbers, which are not part of the masoretic tradition. Parashot are not numbered, but some have special names. The division of parashot found in the modern day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls, chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of the parashot for the Torah on the Aleppo Codex. The division of parashot for the books of Nevi'im and Ketuvim was never completely standardized in printed Hebrew bibles and handwritten scrolls, though important attempts were made to document it and create fixed rules. Incorrect division of the text into parashot, either by indicating a parashah in the wrong place or by using the wrong spacing technique, halakhically invalidates a Torah scroll according to Maimonides.

A parashah break creates a textual pause, roughly analogous to a modern paragraph break. Such a pause usually has one of the following purposes:
In most cases, a new parashah begins where a new topic or a new thought is clearly indicated in the biblical text. In many places, however, the parashah divisions are used even in places where it is clear that no new topic begins, in order to highlight a special verse by creating a textual pause before it or after it (or both). A special example of #2 is for lists: The individual elements in many biblical lists are separated by parashah spacing of one type or another. To decide exactly where a new topic or thought begins within a biblical text involves a degree of subjectivity on the part of the reader. This subjective element may help explain differences amongst the various masoretic codices in some details of the section divisions (though their degree of conformity is high). It may also explain why certain verses which might seem like introductions to a new topic lack a section division, or why such divisions sometimes appear in places where no new topic seems indicated. For this reason, the parashah divisions may at times contribute to biblical exegesis.

Parashot appear in manuscripts as early as the Dead Sea Scrolls, in which the division is generally similar to that found in the masoretic text. The idea of spacing between portions, including the idea of "open" and "closed" portions, is mentioned in early midrashic literature and the Talmud. Early masoretic lists detailing the Babylonian tradition include systematic and detailed discussion of exactly where portions begin and which type they are. As a group, Tiberian Masoretic codices share similar but not identical parashah divisions throughout the Bible. Unlike the Babylonian mesorah, however, Tiberian masoretic notes never mention the parashah divisions or attempt to systematize them. This is related to the fact that the Babylonian lists are independent compositions, while the Tiberian notes are in the margins of the biblical text itself, which shows the parashot in a highly visible way. In the centuries following the Tiberian Masoretic Text, there were ever increasing efforts to document and standardize the details of the parashah divisions, especially for the Torah, and even for Nevi'im and Ketuvim as time went on.

According to the ruling of Maimonides, any error regarding a parashah completely invalidates a Torah scroll. This includes a parashah in the wrong place, of the wrong type, or a missing parashah. However, there is also a responsum by Maimonides in which he ruled that one may recite a blessing over reading from an invalid scroll, based on the reasoning that the commandment is in the reading itself, not in the text being read from. Maimonides' strict ruling that any error in the parashot completely invalidates a Torah scroll led to a major halakhic debate that continues to this day. Among those who ruled against Maimonides' stricture in practice were his son, Abraham Maimonides, Menachem Meiri, Moshe Chalava, Judah Minz, and Ovadia Yosef. All of the above authorities rule that a scroll containing parashot based on alternative scribal traditions that disagree with Maimonides' list of parashot is nevertheless a valid scroll. However, even according to the lenient opinion, a blatant error with no source in any scribal tradition invalidates a Torah scroll.

One basic halakhic rule for public reading of the Torah is that no fewer than three verses at a time be read. As a corollary to this, there is a specific rule regarding parashot: One may not leave off reading less than three verses before the end of a parashah, nor may one end off reading by starting a new parashah but leaving off less than three verses from its beginning. When a Torah portion is read in public from a scroll as part of the synagogue service, it is divided into smaller sections among several people (for instance, 3 short sections on weekdays or 7 on the Sabbath). The points at which the portion is subdivided often take the parashot into account, but there is no hard and fast rule for this. The selections from Nevi'im that are read as haftarot are based on custom. At times, some of these customs choose the exact beginning or end of a haftarah because it coincides with a parashah division.

Parashot in Nevi'im are listed here according to the Aleppo codex, with variants from other masoretic traditions noted at the end of each book's section. The Aleppo codex is intact for the bulk of Nevi'im. The few parashot noted here from its missing parts are listed according to the notes taken by Joshua Kimhi, who recorded the parashot of the Aleppo codex in the nineteenth century in the bible of Rabbi Shalom Shachna Yellin. These are indicated by an asterisk.

The three poetic books of Psalms, Proverbs and Job are collectively known as Sifrei Emet (see the article on Ketuvim). These three books share a unique system of cantillation unlike that of the other 21 books in Tanakh, a system designed to highlight the parallelisms in their verses. In the Tiberian masoretic codices, the unique system of cantillation for Sifrei Emet is complemented by a scribal layout unlike that of the rest of the Bible: Instead of the three narrow columns per page typical of these codices, Sifrei Emet are written in two wide columns per page. In each line of these wide columns text begins on the right, followed by a gap, and then continued by further text until the left margin of the column. Although there is ample evidence that the scribes attempted to place the gaps in the middle of the lines at the points where the cantillation divides the verses, they often did not succeed in doing so because of space limitations. Modern editions based upon the Aleppo Codex have implemented the idea fully by allowing wide full page columns for Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. In poetic layout, parashah divisions are typically indicated by a blank line for an open parashah. The gaps in the middle of lines are not considered parashah divisions, and each scribe formatted the verses as he saw fit for aesthetic and practical reasons. An exception to this rule, however, is for the introductory titles of many individual psalms which are followed by formal parashah breaks, often by continuing the text at the beginning of the next line. These formal breaks will be indicated in the list of parashot for Psalms. The special poetic cantillation and layout are not implemented for the narrative opening and conclusion of the book of Job (1:1 3:1 and 42:7 17).

Esther 9:7–9 lists Haman's ten sons in three consecutive verses (three names in 7, three in 8, and four in 9). Each name is preceded by the Hebrew particle ואת. The {SONG} format for this list is as follows:
The last word of verse 9:6 (איש) is purposely planned to be the first word in a new line (at the right margin). This word will begin the first line of text in {SONG} format. The first word of 9:7 (the Hebrew particle ואת) is written at the end of the first line in at the left margin. A large gap is thus left between איש and ואת, which forms a closed parashah division {S}. In the next ten lines of text, the ten names of the sons of Haman appear one after another in the beginning of each line at the right margin, beneath the word איש, while the word ואת appears at the end of each line text (left margin) until the final line. The 11th and final line of text ends with the first word of 9:10 (עשרת). There are thus a total of eleven lines of text in {SONG} format, each with a single word at the beginning of the line and a single word at the end. The first (right) column begins with the word איש and the names of Haman's 10 sons follow beneath it. The second (left) column has the word ואת ten times, and in the final row it has the first word of 9:10 (עשרת). The {SONG} format described here originated in the typically narrow columns of the Tiberian masoretic codices, in which a line of text containing only two words at opposite margins with a gap between them appears similar to a standard closed parashah. However, in many later scrolls the columns are much wider, such that lines with single words at opposite margins create a huge gap in the middle. In many scrolls these eleven lines are written in very large letters so that they form one full column of text in the megillah.