Marge, our Rabbis teach that there is no earlier or later in Torah -- and by the same principle, I first wrote that our Rabbis taught, then realized that the teaching is as alive today as when it was first pronounced.

I marvel at the ability of our contemporary rabbis, particularly pronounced at this state of the cycle, to find contemporary messages in the arcane minutiae of Leviticus -- and particularly Professor Adler's skill at presenting such serious ideas with a light hand and a humorour touch.

To paraphrase your lovely metaphor, in Torah Time, we bring our sensibility to the line-up, so we synchronize ourselves with the text rather than asking it to synchronize with us.

M.B. writes:
The reading of the Torah in most Jewish services, at least until the Jewish Reformation in the 19th Century "follows the custom consolidated by Babylonian Jewry during the period of the Sages and the geonim" according to the Jewish Study Bible, p. 1930.

What Jewish congregations do you know of (even after the "Jewish Reformation") that don't use this cycle of parshat hashavua?

I've often found this frustrating, too, but this year things have been falling into place for me - I'm seeing connections between the Parsha and the time of year - for example, Parashat Shmini right after Pessach - Pessach is, after all, all about kashrut and food and not eating (or, in the case of Nadav and Avihu, drinking) "just anything" - and here is Shmini - also all about food and kashrut and not eating "just anything".

I noticed in the winter, too, that discussing the hardened heart of Pharaoh then is substantially different than discussing it in the springtime around the seder table - in the winter, a hardened heart might be connected to the weather, whereas now it's about the history.

And in the fall, after we've had everyone together for the High holidays and for Sukkot, it's so much fun to see them responding to the very accessible Torah readings of Genesis - they might even keep coming to shul for a few more Shabbatot.

I'm sure that the Rabbis of ancient Babylonia were thinking the same thoughts we Jewish professionals are thinking today - thoughts like "How can we get more yidden to shul?" "How can we make this predictable enough to keep them paying our salaries?"

Also, remember that the Babylonian synagogue was a house of study primarily - so it makes sense to read these portions when they come up - it rounds out the curriculum across the whole year. Most of our present day approach in which we teach that "keeping up with the times means keeping up with the parsha" grow out of a Chabad practice from the Ba'al HaTanya, who said just that. Teaching Dvarim with Moses' sermons in the summer makes for good prep for the High Holidays. Teaching Vayikra with all the rules about sacrifice in the early spring - just before the lambing season - makes for good prep for slaughtering season. Etc.

BZ: What do you mean by the term "parashat hashuva?" I am not familiar with that term.

You will be happy to know that we do read about receiving the Aseret haDibrot (10 Words/Commandments) on Shavuot.

While you have read several good historical reports on how the Torah readings were ordered, I think that you may be asking a more profound question. Indeed, there is some evidence that Ezra, who may have instituted the readings after the return from Babylonian Exile, expected the readings to take place at festivals and to consist of what the Torah had to say about the occasion.

What we have now is like a Jewish "bio-rhythm", one pattern overlain with another. The Torah, because it contains more than accounts of festivals and because we need to drink it all every year, doesn't distribute over the holidays exactly. Its rhythm begins and ends at Simchat Torah. This rhythm is enhanced by extra readings at festivals. Festivals also are part of our spiritual core. At Rosh Chodesh we add another type of cycle with its particular readings. And so, throughout the year, we work to stay aware of the different strands of our religious lives just as we combine all that with an awareness of our secular lives!

The most amazing connections can be made by studying the Torah portion of the week with an eye toward what is happening both in the religious and secular realms of our lives.

May your experience of studying Torah always be new and refreshing.