Behar, BeHar, Be-har, or B’har (בְּהַר — Hebrew for "on the mount,” the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 32nd weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the book of Leviticus. It constitutes Leviticus 25:1–26:2. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in May.
The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In leap years (for example, 2014 and 2016), parshah Behar is read separately. In common years (for example, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2018), parshah Behar is combined with the next parshah, Bechukotai, to help achieve the needed number of weekly readings.
Read more about Behar: Commandments, Haftarah
Famous quotes containing the word behar:
“I have a huge need for financial security; the emigrant in me has a fear of ending up homeless and in the gutter.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)