Shemini (parashah)

Shemini, Sh'mini, or Shmini (Hebrew: שְּׁמִינִי, "eighth"; third word overall and the first distinctive word in the parashah) is the 26th weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Leviticus. Parashat Shemini tells of the consecration of the Tabernacle, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, and the dietary laws of kashrut (כַּשְׁרוּת‎). The parashah constitutes Leviticus 9:1–11:47. It is made up of 4,670 Hebrew letters, 1,238 Hebrew words, 91 verses, and 157 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, Sefer Torah).

Jews read it on the 25th or 26th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in late March or April. In years when the first day of Passover falls on a Sabbath (as it did in 2018 and 2019), Israeli and Reform Jews read the parashah following Passover, one week before Conservative and Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora. Israeli and all Reform Jews celebrate Passover for seven days, thus reading the next parashah (i.e., Shemini) on the Sabbath one week after the first day of Passover; Conservative and Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora celebrate Passover for eight days and read the next parashah (i.e., Shemini) one week later. In such years (for example, 2018), the two calendars realign when Conservative and Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora read Behar together with Bechukotai, while Israeli and Reform Jews read them separately.