A quick note about double portions.

This past shabbat the Rabbinic calendar indicated that a double portion should be read on Shabbat – parashat VaYakhel and parashat PeKudei.  However, at this time it cannot be known whether or not any double portions will be needed this year, since the Aviv search is not yet complete and it has not been confirmed that the next month will be Nisan instead of Adar B.  Until that proclamation is officially made, it is improper to presume any double portions will be needed to fit the Torah cycle into one calendar year.

Also, unless one of the moedim (appointed times) actually falls on a Shabbat itself, there is no reason not to read a regular Torah portion each Shabbat.  A Shabbat that falls during the Chol HaMoed (intermediate) days of Passover or Sukkot is usually ignored on the Rabbinic reading schedule, but in this day and age when Chol HaMoed days are treated like regular workdays for most people, there is no reason that a Chol HaMoed Shabbat should not be treated like a regular Shabbat – since it is one.

So for purposes of this blog, PeKudei will be the Torah portion for next Shabbat, and when the results of the Aviv search are in and the date for Rosh Chodesh Nisan has been sanctified, we can see how the festival of Passover will fall out and assign parashat readings accordingly.   If there is an Adar B, then there is no need for any double portions, due to the extra weeks of the leap year.  And if there is not an Adar B, but the First Convocation of Unleavened Bread itself does not fall on Shabbat, then there is also no problem.  Only if Nisan 15th falls on the regular weekly Shabbat will there be a possible “scheduling crunch,” but this can be resolved at the end of the year by assigning double portions then, if necessary, as Simchat Torah approaches and the portions are shorter anyway.

The assigning of double portions prior to even having knowledge of the Aviv status of the barley in Israel is just one more tally against using the Rabbinic Calendar, which routinely has the majority of the people of Israel observing Elohim’s moedim on the wrong dates according to the sanctification of the New Moon each month.  Often, their leap years, declared years in advance, mean they are observing moedim in the wrong months entirely, much less the right day.

We are to walk by faith, not by sight.  That means we don’t try and manipulate Elohim’s calendar to make it more convenient for ourselves.   We should observe every feast and fast on the correct Biblical date, as determined by the New Moon sightings over Jerusalem and the yearly Aviv search – which “auto-corrects” Elohim’s calendar without any need to try and plan things out 500 years in advance.  We are not in control of time, Elohim is – and trying to impose our will on it only leads to disobedience.    Shalom!