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    A double sidra – Mattot-Mass’ei

    Mattot and Mass’ei are very often combined, making one long double sidra. The combinations of sidrot lengthens the Shabbat service on a number of occasions during the year from the end of Sh’mot to the end of D’varim. (There are no double sidrot in B’reshit.)

    Combining sidrot enables us to fit all the weekly portions into a minimal-sized year with 48 Shabbatot. In a leap year there is an extra month, so combining sidrot is less necessary then.

    There is an occasional discrepancy between the Diaspora and Israel whereby the Diaspora has an extra day at each end of Pesach and Sukkot and also a second day of Shavu’ot. If one of the extra days falls on Shabbat, the Torah readings are out of tandem with the sidrot in Israel, so that it is not until the end of the Book of B’midbar that the Diaspora catches up.

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