The work is usually published in book form in five volumes, corresponding to the five books of the
Torah. It is divided into 54 sections representing the 54
weekly Torah readings, and each section is in turn divided according to the days of the week. Each daily section from Sunday to Thursday morning contains: • a set number of verses from the Torah reading for the week, together with its
Targum and the commentary of
Rashi; • the same number of verses from
Nevi'im (the prophetical books) and
Ketuvim (the Hagiographa), also with Targum and commentary; • one chapter from the
Mishnah; • a short extract from the
Talmud, often but not always relating to the same
massekhet as the Mishnah chapter; • a passage from the
Zohar for that week's Torah portion; • extracts from books of Jewish law (
halakha) and morality (
musar). The section for the night of Thursday to Friday contains another 26 verses from the Torah portion for the week but no other passages. The section for Friday morning as printed consists of the remainder of the Torah portion for the week, though the reader is supposed to read the entire portion in accordance with the principle of
Shnayim mikra ve-echad targum (each verse twice in Hebrew and once in Aramaic translation). After this the reader is instructed to recite the whole
haftarah for the week: there is no passage from Ketuvim. There is then a chapter from the Mishnah and extracts from the Talmud, the Zohar and books of law and morality as on the other days. The end of each volume contains readings to be used on Shabbat. ==Origin==