Modifications of Triennial Cycle Torah Readings for Combined Parshiyot in Certain Years

On September 2, a teshuvah written by Rabbi Miles B. Cohen, which had been passed in November 2020, was published on the CJLS website. The teshuvah addresses the third year of the current triennial cycle in a year when parashah pairs that are usually read together are instead read separately. According to the original triennial cycle composed by Rabbi Richard Eisenberg and approved by the CJLS in 1988, the first third of the parashah was to be read when the entirety of the parashah had already been read in the first two years of the cycle. Rabbi Cohen argues that, during that year, the last third of the parashah should be read instead.

In a dissenting paper to Rabbi Cohen’s, Rabbi David J. Fine argues for the original sequence of aliyot according to the 1988 teshuvah and provides a rationale not found in that teshuvah. Rabbi Fine argues that since the entire parashah had been read in the first two years of the cycle, the original formulation has reason to remain. Rabbi Eisenberg, the author of the teshuvah on the triennial Torah reading in use for three decades, agrees with Rabbi Fine's reasoning and confirms what he (Rabbi Eisenberg) had written. Please see the details of these teshuvot for more information.