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How many words are there in Tanach? already asks about several statistics about Sifrei Tanach, but there's one that was left out:

How many Parshios are in each Sefer of Tanach?

A Parsha is defined as all the text between one gap in a Sefer Torah and the next, whether that gap is a 9-letter space ("setumah"), continues until the end of the line ("pesuchah"), or is the end of the Sefer.

I'm aware that there are different Minhagim on the matter; I'd be curious to see all of the major ones.

DonielF
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  • I have no idea how many major Minhagim there are on breaking up the Parshios. Are there sufficiently many that this would be too broad? Should I limit it? – DonielF Mar 01 '19 at 03:05
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    I'd say there's three major practices: Pinfer's list, the Berdetchiv lists, and the Keter's. – Double AA Mar 01 '19 at 03:14
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    @DoubleAA None of those names mean anything to me. Which are typically followed by which communities? – DonielF Mar 01 '19 at 03:15
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    Berdetchiv approximate the breaks used by the Talmidei Hagra when they started writing neviim at their rebbe's behest. It's based on a Amsterdam printed Tanakh IIRC and is riddled with errors. Still used by some die hard Yerushalmim who think the Gra had some secret Mesorah. Pinfer (sp?) did a survey of many many editions and followed the majority in every instance. It's notably the basis for the well established Koren Tanakh. Don't know that anyone uses it for Safrut. A majority is only useful after all if all the components are independently valuable. – Double AA Mar 01 '19 at 03:23
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    And the Keter is the same source we use for the breaks in the Torah, so it's about as reliable as you can get. Widely used in Safrut unless you're a Yerushalmi or you're scared of things they didn't have in Europe. (Many Acharonim in Europe wrote as obvious that they had no Mesorah for breaks in Nakh.) – Double AA Mar 01 '19 at 03:24
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    Are you asking to include breaks within a section (e.g. in a shira) or only between sections? – Loewian Mar 01 '19 at 03:52
  • @Loewian I don't think breaks within a Shirah are halachically considered Parsha breaks; the halacha is that a Shirah can't be written like a normal Parsha, but if you switch the form of the Shirah, it's perfectly Kasher (SA YD 275:3). Yet, if you mess up Pesuchos and Setumos, it needs to be buried (ibid. §1). If breaks in a Shirah are considered full-fledged Setumos, why is it Kasher if the breaks are placed in the wrong spots? – DonielF Mar 01 '19 at 04:03
  • @DonielF "If breaks in a Shirah are considered full-fledged Setumos, why is it Kasher if the breaks are placed in the wrong spots?" - You allude to a slightly tangential area .. perhaps. I've seen some Chumashim mark each of these breaks as a stumah. Disputed. There seems to me more agreement on the 10 Dibrot that have almost all as setumah - even the ones having just 2 words.I'll see if I can check your YD source. – DanF Mar 01 '19 at 20:03

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According to the Aleppo Codex the number of breaks are:

  • Genesis - 92
  • Exodus - 165
  • Leviticus - 99
  • Numbers - 159
  • Deuteronomy - 159

(based on Rambam's testimony in Hilkhot Sefer Torah chapter 8)

  • Joshua - 106
  • Judges - 88
  • Samuel - 369
  • Kings - 205
  • Isaiah - 242
  • Jeremiah - 281
  • Ezekiel - 185
  • Hosea - 18
  • Joel - 7
  • Amos - 28
  • Obadiah - 1
  • Jonah - 4
  • Micah - 17
  • Nahum - 4
  • Habakkuk - 9
  • Zephania - 7
  • Haggai - 8
  • Zachariah - 36
  • Malakhi - 8
  • Chronicles - 519
  • Ruth - 2
  • Canticles - 20
  • Ecclesiastes - 2
  • Lamentations - 134
  • Esther - 23
  • Daniel - 28
  • Ezra - 319

(based on Mechon Mamre's text with variations, based on testimony of the Codex's contents, in places where the Codex is currently missing and MM used another source)

Double AA
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  • What about the sifrei emet? – Joel K Mar 01 '19 at 13:38
  • It's not always clear how to count those @joelk – Double AA Mar 01 '19 at 13:46
  • @DoubleAA Why? I took a quick look and in Tehillim and Mishlei at least the blank lines look pretty clear to me. Iyov I agree has some non obvious features. – Heshy Mar 01 '19 at 14:15
  • @Heshy Does anyone argue that Tehillim isn’t 150? – DonielF Mar 01 '19 at 14:23
  • I assume that, similar to how you combine all the other books that the Christians split into two, your number next to Ezra is intended to encompass both Ezra and Nechemiah? – DonielF Mar 01 '19 at 14:24
  • @heshy as i said not always. I'm not giving a partial number. If you have some consistent method of counting you can do so and we can include it – Double AA Mar 01 '19 at 14:29
  • @DonielF yes, Simanim (which I believe follows the Keter on this) combines בצאת ישראל ממצרים and לא לנו and splits 119 into 22 parshiyos for the different letters. For the rest it agrees with the 150 division. – Heshy Mar 01 '19 at 14:31
  • @Doniel the Yerushalmi argues https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/4684/759 – Double AA Mar 01 '19 at 14:33
  • @Doniel What's "Nechemiah"? :P – Double AA Mar 01 '19 at 14:33
  • https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/111897/where-is-g-ds-name-in-megillat-esther/111913?noredirect=1#comment375751_111913 :) – Heshy Mar 11 '20 at 14:01