What is "chukat"

Chukat, Hukath, or Chukkas ( — Hebrew for "decree," the ninth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 39th weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the sixth in the Book of Numbers. It constitutes . The parashah is the shortest weekly Torah portion in the Book of Numbers (although not the shortest in the Torah), and is made up of 4,670 Hebrew letters, 1,245 Hebrew words, and 87 verses, and can occupy about 159 lines in a Torah Scroll (, Sefer Torah).

Jews generally read it in late June or July. In most years (for example, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2028), parashah Chukat is read separately. In some years (for example, 2020, 2023, 2026, and 2027) when the second day of Shavuot falls on a Sabbath in the Diaspora (where observant Jews observe Shavuot for two days), parashah Chukat is combined with the subsequent parashah, Balak, in the Diaspora to synchronize readings thereafter with those in Israel (where Jews observe Shavuot for one day).

Jews also read the first part of the parashah, in addition to the regular weekly Torah portion, on the Sabbath after Purim, called Shabbat Parah. On Shabbat Parah, a reader chants the regular weekly Torah portion first, and then a reader chants the chapter of the Red Cow (, parah adumah, also called the “Red Heifer”). Shabbat Parah occurs shortly before Passover, and sets out the procedure by which the Israelites could purify themselves from the impurity of death (Tumat HaMet, the contamination caused by contact with a corpse), and so prepare for the Pilgrimage Festival of Passover.