scribe writes about wanting to find a way to ensure the Israelites would not go astray again. This led to the creation of a weekly system to read the portions of the Torah at synagogues. Alternative triennial cycle In ancient times some Jewish communities practiced a triennial cycle of readings. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many congregations in the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements implemented an alternative triennial cycle in which only one-third of each weekly parashah was read in a given year; and this pattern continues. The parashot read are still consistent with the annual cycle, but the entire Torah is completed over three years. Orthodox Judaism does not follow this practice. Differences between Israel and the diaspora Due to different lengths of holidays in Israel and the Diaspora, the portion that is read on a particular week will sometimes not be the same inside and outside Israel. Differences between communities While the Parshyot divisions are fairly standardized, there are various communities with differing parsha divisions. For example, many Yemenites combine Korach with the first half of Chukat and the second half of Chukat ("Vayis'u mi-kadesh") with Balak instead of combining Matot and Masei, and some Syrian communities combine Korach and Chukat instead of Matot and Masei. In Provence and Tunisia, Mishpatim and Im Kesef Talveh were occasionally divided so that Matot and Masei would always be read together. Base for division into portions The division of parashiot found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite communities is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls, Chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of the parashot for the Torah on the Masoretic text of the Aleppo Codex. Table of weekly readings In the table, a portion that may be combined with the following portion to compensate for the changing number of weeks in the lunisolar year, is marked with an asterisk. The following chart will show the weekly readings. {| class="wikitable" ! Book !! Parsha name !! English equivalent !! Parsha Portion |- ! rowspan=12|Bereshit (Genesis): 12 | Bereshit, בְּרֵאשִׁית || In the Beginning || Gen. 1:1-6:8 |- | Noach, נֹחַ || Noah || 6:9-11:32 |- | Lech-Lecha, לֶךְ-לְךָ || Go Forth! || 12:1-17:27 |- | Vayeira, וַיֵּרָא || And He Appeared || 18:1-22:24 |- | Chayei Sarah, חַיֵּי שָׂרָה || The Life of Sarah