Question:

I've heard that studying the Torah portion that was read on the week of your birth can give you insight into your life. Is there any weight to this? If so, is there a website where I can further explore this? Your thoughts on the subject will be greatly appreciated.

Answer:

A favorite aphorism of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Rebbe of Chabad, was that "one needs to live with the times." This means that we are to live in tune with the week's Torah portion, and we should attempt to gain insight and understanding into the week's events by looking into the weekly Torah portion. The week's Torah reading, known as the Parshah, has special relevance to anything that happens during that week.

It would seem clear, then, that the Torah portion which was studied during the week, and read on the Shabbat, of a person's birth, would be extremely meaningful in providing some direction to his/her life.

Do you know which Torah portion was read on the week of your birth? If yes, just go to our Parshah Archive, click on your Parshah and you can read the text of the reading, commentaries and a plethora of insights. If you don't know the Parshah, go to our Jewish Calendar, browse over to your year and date of birth, and see which Parshah was read on the Shabbat following your birth (or, if you were born on Shabbat, on the day you were born).

I hope this has been helpful. Please feel free to contact me if you want to discuss this any further.

Chaya Sarah Silberberg,

Chabad.org

P.S. If the Shabbat after your birth coincided with a Jewish holiday, then the weekly Parshah is not read that day—so your Parshah is the one read the following Shabbat (or, in the rare instance when a holiday extends over two Shabbats, it would be the Shabbat after that).

Sources
Rabbi Schneur Zalman's statement: Hayom Yom Cheshvan 2.