As far as I can tell, where the weekly Sidra breaks start and end are somewhat arbitrary: it doesn’t seem to matter how long the Sidros are, as long as there are enough Pesukim for seven aliyos, each of which are at least three Pesukim, cannot begin or end in certain places. The only restrictions, seemingly, is that the Tochacha in Bechukosai is read before Shavuos and that the Tochacha in Ki Savo is read before Rosh Hashanah.
Yet many questions are asked about why certain Sidros are the way they are: the famous question of why Moshe’s name is missing from Tetzaveh, Rabbi Dovid Feinstein’s sefer on the notes on the Sidros’ Pesukim counts, etc. etc.
As the Sidros seem to be pretty much arbitrarily broken up, such questions seem to be invalid. “Why does Tetzaveh lack Moshe’s name?” I dunno, because his name happens to be missing from those Pesukim, and whoever broke up the Sidros decided to make a Sidra split in those places such that Moshe’s name gets cut out? Such questions seem to be based on a false premise.
Yet many Gedolim still ask such questions (refer once again to Rav Dovid Feinstein’s Sefer, for instance). Is there something wrong with my logic? Are they just asking according to the common minhag, not that there’s anything inherent in the Sidros, per se? What am I missing here that such questions are asked without hesitation?
