Torah

The term Torah (Hebrew: תּוֹרָה, "Instruction"), also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: Πεντάτευχος from πεντα- penta- [five] and τεῦχος teuchos [tool, vessel, book]),^[1] refers to the Five Books of Moses—the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts.^[2][3] A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or Torah scroll is a copy of the Torah written on parchment in a formal, traditional manner by a specially trained scribe under strict requirements.

The Torah is the first of three parts of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), the founding religious document of Judaism,^[4] and is divided into five books, whose names in English are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, in reference to their themes (their Hebrew names, Bereshit, בראשית, Shmot שמות, Vayikra ויקרא, Bamidbar במדבר, and Dvarim דברים, are derived from the wording of their initial verses). The Torah contains a variety of literary genres, including allegory, historical narrative, poetry, genealogy, and the exposition of various types of law. According to rabbinic tradition, the Torah contains the 613 mitzvot (מצוות, "commandments"), which are divided into 365 restrictions and 248 positive commands.^[5] In rabbinic literature, the word "Torah" denotes both the written text, "Torah Shebichtav" (תורה שבכתב, "Torah that is written"), as well as an oral tradition, "Torah Shebe'al Peh" (תורה שבעל פה, "Torah that is oral"). The oral portion consists of the "traditional interpretations and amplifications handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation," now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash.^[6]

According to Jewish tradition the Torah was revealed to Moses in 1312 BCE at Mount Sinai;^[7] (another date given for this event is 1280 BCE).^[8] The Zohar, the most significant text in Jewish mysticism, states that the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, and that it was used as the blueprint for Creation.^[9] Modern biblical scholars see no signs of Mosaic authorship, but indications of much later writing:^[10]"Here and there in the Pentateuch Moses is said to have written certain things ... but nowhere is it affirmed that the Pentateuch was authored by Moses ... One would therefore think that what calls for an explanation is not why most people stopped believing in the dogma of Mosaic authorship, but rather why anyone believed it in the first place."^[11]

Outside of its central significance in Judaism, the Torah is accepted by Christianity as part of the Bible, comprising the first five books of the Old Testament.^[12] The various denominations of Judaism and Christianity hold a diverse spectrum of views regarding the exactitude of scripture. The Torah has also been accepted to varying degrees by the Samaritans, an ethnoreligious group of the Levant, and others as the authentic revealed message of YHWH to the early Israelites and as factual history, in both cases as conveyed by Moses. It is also accepted by Muslims as the Divine book, although they think it is modified after the death of Moses.

Contents 1 Meaning and names 2 Authorship 2.1 Traditional attribution 2.2 Classical Jewish views on textual development of the Torah 2.3 Academic analysis 3 Structure 3.1 Contents 4 Torah and Judaism 4.1 Ritual use 4.2 Biblical law 5 The Torah and Judaism's oral law 6 Divine significance of letters, Jewish mysticism 7 Production and use of a Torah scroll 8 Torah in other religions 9 See also 10 References 11 Additional Sources 12 External links

[edit] Meaning and names

The word "Torah" in Hebrew "is derived from the root ירה which in the hifil conjugation means "to teach" (cf. Lev. 10:11). The meaning of the word is therefore "teaching," "doctrine," or "instruction"; the commonly accepted "law" gives a wrong impression."^[13] Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance,^[14] or system.^[15] The term "Torah" is therefore also used in the general sense to include both Judaism's written law and oral law, serving to encompass the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history, including the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Midrash and more, and the inaccurate rendering of "Torah" as "Law"^[16] may be an obstacle to "understanding the ideal that is summed up in the term talmud torah (תלמוד תורה, "study of Torah,"), characterized in Jewish tradition as excelling all things."^[6] The Torah is not the only book in its class, however. Tanakh is, in Hebrew, an abbreviation alluding to its three parts; the Torah, Nevi'im ("Prophets," a narrative of what happened after the Torah which picks up exactly where it left off as well as the writings viewed as prophetically inspired by Israelite prophets after Moses), and Ketuvim (the "Writings"). Together, these books comprise the Hebrew Bible, known in Christendom as "The Old Testament", the first part of the Christian Bible.

Within the Hebrew Bible,

The earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been "The Torah of Moses." This title, however, is found neither in the Torah itself, nor in the works of the pre-Exilic literary prophets. It appears in Joshua (8:31–32; 23:6) and Kings (I Kings 2:3; II Kings 14:6; 23:25), but it cannot be said to refer there to the entire corpus. In contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works (Mal. 3:22; Dan. 9:11, 13; Ezra 3:2; 7:6; Neh. 8:1; II Chron. 23:18; 30:16) was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were "The Book of Moses" (Ezra 6:18; Neh. 13:1; II Chron. 35:12; 25:4; cf. II Kings 14:6) and "The Book of the Torah" (Neh. 8:3) which seems to be a contraction of a fuller name, "The Book of the Torah of God" (Neh. 8:8, 18; 10:29–30; cf. 9:3).^[17]

Christians often refer to the Torah as the Pentateuch, meaning five books, or as the Law, or Law of Moses. Muslims refers to the Torah as "Tawrat" (توراة, "Law"), an Arabic word for the revelations given to the Islamic prophet "Musa" (موسى, Moses in Arabic).

[edit] Authorship

[edit] Traditional attribution

"Mosaic authorship" is the ascription to Moses of the authorship of the five books of the Torah. This is expressed in the Talmud, a collection of Jewish traditions and exegesis dating from the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE, and was presumably based on the several verses in the Torah describing Moses writing "torah" (instruction) from God. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica,

The traditional doctrine of Mosaic authorship of the entire Torah has its source in Deuteronomy 31:9–12, 24, more than in any other passage.... The Torah itself contains no explicit statement ascribing its authorship to Moses, while Mosaic attribution is restricted to legal and ritual prescription and is hardly to be found in connection with the narrative material.^[17]

However, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the attribution of the Torah to Moses dates back to the Bible itself, noting that several books of the Bible reference the Torah as the Book of Moses, Law of Moses, etc.,^[18] and can also be found in the New Testament.^[18] Deuteronomy 31:9 and Deuteronomy 31:24–26 describe how Moses writes "torah" (instruction) on a scroll and lays it beside the ark of the Covenant.^[19] The attribution of the Torah to Moses is also expressed by the early Roman historian Josephus Flavius. Statements implying belief in Mosaic authorship of the Torah are contained in Joshua,^[20] Kings,^[21] Chronicles,^[22] Ezra^[23] and Nehemiah.^[24]

Rabbis in the Talmud (c. 200–500 CE) discuss how the Torah was transmitted to Moses. In the Babylonian Talmud Gittin 60a it is written "Said R' Yochanan, the Torah was given in a series of small scrolls," implying that the Torah was written gradually and compiled from a variety of documents over time. Another opinion exists that states that the entire Torah was given at one time. Menachem Mendel Kasher points to certain traditions of the Oral Torah that showed Moses quoting Genesis prior to the epiphany at Sinai. Based on a number of Bible verses and rabbinic statements, he suggests that Moses had certain documents authored by the Patriarchs that he made use of when redacting that book.^[25] According to Moses Maimonides, the 12th Century rabbi and philosopher, Moses was the Torah's author, receiving it from God either as divine inspiration or as direct dictation in the Hebrew year 2449 AM (1313 BCE).^[26][27]

[edit] Classical Jewish views on textual development of the Torah

Classical Judaism notes a number of exceptions to the Mosaic authorship account. Over the millennia, scribal errors have crept into the text of the Torah. The Masoretes (7th to 10th centuries CE) compared all extant variations and attempted to create a definitive text. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra and Joseph Bonfils observed that some phrases in the Torah present information that people should only have known after the time of Moses. Ibn Ezra hinted, and Bonfils explicitly stated, that Joshua (or perhaps some later prophet) wrote these sections of the Torah. Other rabbis would not accept this view.

The Babylonian Talmud (tractate Shabbat 115b) states that a peculiar section in the Book of Numbers (10:35 — 36, surrounded by inverted Hebrew letter nuns) in fact forms a separate book. On this verse a midrash on the book of Mishle states that "These two verses stem from an independent book which existed, but was suppressed!" Another (possibly earlier) midrash, Ta'ame Haserot Viyterot, states that this section actually comes from the book of prophecy of Eldad and Medad. The Talmud says that God dictated four books of the Torah, but that Moses wrote Deuteronomy in his own words (babylonian Talmud, Meg. 31b).

Many rabbis have pointed out that the Torah showed signs of non-Mosaic origins in some passages:

• Rabbi Judah ben Ilai held that Joshua must have written the final verses of the Torah (Talmud, B. Bat. 15a and Menah. 30a, and in Midrash Sipre. 357).

• Parts of the Midrash retain evidence of the redactional period during which Ezra redacted and canonized the text of the Torah as it survives today. A rabbinic tradition states that at this time (440 BCE), Ezra edited the text of the Torah, and found ten places in the Torah where lacked certainty as to how to fix the text; these passages appear marked with special punctuation marks called the eser nekudot.

• In the middle ages, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (ca 1092 - 1167 CE) and others noted that several text sequences in the Torah apparently could not have originated in Moses' lifetime. For example, see Ibn Ezra's comments on Gen 12:6; 22:14; Deut 1:2; 3:11; and 34:1, 6. Rabbi Joseph Bonfils elucidated Ibn Ezra's comments in his commentary on Ibn Ezra's work.

• In the 12th century CE the commentator Rabbi Joseph ben Isaac, known as the Bekhor Shor, noted close similarities between a number of wilderness narratives in Exodus and Numbers, in particular, the incidents of water from the rock and the stories about manna and the quail. He hypothesised that both of these incidents actually happened once, but that parallel traditions about these events eventually developed, both of which made their way into the Torah.

• In the 13th century CE Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah (known as the Hizkuni) noticed the same textual anomalies that Ibn Ezra had noted; thus R. Hezekiah's commentary on Gen 12:6 notes that this section "is written from the perspective of the future".

• In the 15th century, Rabbi Yosef Bonfils, while discussing the comments of Ibn Ezra, noted: "Thus it would seem that Moses did not write this word here, but Joshua or some other prophet wrote it. Since we believe in the prophetic tradition, what possible difference can it make whether Moses wrote this or some other prophet did, since the words of all of them are true and prophetic?"

For more information on these issues from an Orthodox Jewish perspective, see Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations, edited by Shalom Carmy (Jason Aronson, Inc.), and Handbook of Jewish Thought, Volume I, by Aryeh Kaplan (Moznaim Pub.)

Mosaic authorship was accepted with very little discussion by both Jews and Christians until the 17th century, when the rise of secular scholarship and the associated willingness to subject even the Bible to the test of reason led to its rejection by mainstream biblical scholars.

[edit] Academic analysis

Scholarly discussion for much of the 20th century was principally couched in terms of the documentary hypothesis, according to which the Torah is a synthesis of documents from a small number of originally independent sources.^[28]

The basic idea behind modern forms of the documentary hypothesis was formulated by Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918). In his analysis, the Torah was redacted from four earlier sources, dating roughly from the period of Solomon up until exilic priests and scribes. These sources were edited into one document, the Torah we know today, by scribes after the exile.

• The Jahwist (or J) – written c 950 BCE.^[28] The southern kingdom's (i.e. Judah) interpretation. It is named according to the prolific use of the name "Yahweh" (or Jaweh, in German, the divine name or Tetragrammaton) in its text.
• The Elohist (or E) – written c 850 BCE.^[28] The northern kingdom's (i.e. Israel) interpretation. As above, it is named because of its preferred use of "Elohim" (a generic title used to describe a god, God, or gods).
• The Deuteronomist (or D) – written c 650–621 BCE.^[28] Dating specifically from the time of King Josiah of Judah and responsible for the book of Deuteronomy as well as Joshua and most of the subsequent books up to 2 Kings.
• The Priestly source (or P) – written during or after the exile, c 550–400 BCE.^[28] So named because of its focus on Levitical laws.

Wellahusen's ideas about the textual history of the Torah have never been accepted by critical scholars as the final word on the subject, although his basic idea that the Torah was redacted from a varoety of earlier sources is firmly accepted by academic scholars, and by many Jews and Christians.

A variety of formulations see the Torah as having been compiled from a multitude of small fragments rather than a handful of large coherent source texts,^[29] or as having gradually accreted over many centuries and through many hands.^[30] The shorthand Yahwist, Priestly and Deuteronomistic is still used nevertheless to characterise identifiable and differentiable content and style.

The 19th century dating of the final form of Genesis and the Pentateuch to c. 500–450 BCE continues to be widely accepted irrespective of the model adopted,^[31] although a minority of scholars known as biblical minimalists argue for a date largely or entirely within the last two centuries BCE.

[edit] Structure

Books of the Torah
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy

The Hebrew names of the five books of the Torah are known by their incipit, taken from initial words of the first verse of each book. For example, the Hebrew name of the first book, Bereshit, is the first word of Genesis 1:1:

1. Bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית, literally "In the beginning")
2. Shemot (שִׁמוֹת, literally "Names")
3. Vayikra (ויקרא, literally "He called")
4. Bamidbar (במדבר, literally "In the desert")
5. Devarim (דברים, literally "Things" or "Words")

The Anglicized names are derived from the Greek and reflect the essential theme of each book:

1. Genesis: "creation"
2. Exodus: "departure"
3. Leviticus: refers to the Levites and the regulations that apply to their presence and service in the Temple, which form the bulk of the third book.
4. Numbers (Arithmoi): contains a record of the numbering of the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai and later on the plain of Moab.
5. Deuteronomy: "second law," refers to the fifth book's recapitulation of the commandments reviewed by Moses before his death.

According to the classical Jewish view, the stories in the Torah are not always in chronological order. Sometimes they are ordered by concept according to the rule: "There is not 'earlier' and 'later' in the Torah" (אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה, Ein mukdam u'meuchar baTorah).^[32] This position is accepted by Orthodox Judaism. Non-Orthodox Jews generally understand the same texts as signs that the current text of the Torah was redacted from earlier sources (see documentary hypothesis.)

[edit] Contents

Bereshit (Genesis) begins with the story of creation (Genesis 1–3) and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, as well the account of their descendants. Following these are the accounts of Noah and the great flood (Genesis 3–9), and his descendants. The Tower of Babel and the story of Abraham's covenant with God (Genesis 10–11) are followed by the story of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the life of Joseph (Genesis 12–50). God gives to the Patriarchs a promise of the land of Canaan, but at the end of Genesis the sons of Jacob end up leaving Canaan for Egypt because of a famine.

Shemot (Exodus) is the story of Moses, who leads Israelites out of Pharaoh's Egypt (Exodus 1–18) to take them to the promised land. On the way, they camp at Mount Sinai/Horeb where Moses receives the Torah, including the Ten Commandments, from God, and mediates His laws and Covenant (Exodus 19–24) to the people of Israel. Exodus also deals with the violation of the commandment against idolatry when Aaron took part in the construction of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32–34). Exodus concludes with the instructions on building the Tabernacle (Exodus 25–31; 35–40).

Vayikra (Leviticus) begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle, which they had just built (Leviticus 1–10). This is followed by rules of clean and unclean (Leviticus 11–15), which includes the laws of slaughter and animals permissible to eat (see also: Kashrut), the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), and various moral and ritual laws sometimes called the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17–26).

Bamidbar (Numbers) takes two censuses where the number of Israelites are counted (Numbers 1–3, 26), and has many laws mixed among the narratives. The narratives tell how Israel consolidated itself as a community at Sinai (Numbers 1–9), set out from Sinai to move towards Canaan and spied out the land (Numbers 10–13). Because of unbelief at various points, but especially at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 14), the Israelites were condemned to wander for forty years in the desert in the vicinity of Kadesh instead of immediately entering the land of promise. Even Moses sins and is told he would not live to enter the land (Numbers 20). At the end of Numbers (Numbers 26–35) Israel moves from the area of Kadesh towards the promised land. They leave the Sinai desert and go around Edom and through Moab where Balak and Balaam oppose them (Numbers 22–24; 31:8, 15–16). They defeat two Transjordan kings, Og and Sihon (Numbers 21), and so come to occupy some territory outside of Canaan. At the end of the book they are on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho ready to enter the Promised Land.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) consists primarily of a series of speeches by Moses on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho exhorting Israel to obey God and further instruction on His Laws. The speeches are identified as: Moses's first speech (Deuteronomy 1-4), Moses's second speech (Deuteronomy 4-11), Moses's re-proclamation of the divinely given law (Deuteronomy 12-26), Moses's instruction concerning covenant renewal at Shechem (Deuteronomy 27-28) and Moses's third speech (Deuteronomy 29-30).^[33] The re-proclamation of divinely given law (in chapters 12-26) comprises the core of Deuteronomy and is known as the "Deuteronomic Code"^[34]. At the end of the book (Deuteronomy 34), Moses is allowed to see the promised land from a mountain, but it is not known what happened to Moses on the mountain. He was never seen again. Knowing that he is nearing the end of his life, Moses appoints Joshua his successor, bequeathing to him the mantle of leadership. Soon afterwards Israel begins the conquest of Canaan.

[edit] Torah and Judaism

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The Torah is the primary holy scripture of Judaism.

Rabbinic writings offer various ideas on when the Torah was composed. The revelation to Moses at Mount Sinai is considered by many to be the most important revelatory event. According to dating of the text by Orthodox rabbis, this occurred in 1312 BCE;^[7] another date given for this event is 1280 BCE.^[8]

Some rabbinic sources state that the entire Torah was given all at once at this event. In the maximalist belief, this dictation included not only the quotations that appear in the text, but every word of the text itself, including phrases such as "And God spoke to Moses...", and included God telling Moses about Moses' own death and subsequent events. Other classical rabbinic sources hold that the Torah was revealed to Moses over many years, and finished only at his death.

Another rabbinic school of thought holds that although Moses wrote the vast majority of the Torah, a number of sentences throughout the Torah must have been written after his death by another prophet, presumably Joshua. Abraham ibn Ezra and Joseph Bonfils observed that some phrases in the Torah present information that people should only have known after the time of Moses. Ibn Ezra hinted, and Bonfils explicitly stated, that Joshua (or perhaps some later prophet) wrote these sections of the Torah. Other rabbis would not accept this belief.

The Talmud (tractate Sabb. 115b) states that a peculiar section in the Book of Numbers (10:35 — 36, surrounded by inverted Hebrew letter nuns) in fact forms a separate book. On this verse a midrash on the book of Mishle (also called Proverbs) states that "These two verses stem from an independent book which existed, but was suppressed!" Another (possibly earlier) midrash, Ta'ame Haserot Viyterot, states that this section actually comes from the book of prophecy of Eldad and Medad. The Talmud says that God dictated four books of the Torah, but that Moses wrote Deuteronomy in his own words (Talmud Bavli, Meg. 31b).

All classical rabbinic views hold that the Torah was entirely or almost entirely Mosaic and of divine origin.^[35]

[edit] Ritual use

Torah reading (Hebrew: קריאת התורה, K'riat HaTorah ; "Reading [of] the Torah") is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll (or scrolls) from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is distinct from academic Torah study.

Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity (c. 537 BCE), as described in the Book of Nehemiah.^[36] In the modern era, adherents of Orthodox Judaism practice Torah reading according to a set procedure they believe has remained unchanged in the two thousand years since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). In the 19th and 20th centuries CE, new movements such as Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading has usually remained the same:

As a part of the morning or afternoon prayer services on certain days of the week or holidays, a section of the Pentateuch is read from a Torah scroll. On Shabbat (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section ("parasha") is read, selected so that the entire Pentateuch is read consecutively each year.^[37][38] On Saturday afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following Saturday's portion is read. On Jewish holidays and fast days, special sections connected to the day are read.

Jews observe an annual holiday, Simchat Torah, to celebrate the completion of the year's cycle of readings.

Torah scrolls are often dressed with a sash, various ornaments and a Keter (crown), although such customs vary among synagogues. Congregants traditionally stand when the Torah is brought out of the ark to be read (although they sit during the reading itself.)

[edit] Biblical law

The Torah contains narratives, statements of law, and statements of ethics. Collectively these laws, usually called biblical law or commandments, are sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses (Torat Moshe תּוֹרַת־מֹשֶׁה), or Mosaic Law.

[edit] The Torah and Judaism's oral law

Rabbinic tradition holds that the written Torah was transmitted in parallel with the oral tradition. Jews point to texts of the Torah, where many words and concepts are left undefined and many procedures are mentioned without explanation or instructions; the reader is required to seek out the missing details from the oral sources. Many times in the Torah it says that/as you are/were shown on the mountain in reference of how to do a commandment (Exodus 25:40).

There are numerous examples of biblical commandments which are either too ambiguous or documented in such a concise fashion that proper adherence is impossible without some kind of oral tradition.^[39]

This was called the oral tradition or oral Torah.

• Tefillin: As indicated in Deuteronomy 6:8 among other places, tefillin are to be placed on the arm and on the head between the eyes. However, there are no details provided regarding what tefillin are or how they are to be constructed.
• Kosher laws: As indicated in Exodus 23:19 among other places, a kid may not be boiled in its mother's milk. [A kid being a young goat.] In addition to numerous other problems with understanding the ambiguous nature of this law, there are no vowelization characters in the Torah; they are provided by the oral tradition. This is particularly relevant to this law, as the Hebrew word for milk (חלב) is identical to the word for animal fat when vowels are absent. Without the oral tradition, it is not known whether the violation is in mixing meat with milk or with fat.
• Shabbat laws: With the severity of Sabbath violation, namely the death penalty, one would assume that direction would be provided as to how exactly such a serious and core commandment should be upheld. However, there is little to no information as to what can and cannot be performed on the Sabbath. Without the oral tradition, keeping this law would be impossible.

According to classical rabbinic texts this parallel set of material was originally transmitted to Moses at Sinai, and then from Moses to Israel. At that time it was forbidden to write and publish the oral law, as any writing would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation and abuse.

However, after exile, dispersion and persecution, this tradition was lifted when it became apparent that in writing was the only way to ensure that the Oral Law could be preserved. After many years of effort by a great number of tannaim, the oral tradition was written down around 200 CE by Rabbi Judah haNasi who took up the compilation of a nominally written version of the Oral Law, the Mishnah. Other oral traditions from the same time period not entered into the Mishnah were recorded as "Baraitot" (external teaching), and the Tosefta. Other traditions were written down as Midrashim.

After continued persecution more of the oral law was committed to writing. A great many more lessons, lectures and traditions only alluded to in the few hundred pages of Mishnah, became the thousands of pages now called the Gemara. Gemara is Aramaic, having been compiled in Babylon. The Mishnah and Gemara together are called the Talmud. The Rabbis in Israel also collected their traditions and compiled them into the Jerusalem Talmud. Since the greater number of Rabbis lived in Babylon, the Babylonian Talmud has precedence should the two be in conflict.

Orthodox Jews and Conservative Jews accept these texts as the basis for all subsequent halakha and codes of Jewish law, which are held to be normative. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews deny that these texts may be used for determining normative law (laws accepted as binding) but accept them as the authentic and only Jewish version of understanding the Bible and its development throughout history.

[edit] Divine significance of letters, Jewish mysticism

Kabbalists hold that not only are the words giving a Divine message, but indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Thus they hold that even as small a mark as a kotzo shel yod (קוצו של יוד), the serif of the Hebrew letter yod (י), the smallest letter, or decorative markings, or repeated words, were put there by God to teach scores of lessons. This is regardless of whether that yod appears in the phrase "I am the Lord thy God" (אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, Exodus 20:2) or whether it appears in "And God spoke unto Moses saying" (וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֲנִי יְהוָה. Exodus 6:2). In a similar vein, Rabbi Akiva (ca.50–ca.135CE), is said to have learned a new law from every et (את) in the Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); the word et is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark the direct object. In other words, the Orthodox belief is that even apparently contextual text "And God spoke unto Moses saying..." is no less important than the actual statement.

One kabbalistic interpretation is that the Torah constitutes one long name of God, and that it was broken up into words so that human minds can understand it. While this is effective since it accords with our human reason, it is not the only way that the text can be broken up.

[edit] Production and use of a Torah scroll

Manuscript Torah scrolls are still used, and still scribed, for ritual purposes (i.e., religious services); this is called a Sefer Torah ("Book [of] Torah"). They are written using a painstakingly careful methodology by highly qualified scribes. This has resulted in modern copies of the text that are unchanged from millennia-old copies. It is believed that every word, or marking, has divine meaning, and that not one part may be inadvertently changed lest it lead to error. The fidelity of the Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered paramount, down to the last letter: translations or transcriptions are frowned upon for formal service use, and transcribing is done with painstaking care. An error of a single letter, ornamentation, or symbol of the 304,805 stylized letters which make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use, hence a special skill is required and a scroll takes considerable time to write and check.

According to Jewish law, a sefer Torah (plural: Sifrei Torah) is a copy of the formal Hebrew text of hand-written on gevil or qlaf (forms of parchment) by using a quill (or other permitted writing utensil) dipped in ink. Written entirely in Hebrew, a sefer Torah contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trained sofer (“scribe”), an effort which may take as long as approximately one and a half years. Most modern Sifrei Torah are written with forty-two lines of text per column (Yemenite Jews use fifty), and very strict rules about the position and appearance of the Hebrew letters are observed. See for example the Mishna Berura on the subject.^[40] Any of several Hebrew scripts may be used, most of which are fairly ornate and exacting.

The completion of the sefer Torah is a cause for great celebration, and it is a Mitzvah for every Jew to either write or have written for him a Sefer Torah. Torah scrolls are stored in the holiest part of the synagogue in the Ark known as the "Holy Ark" (אֲרוֹן הקֹדשׁ aron hakodesh in Hebrew.) Aron in Hebrew means "cupboard" or "closet", and kodesh is derived from "kadosh", or "holy".

[edit] Torah in other religions

While Christianity includes the five books of Moses among their sacred texts, Islam only believes that the original Torah was sent by the One true God. In both religions they lack the religious legal significance that they have in Orthodox Judaism.

In early Christianity a Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible was used. Its name in Latin is the Septuagint: L. septem meaning seven, plus -gintā meaning "times ten". It was named Septuagint from the traditional number of its translators. Being the Pentateuch, it forms the beginning of the Old Testament that incorporate the Torah into the Catholic and Christian Orthodox Biblical canon that also includes some books not found in the Tanakh. This Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures dates from the 3rd century B.C. It contains both a translation of the Hebrew and additional and variant material. It was regarded as the standard form of the Old Testament in the early Christian Church and is still considered canonical in the Eastern Orthodox Church.^{[41] [42]} Though different Christian denominations have slightly different versions of the Old Testament in their Bibles, the Torah as the "Five Books of Moses" (or "the Law") is common among them all.

Islam: The Book of God, the Quran, refers heavily to Moses to outline the truth of his existence, and the religious guidelines that God (Most Exalted) had revealed to the Children of Israel. God (Most Exalted) says in the Qur'an, "It is He Who has sent down the Book (the Qur'an) to you with truth, confirming what came before it. And He sent down the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)." [3:1] It has also been firmly documented that the Arab people are descendants from Abraham's first son Ishmael, the half-brother of Isaac.^{[citation needed]}

Muslims call the Torah the Tawrat and consider it the word of God given to Moses. However, Muslims also believe that this original revelation was corrupted (tahrif) over time by Jewish scribes^[43] and hence do not revere the present Jewish version Torah as much. 7:144–144</ref> The Torah in the Qur'an is always mentioned with respect in Islam. The Muslims' belief in the Torah, as well as the prophethood of Moses, is one of the fundamental tenets of Islam.

[edit] See also

Ten Commandments Christianity and Judaism Forbidden relationships in Judaism Heptateuch Hexapla Islamic view of Moses Jewish Publication Society (JPS)

JPS Tanakh Judeo-Christian tradition List of burial places of biblical figures Moses in rabbinic literature Samaritan Pentateuch Torah reading Torah study Tawrat

[edit] References

[edit] Additional Sources

• Friedman, Richard Elliott, Who Wrote the Bible?, HarperSanFrancisco, 1997
• Welhausen, Julius, Prolegomena to the History of Israel, Scholars Press, 1994 (reprint of 1885)
• Kantor, Mattis, The Jewish time line encyclopedia: A yearby-year history from Creation to the present, Jason Aronson Inc., London, 1992
• Wheeler, Brannon M., Moses in the Quran and Islamic Exegesis, Routledge, 2002
• DeSilva, David Arthur, An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry, InterVarsity Press, 2004
• Alcalay, Reuben., The Complete Hebrew – English dictionary, vol 2, Hemed Books, New York, 1996 ISBN 978-9654481793
• Scherman, Nosson, (ed.), Tanakh, Vol.I, The Torah, (Stone edition), Mesorah Publications, Ltd., New York, 2001
• Heschel, Abraham Joshua, Tucker, Gordon & Levin, Leonard, Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations, London, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005
• Hubbard, David “The Literary Sources of the Kebra Nagast” Ph.D. dissertation St Andrew s University, Scotland, 1956

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Tanakh

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Torah

Look up Pentateuch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Torah
• Five Complete Kosher Sefer Torah Scrolls for Study online (Beth Emeth Congregation of North Virginia)
• Sefer Torah Scroll for Study online with Megillot and commentaries
• Computer generated Sefer Torah for Study online with translation, transliteration and chanting (WorldORT)

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