It can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching, culture, and practice, whether derived from biblical texts or later rabbinic writings. This is often known as the Oral Torah. Common to all these meanings, Torah consists of the origin of Jewish peoplehood: their call into being by God, their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with their God, which involves following a way of life embodied in a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws (""). In rabbinic literature the word "Torah" denotes both the five books ( "Torah that is written") and the Oral Torah (, "Torah that is spoken").
Introduction
Torah
Torah | Introduction
It can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching, culture, and practice, whether derived from biblical texts or later rabbinic writings. Hebrew Hebrew. Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
who is the prophet who was thrown into the sea and swallowed by the whale
user
Jonah
assistant
which sea was he swallowed in ?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
who is he ?
user
A prophet in the Hebrew Bible of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE.
assistant
where was he born ?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
the book you mentioned above what is it ?
user
The canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, including the Torah.
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what is the second thing you have mentioned ?
user
It can most specifically mean the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
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in which language was it written in ?
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Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the 'Pentateuch' (, "pentáteuchos", 'five scrolls'), a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria.
Torah | Alternative names
Torah refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Pentateuch), and the law derived from them. Torah may also refer to:
Torah (disambiguation) | Introduction
Torah (; , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") has a range of meanings. It can most specifically mean the first five books (Pentateuch or five books of Moses) of the Hebrew Bible. This is commonly known as the Written Torah. It can also mean the continued narrative from all the 24 books, from the Book of Genesis to the end of the Tanakh (Chronicles). If in bound book form, it is called "Chumash", and is usually printed with the rabbinic commentaries (""). If meant for liturgic purposes, it takes the form of a Torah scroll ("Sefer Torah"), which contains strictly the five books of Moses.
Torah | Introduction
The Hebrew Bible comprises the Torah (the five books of Moses), the Neviim (the books of the Prophets), and the Ketuvim (the "Writings"). Judaism has traditionally held that, along with the Torah, referred to as the "Written Torah", God revealed a series of instructions on how to interpret and apply the Torah. The additional instructions were known as the Oral Torah. By the second century CE Jewish sages began writing down interpretations of the Bible; Orthodox Jews consider these writings to embody the "oral law." These writings take several forms:
Names for books of Judeo-Christian scripture | Judaism
The Torah (תּוֹרָה, literally ""teaching""), also known as the Pentateuch, or as the ""Five Books of Moses"". Printed versions (rather than scrolls) of the Torah are often called ""Chamisha Chumshei Torah""" ( ""Five fifth-sections of the Torah"") and informally a ""Chumash"".
Hebrew Bible | Torah
The Torah (תּוֹרָה) is also known as the "Five Books of Moses" or the Pentateuch, meaning "five scroll-cases". Traditionally these books were considered to have been written almost entirely by Moses himself. In the 19th century, Julius Wellhausen and other scholars proposed that the Torah had been compiled from earlier written documents dating from the 9th to the 5th century BCE, the "documentary hypothesis". Scholars Hermann Gunkel and Martin Noth, building on the form criticism of Gerhard von Rad, refined this hypothesis, while other scholars have proposed other ways that the Torah might have developed over the centuries. The Hebrew names of the books are derived from the first words in the respective texts.
Bible | Torah
The Hebrew Bible is composed of three parts; the Torah (Instruction, the Septuagint translated the Hebrew to "nomos" or "Law"), the Nevi'im (Prophets) and the Ketuvim (Writings). Collectively, these are known as the Tanakh. According to Rabbinic Judaism the Torah was revealed by God to Moses; within it, Jews find 613 Mitzvot (commandments). Rabbinic tradition asserts that God revealed two Torahs to Moses, one that was written down, and one that was transmitted orally. Whereas the written Torah has a fixed form, the Oral Torah is a living tradition that includes not only specific supplements to the written Torah (for instance, what is the proper manner of "shechita" and what is meant by "Frontlets" in the Shema), but also procedures for understanding and talking about the written Torah (thus, the Oral Torah revealed at Sinai includes debates among rabbis who lived long after Moses).
Christianity and Judaism | Sacred texts
The reason for the original practice was that, from Biblical times to well into medieval times, each verse of the Torah reading in Hebrew would be followed by its interpretation into Aramaic, and therefore it would be appropriate, after the first Hebrew verse was read, for another reader to provide an Aramaic gloss including this "introduction". However, when the simultaneous Aramaic interpretation fell into disuse, the recitation of "Akdamut" remained between the first and second Hebrew verses, where it no longer seemed an appropriate interruption, so it was relocated to before the commencement of the Torah reading.
Akdamut | Introduction
The Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh in Judaism which forms the Christian Old Testament (although with order rearranged and some books split into two), was written in Biblical Hebrew, though a few chapters were written in Biblical Aramaic. Deuterocanonical books added to the Old Testament of some non-Protestant Christian Bibles are variously written in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, with possible Aramaic undertones, as was the first translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint or Greek Old Testament. Therefore, Hebrew, Greek and sometimes Aramaic continue to be taught in most universities, colleges and seminaries with strong programs in biblical studies.
Biblical studies | Original languages
The composition of the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) was a process that involved multiple authors over an extended period of time. While Jewish tradition holds that all five books were originally written by Moses sometime in the 2nd millennium BCE, by the 17th century leading scholars had rejected Mosaic authorship. The precise process by which the Torah was composed, the number of authors involved, and the date of each author remain hotly contested among scholars. Some scholars espouse a fragmentary hypothesis, in which the Pentateuch is seen as a compilation of short, independent narratives, which were gradually brought together into larger units in two editorial phases: the Deuteronomic and the Priestly phases.
Composition of the Torah | Introduction
According to Rabbi Akiva, the divine language of the Torah is distinguished from the speech of men by the fact that in the former no word or sound is superfluous. He established two principles broadening the scope of the rule of his teacher Nahum of Gimzo, who had declared that certain particles, like את, גם and או, were inclusive and certain others, such as אך, רק and מן, were exclusive. These two principles are: Hence he interprets the following forms of expression as amplifications: an infinitive before a finite verb, e.g., הכרת תכרת (Sanhedrin 64b); the doubling of a word, e.g., איש איש (Yeb.
Talmudical hermeneutics | Superfluity in the text
The Torah (or Pentateuch, as biblical scholars sometimes call it) is the collective name for the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It forms the charter myth of Israel, the story of the people's origins and the foundations of their culture and institutions, and it is a fundamental principle of Judaism that the relationship between God and his chosen people was set out on Mount Sinai through the Torah. The development of the Torah began by around 600 BCE when previously unconnected material began to be drawn together; by around 400 BCE these books, the fore-runners of the Torah, had reached their modern form and began to be recognised as complete, unchangeable, and sacred; and by around 200 BCE the five books were accepted as the first section of the Jewish canon.
Mosaic authorship | Torah, authorship, and the development of the tradition
The Hebrew Bible, which is also called the Tanakh (; , or ; also "Tenakh", "Tenak", "Tanach"), or sometimes the Miqra (מִקְרָא), is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, including the Torah. These texts are almost exclusively in Biblical Hebrew, with a few passages in Biblical Aramaic (in the books of Daniel and Ezra, the verse , and some single words). The form of this text that is authoritative for Rabbinic Judaism is known as the Masoretic Text (MT) and consists of 24 books, while Protestant Bibles divide essentially the same material into 39 books. Catholic Bibles and Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bibles contain additional materials in their Old Testaments, derived from the Septuagint (texts translated into Koine Greek) and other sources.
Hebrew Bible | Introduction
The Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh (Hebrew: ), consists of 39 books. "Hebrew" in "Hebrew Bible" may refer to either the Hebrew language or to the Hebrew people who historically used Hebrew as a spoken language, and have continuously used the language in prayer and study, or both. The texts were mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Biblical Aramaic. Biblical Hebrew, sometimes called "Classical Hebrew", is an archaic form of the Hebrew language. The very first translation of the Hebrew Bible was into Greek. This is known as the Septuagint (LXX), which later became the received text of the Old Testament in the Catholic church and the basis of its canon.
Biblical languages | Language of the Hebrew Bible
Some scholars, such as Avi Hurvitz (see below), have attempted to date the various strata of the Pentateuch on the basis of the form of the Hebrew language that is used. It is generally agreed that Classical Hebrew and Late Biblical Hebrew had distinctive, identifiable features and that Classical Hebrew was earlier. Classical Hebrew is usually dated to the period before the Babylonian captivity (597-539 BCE), while Late Biblical Hebrew is generally dated to the exilic and post-exilic periods. However, it is difficult to determine precisely when Classical Hebrew ceased being used, since there are no extant Hebrew inscriptions of substantial length dating from the relevant period (c.
Composition of the Torah | Linguistic dating
This began sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century BC, with the first portion of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, being translated into Koine Greek. Over the next century, other books were translated (or composed) as well. This translation became known as the Septuagint and was widely used by Greek-speaking Jews, and later by Christians. It differs somewhat from the later standardized Hebrew (Masoretic Text). This translation was promoted by way of a legend that seventy separate translators all produced identical texts. The Latin Vulgate by Jerome was based upon the Hebrew for those books of the Bible preserved in the Jewish canon (as reflected in the Masoretic Text), and on the Greek text for the rest.
Biblical languages | Language of the Hebrew Bible
This use of the Hebrew term "Torah" (law), for the first five books is considered misleading by 21st-century Christian bible scholar John Van Seters, because the Pentateuch "consists of about one half law and the other half narrative."
Law of Moses | Terminology
According to Jewish law, a Torah is invalid for public reading if even a single letter is incorrect or misplaced, for Jewish law considers each letter as indispensable. In 1525, in Venice, Jacob Ben-Hayim, editor of the second edition of the Mikraot Gedolot, took it upon himself to fix grammatical errors in the Hebrew Bible. Ben-Hayim's version unified Judaism's varying texts and commentaries on the Bible under one umbrella, and it is this version that has remained the standard version used by generations to this day. However, Ben-Hayim had to rely on inferior manuscripts and commentaries, which caused numerous inaccuracies to appear in his version, and these were only magnified in subsequent editions.
Menachem Cohen (scholar) | Background
In recent decades it has become increasingly common among scholars to assume that much of the Hebrew Bible was assembled, revised and edited in the 5th century BCE to reflect the realities and challenges of the Persian era. The returnees had a particular interest in the history of Israel: the written Torah (the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), for example, may have existed in various forms during the Monarchy (the period of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah), but according to the documentary hypothesis, it was in the Second Temple that it was edited and revised into something like its current form, and the Chronicles, a new history written at this time, reflects the concerns of the Persian Yehud in its almost exclusive focus on the Judah and the Temple.
Second Temple Judaism | Literature
The first volume, the Torah, was published in 2010, and the second one in 2011. Two more volumes, corresponding to the latter prophets and to the Writings, are currently being prepared. The text of each one of the books of the Bible is presented in Ancient Hebrew on the right and on the left there is a parallel column, in a different font type, with the Modern Hebrew text. At the end of each volume there is a section with tables of measures and weights aimed to be a reference to the reader. Up to October 2014 there have been published two volumes corresponding to the Torah or Moses' Law, and to the former prophets.
Tanakh Ram | Publications
Bereshit or Bereishith is the first word of the Torah, translated as "In the beginning...", and may refer to:
Bereshit | Introduction
Rashi comments that the Hebrew word "Bereishit" ("In the beginning") can be homiletically understood to mean "Due to the first", where "first" ("reishit") is a word used elsewhere to refer to the Torah and to the Jewish people. Thus, one may say that the world was created for the sake of Torah and the Jewish people.
Pardes (Jewish exegesis) | In Genesis 1:1
Conversely, the Book of Ezekiel, written during the Babylonian exile, contains many features of Late Biblical Hebrew. Summing up these problems, Young has argued that "none of the linguistic criteria used to date [biblical] texts either early or late is strong enough to compel scholars to reconsider an argument made on non-linguistic grounds."
Composition of the Torah | Linguistic dating
The Hebrew Bible, is commonly known in Judaism as the "Tanakh", it being a vocalization of the acronym TNK (תַּנַ"ךְ): "Torah" ("Teachings"), "Nevi'im" ("Prophets") and "Ketuvim" ("Writings"). In Christianity it's known as the "Old Testament". The Bible is not a single, monolithic piece of literature because each of these three sections, in turn, contains books written at different times by different authors. All books of the Bible are not strictly religious in nature; for example, "The Song of Songs" is a love poem and, along with "The Book of Esther", does not explicitly mention God. "Torah" in this instance refers to the Pentateuch (to parallel "Chumash", חומש), so called because it consists of five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
Ancient Hebrew writings | The Hebrew Bible
Unless otherwise specified, the word "Talmud" on its own is normally understood to mean the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in the 4th century CE in Galilee, and the Babylonian Talmud was compiled about the year 500 CE, although it continued to be edited later. While the Pentateuch is sometimes called the "Written Torah", the Mishnah is contrasted as the "Oral Torah" because it was passed down orally between generations until its contents were finally committed to writing following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, when Jewish civilization was faced with an existential threat.
Ancient Hebrew writings | Early rabbinic literature
It can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching, culture, and practice, whether derived from biblical texts or later rabbinic writings. This is often known as the Oral Torah. Common to all these meanings, Torah consists of the origin of Jewish peoplehood: their call into being by God, their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with their God, which involves following a way of life embodied in a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws (""). In rabbinic literature the word "Torah" denotes both the five books ( "Torah that is written") and the Oral Torah (, "Torah that is spoken").
Torah | Introduction
550-200 BCE). Scholars also disagree about the variety of Hebrew to which the various strata should be assigned. For example, Hurvitz classifies the Priestly material as belonging to Classical Hebrew, while Joseph Blenkinsopp and most other scholars disagree. Another methodological difficulty with linguistic dating is that it is known that the biblical authors often intentionally used archaisms for stylistic effects, sometimes mixing them with words and constructions from later periods. This means that the presence of archaic language in a text cannot be considered definitive proof that the text dates to an early period. Ian Young and Martin Ehrensvärd point out that even some texts that were certainly written during the post-exilic period, such as the Book of Haggai, lack features distinctive of Late Biblical Hebrew.
Composition of the Torah | Linguistic dating
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh is the Jewish scriptural canon and central source of Jewish law. The word is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the three traditional subdivisions of the Tanakh: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the "Five Books of Moses" or "Pentateuch"), the Nevi'im ("Prophets") and the Ketuvim ("Writings"). The Tanakh contains 24 books in all; its authoritative version is the Masoretic Text. Traditionally, the text of the Tanakh was said to have been finalized at the Council of Jamnia in 70 CE, although this is uncertain. In Judaism, the term "Torah" refers not only to the Five Books of Moses, but also to all of the Jewish scriptures (the whole of Tanakh), and the ethical and moral instructions of the rabbis (the Oral Torah).
Jewish principles of faith | Scripture
Each "oleh", after being called to the Torah, approaches it, recites a benediction, a portion is read, and the "oleh" concludes with another benediction. Then the next "oleh" is called. The gabbai recites a Hebrew verse upon calling the first person to the Torah. After that, men are called with: ""Ya'amod" (Let him arise), [Hebrew Name] "ben" (son of) [Father's Hebrew name] ["Ha-Kohen" (the "Kohen") / "Ha-Levi" (the "Levite")] (the name of the Aliyah in Hebrew)." In synagogues where women may receive aliyot, women are called with ""Ta'amod" (Let her arise), [Hebrew Name] "bat" (daughter of) [Father's Hebrew name] ["Ha-Kohen" (the "Kohen") / "Ha-Levi" (the "Levite")] (the name of the Aliyah in Hebrew)."
Torah reading | The first Aliyah
It seems that the earlier biblical books were originally written in the Paleo-Hebrew script, while the later books were written directly in the later Assyrian script. Some Qumran texts written in the Assyrian script write the tetragrammaton and some other divine names in Paleo-Hebrew, and this practice is also found in several Jewish-Greek biblical translations. While spoken Hebrew continued to evolve into Mishnaic Hebrew, the scribal tradition for writing the Torah gradually developed. A number of regional "book-hand" styles developed for the purpose of Torah manuscripts and occasionally other literary works, distinct from the calligraphic styles used mainly for private purposes.
Biblical Hebrew | Orthography
According to some scholars, use of the name "Torah" to designate the "Five Books of Moses" of the Hebrew Bible is clearly documented only from the 2nd century BCE. In modern usage, "Torah" can refer to the first five books of the Tanakh, as the Hebrew Bible is commonly called, to the instructions and commandments found in the 2nd to 5th books of the Hebrew Bible, and also to the entire Tanakh and even all of the Oral Law as well. Among English-speaking Christians the term "The Law" can refer to the whole Pentateuch including Genesis, but this is generally in relation to the New Testament where "nomos" "the Law" sometimes refers to all five books, including Genesis.
Law of Moses | Terminology
Torah Or/Likutei Torah is a compilation of Chassidic treatises, "maamarim", by the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. The treatises are classic texts of Chabad philosophy arranged according to the Weekly Torah portion, and are studied regularly by Chabad Chassidim. The work was published originally in two parts. The first part, Torah Or, was first printed in 5597 (1837) in Kopust, with treatises, most of them from 5556 (1796) through the end of 5572 (1812), covering Genesis and Exodus, the first two books of the Pentateuch, with several discourses on Shavuot and Pesach. The second half was published in Zhitomir in 5608 (1848) under the title Likutei Torah, covering Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the final three books of the Pentateuch, Song Of Songs, the festivals, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
Likutei Torah/Torah Or | Introduction
Remarkably, it is to this day written in a script which developed from the paleo-Hebrew script (namely the Samaritan script), whereas the common "Hebrew script" is in fact a stylized version of the Aramaic script, not of the paleo-Hebrew script.
Ancient Hebrew writings | Samaritan version of the Torah
Haazinu, Ha'azinu, or Ha'Azinu ( — Hebrew for "listen" when directed to more than one person, the first word in the parashah) is the 53rd weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the 10th in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes . The parashah sets out the Song of Moses — an indictment of the Israelites' sins, a prophecy of their punishment, and a promise of God's ultimate redemption of them. The parashah is made up of 2,326 Hebrew letters, 614 Hebrew words, 52 verses, and 92 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah").
Haazinu | Introduction
Its title is an appellation originally used for the Biblical book of Deuteronomy, and its subtitle, "Book of the Strong Hand", derives from its subdivision into fourteen books: the numerical value fourteen, when represented as the Hebrew letters Yod (10) Dalet (4), forms the word "yad" ("hand").
Mishneh Torah | Introduction
Devarim, D'varim, or Debarim ( — Hebrew for "things" or "words," the second word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 44th weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes . The parashah recounts how Moses appointed chiefs, the episode of the Twelve Spies, encounters with the Edomites and Ammonites, the conquest of Sihon and Og, and the assignment of land for the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The parashah is made up of 5,972 Hebrew letters, 1,548 Hebrew words, 105 verses, and 197 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah").
Devarim (parsha) | Introduction
The majority of Biblical scholars believe that the written books were a product of the Babylonian captivity (c. 6th century BCE), based on earlier written sources and oral traditions, and that it was completed with final revisions during the post-Exilic period (c. 5th century BCE).
Torah | Introduction
Biblical Hebrew ( "Ivrit Miqra'it" or "Leshon ha-Miqra"), also called classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of Hebrew, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages, spoken by the Israelites in the area known as Israel, roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea. The term "Hebrew" was not used for the language in the Bible, which was referred to as ("sefat kena'an", i.e. language of Canaan) or ("Yehudit", i.e. Judaean), but the name was used in Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts. Hebrew is attested epigraphically from about the 10th century BCE, and spoken Hebrew persisted through and beyond the Second Temple period, which ended in the siege of Jerusalem (CE 70).
Biblical Hebrew | Introduction
Some of the first translations of the Torah began during the Babylonian exile, when Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Jews. With most people speaking only Aramaic and not understanding Hebrew, the Targums were created to allow the common person to understand the Torah as it was read in ancient synagogues.
Bible translations | Aramaic Targums
Literature in Hebrew begins with the oral literature of the "" (), "The Holy Language", since ancient times and with the teachings of Abraham, the first of the biblical patriarchs of Israel, c. 2000 BCE . Beyond comparison, the most important work of ancient Hebrew literature is the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). The Mishna, compiled around 200 CE, is the primary rabbinic codification of laws as derived from the Torah. It was written in Mishnaic Hebrew, but the major commentary on it, the Gemara, was largely written in Aramaic. Many works of classical midrash were written in Hebrew.
Hebrew literature | Ancient era
It is the core scripture of Judaism and Samaritanism, honored in these religions as the most sacred of scripture. It is sometimes called the "Five Books of Moses" because according to the Jewish tradition, the Torah, as a divinely inspired text, was given to Moses by God himself on Mount Sinai during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, which is portrayed as the founding event in the formation of the Israelite religion. Other than discussing the Exodus itself and the journey to the Promised Land, the Pentateuch has such themes as the origin of the world, of humanity and of the ancient Israelites, the ancestors of modern-day Jews.
Ancient Hebrew writings | The Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular is considered holy, down to the last letter: transcribing is done with painstaking care. An error in a single letter, ornamentation or symbol of the 300,000+ stylized letters that make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use; hence the skills of a Torah scribe are specialist skills, and a scroll takes considerable time to write and check. The sacred scriptures of most Christian groups are the Old Testament and the New Testament. Latin Bibles originally contained 73 books; however, 7 books, collectively called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanon depending on one's opinion of them, were removed by Martin Luther due to a lack of original Hebrew sources, and now vary on their inclusion between denominations.
Abrahamic religions | Scriptures
Nitzavim, Nitsavim, Nitzabim, Netzavim, Nisavim, or Nesabim ( — Hebrew for "ones standing," the second word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 51st weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes (Deuteronomy 29:10 onwards in some versions of the Hebrew Bible). In the parashah, Moses told the Israelites that all the people stood before God to enter into the covenant, violation of which would bring on curses, but if they returned to God and heeded God's commandments, then God would take them back in love and bring them together again from the ends of the world.
Nitzavim | Introduction
Complete mss. bolded. The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud, Volume 3 The Literature of the Sages: First Part: Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, External Tractates. "Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum", Ed. Shmuel Safrai, Brill, 1987,
Mishnah | Manuscripts
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 (according to academic Bible criticism). 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.
Torah | Meaning and names
Hebrew continued to be used for the writing of religious texts, poetry, and so forth. Even within the Aramaic of the Gemara, different dialects or writing styles can be observed in different tractates. One dialect is common to most of the Babylonian Talmud, while a second dialect is used in Nedarim, Nazir, Temurah, Keritot, and Me'ilah; the second dialect is closer in style to the Targum.
Talmud | Language
After the 2nd century CE when the Roman Empire exiled most of the Jewish population of Jerusalem following the Bar Kokhba revolt, they adapted to the societies in which they found themselves, yet letters, contracts, commerce, science, philosophy, medicine, poetry and laws continued to be written mostly in Hebrew, which adapted by borrowing and inventing terms.
Hebrew language | Mishnah and Talmud
The Book of Deuteronomy (literally "second law" from Greek "deuteros" + "nomos") is the fifth book of the Jewish Torah, where it is called "Devarim" (Heb. דברים), "the words [of Moses]", and the fifth book of the Christian Old Testament, where it is also known as the Fifth Book of Moses. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recounts the forty years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings), later referred to as the Law of Moses.
Book of Deuteronomy | Introduction
One of the earliest known translations of the first five books of Moses from the Hebrew into Greek was the Septuagint. This is a Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible that was used by Greek speakers. This Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures dates from the 3rd century BCE, originally associated with Hellenistic Judaism. It contains both a translation of the Hebrew and additional and variant material. Later translations into Greek include seven or more other versions. These do not survive, except as fragments, and include those by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion.
Torah | Greek
The core of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, referred to by some Jews as "Lashon Hakodesh" (, "Language of Holiness"). Hebrew (and in the case of a few texts such as the Kaddish, Aramaic) remains the traditional language of Jewish religious services. Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic are used extensively by the Orthodox for writing religious texts. Among many segments of the Haredi, Yiddish, although not used in liturgy, is used for religious purposes, such as for Torah study. In contemporary Israel, where Yiddish has virtually disappeared as a spoken language among the general public, it is cultivated and extensively used by some Haredi groups - partly in protest against Hebrew, the traditional sacred language having been "profaned" by Zionism, making it the main language of modern secular Israeli society.
Sacred language | Judaism
Scholars believe that in the Persian period the Torah assumed its final form, the history of ancient Israel and Judah contained in the books from Joshua to Kings was revised and completed and the older prophetic books were redacted. New writing included the interpretation of older works, such as the Book of Chronicles, and genuinely original work including Ben Sira, Tobit, Judith, 1 Enoch and, much later, Maccabees. The literature from Ben Sira onwards is increasingly permeated with references to the Hebrew Bible in the present form, suggesting the slow development of the idea of a body of "scripture" in the sense of authoritative writings.
Yehud (Persian province) | Literature and language
The Torah is composed of 5 books called in English Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They chronicle the history of the Hebrews and also contain the commandments that Jews are to follow. Rabbinic Judaism holds that the Torah extant today is the same one that was given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. Maimonides explains: "We do not know exactly how the Torah was transmitted to Moses. But when it was transmitted, Moses merely wrote it down like a secretary taking dictation...[Thus] every verse in the Torah is equally holy, as they all originate from God, and are all part of God's Torah, which is perfect, holy and true." "Haredi" Jews generally believe that the Torah today is no different from what was received from God to Moses, with only the most minor of scribal errors.
Jewish principles of faith | The origin of the Torah
The text of the Torah is also commonly printed and bound in book form for non-ritual functions. It is then known as a "Chumash" (plural Chumashim) ("five-part", for the five books of Moses), and is often accompanied by commentaries or translations.
Sefer Torah | Introduction
The "Mishneh Torah" is written in Hebrew in the style of the "Mishnah". As he states in the preface, Maimonides was reluctant to write in Talmudic Aramaic, since it was not widely known. His previous works had been written in Arabic. The "Mishneh Torah" never cites sources or arguments, and confines itself to stating the final decision on the law to be followed in each situation. There is no discussion of Talmudic interpretation or methodology, and the sequence of chapters follows the factual subject matter of the laws rather than the intellectual principle involved.
Mishneh Torah | Language and style
According to Orthodox Judaism, the first "oleh" (person called to read) is a "kohen " and the second a "levi"; the remaining "olim" are "yisr'elim" — Jews who are neither "kohen " nor "levi". (This assumes that such people are available; there are rules in place for what is done if they are not.) The first two "aliyot" are referred to as ""Kohen "" and ""Levi"," while the rest are known by their number (in Hebrew). This practice is also followed in some but not all Conservative synagogues. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism have abolished special ritual roles for the descendants of the Biblical priestly and levitical castes.
Torah reading | The first Aliyah
The Talmud holds that the Torah was written by Moses, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy, describing his death and burial, being written by Joshua. Alternatively, Rashi quotes from the Talmud that, "God spoke them, and Moses wrote them with tears". The Mishnah includes the divine origin of the Torah as an essential tenet of Judaism. According to Jewish tradition, the Torah was recompiled by Ezra during Second Temple period. By contrast, the modern scholarly consensus rejects Mosaic authorship, and affirms that the Torah has multiple authors and that its composition took place over centuries. The precise process by which the Torah was composed, the number of authors involved, and the date of each author remain hotly contested, however.
Torah | Composition
The destruction of the Second Temple and the fall of Jerusalem in the 1st and early 2nd Centuries CE devastated the Jewish community. The First Jewish–Roman War of 66–73 CE and the Bar Kokhba revolt cost hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives, the destruction of leading yeshivot, and thousands of scholars and students. At that point, it became apparent that the Hebrew community and its learning were threatened, and that publication was the only way to ensure that the law could be preserved. Thus, around 200 CE, a redaction of the Oral Law in writing was completed. Both Rabbinic tradition and scholarship ascribe this effort to Rabbi Judah HaNasi.
Oral Torah | The Mishnah
The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew: , "Torat Moshe", Septuagint , "nómos Mōusē", or in some translations the "Teachings of Moses") is a biblical term first found in the Book of Joshua , where Joshua writes the Hebrew words of "Torat Moshe " on an altar of stones at Mount Ebal. The text continues: The term occurs 15 times in the Hebrew Bible, a further 7 times in the New Testament, and repeatedly in Second Temple period, intertestamental, rabbinical and patristic literature. The Hebrew word for the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, "Torah" (which means "law" and was translated into Greek as "nomos" or "Law") refers to the same five books termed in English "Pentateuch" (from Latinised Greek "five books," implying the five books of Moses).
Law of Moses | Terminology
In Rabbi Culi's time, many individuals in Turkey were not sufficiently fluent in the Hebrew language to study the Torah and its commentaries in the original. Rabbi Culi thus undertook the "colossal task" of writing a compendium of the major fields of Torah study. The commentary was to be user-friendly and was thus written in Ladino or Judaeo-Spanish, the Jewish language spoken by the Sephardic Jews in Turkey. The book was divided according to the weekly Torah portion ("Parashat hashevua"); Rabbi Culi explains each chapter in detail according to the Midrash and Talmud, as well as discussing the relevant "Halacha" as based on the "Shulchan Aruch" and "Mishneh Torah".
Me'am Lo'ez | Content
"Mäṣḥafä Kedus" (Holy Scriptures) is the name for the religious literature. The language of the writings is Ge'ez. The holiest book is the Orit (from Aramaic "Oraita" – "Torah") which consists of the Five Books of Moses and the books Joshua, Judges and Ruth. The rest of the Bible has secondary importance. Sources are lacking on whether the Book of Lamentations is excluded from the canon, or whether it forms part of the Book of Jeremiah as it does in the Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon. Also in the canon are: Sirach, Judith, Esdras 1 and 2, Meqabyan, Jubilees, Baruch 1 and 4, Tobit, Enoch and the testaments of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; most of these are also found among the Deuterocanonical books or the Biblical apocrypha.
Haymanot | Texts
And lo, in their books of the Torah there are to be found several differences in "defective" and "plene" letters, for example: "minnaso" , [in the verse, "My iniquity is greater than I can bear,"] lacks a "waw"; [or] "maʻayanoth" [in the verse, "All of the fountains of the deep were opened,"] lacks a "waw"; [as well as] "wiyiheyu kol yamei noaḥ" , [in the verse, "And all of the days of Noah were," etc., is written] with the addition of a "waw" at its end; "teʻaseh" , [in the verse, "Of beaten work shall the candlestick be made,"] lacks a "yod"; "ḥodsheikhem" , [in the verse, "Your new moons," etc., is written] with the addition of a "yod"; as also in the lay-out of the Song of the Sea and in certain closed sections [of the Law].
Torah scroll (Yemenite) | Testimonials
Devarim () is a Hebrew word, which is the last part of the second word ("haDevarim") of the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah (the first five books of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible). It means "[The] Words". When used as a noun, Devarim might refer to:
Devarim | Introduction
Shemot is a Hebrew word, which is the second word of the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Torah (the first five books of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible). It means "Names". When used as a noun, Shemot might refer to:
Shemot | Introduction
Va'etchanan ( — Hebrew for "and I pleaded," the first word in the parashah) is the 45th weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes . The parashah tells how Moses asked to see the Land of Israel, made arguments to obey the law, recounted setting up the Cities of Refuge, recited the Ten Commandments and the "Shema", and gave instructions for the Israelites' conquest of the Land. The parashah is made up of 7,343 Hebrew letters, 1,878 Hebrew words, 122 verses, and 249 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah").
Va'etchanan | Introduction
It is made up of 7,055 Hebrew letters, 1,840 Hebrew words, 136 verses, and 240 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah"). Jews generally read it in late May or in June. As the parashah sets out some of the laws of Passover, Jews also read part of the parashah, , as the initial Torah reading for the fourth intermediate day (, "Chol HaMoed") of Passover.
Behaalotecha | Introduction
According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law (, lit. "Torah that is on the mouth") represents those laws, statutes, and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the "Written Torah" (, lit. "Torah that is in writing"), but nonetheless are regarded by Orthodox Jews as prescriptive and given at the same time. This holistic Jewish code of conduct encompasses a wide swathe of rituals, worship practices, Godman and interpersonal relationships, from dietary laws to Sabbath and festival observance to marital relations, agricultural practices, and civil claims and damages. According to Jewish tradition, the Oral Torah was passed down orally in an unbroken chain from generation to generation until its contents were finally committed to writing following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, when Jewish civilization was faced with an existential threat, by virtue of the dispersion of the Jewish people.
Oral Torah | Introduction
The Hexateuch ("six scrolls") is the first six books of the Hebrew Bible: the Torah ("Pentateuch") and the book of Joshua.
Hexateuch | Introduction
Noach, Noiach, Nauach, Nauah, or Noah (, Hebrew for the name "Noah", the third word, and first distinctive word, of the parashah) is the second weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes . The parashah tells the stories of the Flood and Noah's Ark, of Noah's subsequent drunkenness and cursing of Canaan, and of the Tower of Babel. The parashah has the most verses of any weekly Torah portion in the Book of Genesis (but not the most letters or words). It is made up of 6,907 Hebrew letters, 1,861 Hebrew words, 153 verses, and 230 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah").
Noach (parsha) | Introduction
The word "Torah" in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה, which in the "hif'il" conjugation means 'to guide' or 'to teach' (cf. ). The meaning of the word is therefore "teaching", "doctrine", or "instruction"; the commonly accepted "law" gives a wrong impression. The Alexandrian Jews who translated the Septuagint used the Greek word "nomos", meaning norm, standard, doctrine, and later "law". Greek and Latin Bibles then began the custom of calling the Pentateuch (five books of Moses) The Law. Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance, or system. The term "Torah" is used in the general sense to include both Rabbinic 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" may be an obstacle to understanding the ideal that is summed up in the term "talmud torah" (תלמוד תורה, "study of Torah").
Torah | Meaning and names
Matot, Mattot, Mattoth, or Matos ( — Hebrew for "tribes", the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 42nd weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Numbers. It constitutes It discusses laws of vows, the destruction of Midianite towns, and negotiations of the Reubanites and Gadites to settle land outside of Israel. The parashah is made up of 5,652 Hebrew letters, 1,484 Hebrew words, 112 verses, and 190 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah"). Jews generally read it in July or early August.
Matot | Introduction
Chapters 6 to 9 constitute a separate part, containing Masoretic rules for writing; the first four paragraphs of chapter 6 and some passages of chapter 9 are of early date. This portion was undoubtedly added by Masoretes of Tiberias; and the main portion of the modern Masorah, which also contains the passages in question, likewise originated in the same school. The first two parts of Soferim are acknowledged to be Judean, and were intended for the scribes; the last three halakhot are a kind of appendix relating to the reading of certain words and passages.
Soferim (Talmud) | Second part
The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Torah. It is divisible into two parts, the Primeval history (chapters 1–11) and the Ancestral history (chapters 12–50). The primeval history sets out the author's (or authors') concepts of the nature of the deity and of humankind's relationship with its maker: God creates a world which is good and fit for mankind, but when man corrupts it with sin God decides to destroy his creation, saving only the righteous Noah to reestablish the relationship between man and God. The Ancestral history (chapters 12–50) tells of the prehistory of Israel, God's chosen people.
Torah | Bereshit/Genesis
After the "hakafot" and the dancing, three scrolls of the Torah are read. The last "parashah" of the Torah, V'Zot HaBerachah, at the end of Deuteronomy (33:1–34:12), is read from the first scroll, followed immediately by the first chapter (and part of the second) of the Book of Genesis (1:1–2:3), which is read from the second scroll. It is a Jewish custom that a new beginning must immediately follow a completion, therefore it is logical to immediately read Gen. 1 after finishing Deuteronomy. It is a special honor to receive the last "aliyah" of the Book of Deuteronomy; the person receiving that aliyah is called the "Hatan Torah" (the groom of the Torah) (or "Kallat Torah" (the bride of the Torah) in synagogues that allow women to receive an "aliyah").
Simchat Torah | Torah reading and customs
Our religion is religion of Israeli nation, we believe only in Tanakh and we dont accept intermarriages with Jews or with other nations which dont believe in our religion. Our prayers are in Hebrew- Leshon kodesh (holy language). Our prayers were wroten in ancient time by our great sages and we use for our prayers a lot of psalms by King David. Torah of Moshe which we profess has 5 parts. Bereshiit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bamidbar and Devarim. Beside it we have 19 books of prophets. If You with YHWH help will receive this letter, please answer us our questions.
Letter to the Falashas | Introduction
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recounts the forty years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings), later referred to as the Law of Moses; the second reminds the Israelites of the need to follow Yahweh and the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends; and the third offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored.
Torah | Devarim/Deuteronomy
Mishnaic Hebrew is a form of the Hebrew language that is found in the Talmud. The forms of the Hebrew in the Talmud can be divided into Classical Hebrew for direct quotations from the Hebrew Bible, and Mishnaic Hebrew can be further sub-divided into Mishnaic Hebrew proper (also called Tannaitic Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew I), which was a spoken language, and Amoraic Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a literary language only. The Mishnaic Hebrew language, or Early Rabbinic Hebrew language, is one of the direct ancient descendants of Biblical Hebrew as preserved after the Babylonian captivity, and definitively recorded by Jewish sages in writing the Mishnah and other contemporary documents.
Mishnaic Hebrew | Introduction
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Torah. The book has a long and complex history, but its final form is probably due to a Priestly redaction (i.e., editing) of a Yahwistic source made some time in the early Persian period (5th century BCE). The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites. Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary. The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land.
Torah | Bamidbar/Numbers
"Tanakh" is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text's three traditional divisions: Torah (‘Teaching’, also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im (’Prophets’), and Ketuvim (’Writings’)—hence TaNaKh. (On the "a"s of the word, see abjad.) Central to Judaism is that the books of the Tanakh are passed from generation to generation, "l'dor v'dor" in the Hebrew phrase. According to rabbinic tradition, they were accompanied by an oral tradition, called the Oral Torah. The three-part division reflected in the acronym ’Tanakh’ is well attested in the literature of the Rabbinic period. During that period, however, ’Tanakh’ was not used.
Hebrew Bible | The name "Tanakh"
The largest compendium of Hebrew grammatical material is König's "Historisch-Kritisches Lehrgebäude der Hebräischen Sprache" (1881-97). Paul Joüon's "Grammaire de l'hébreu biblique" (1923) was recently edited and translated into English by Takamitsu Muraoka as "A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew" (1991; revised edition 2006). Muraoka made this into the most complete and up-to-date reference grammar. Also modern is Rudolf Meyer's "Hebräische Grammatik" (1966-72), but it is not quite as thorough as Joüon-Muraoka. Of note as well is Mayer Lambert's "Traité de grammaire hébraïque" (1931).
Study of the Hebrew language | Non-Jewish scholars of Hebrew
The Torah (or Pentateuch) is collectively the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. According to tradition they were dictated by God to Moses, but when modern critical scholarship began to be applied to the Bible it was discovered that the Pentateuch was not the unified text one would expect from a single author. As a result, the Mosaic authorship of the Torah had been largely rejected by leading scholars by the 17th century, and the modern consensus is that it is the product of a long evolutionary process. In the mid-18th century, some scholars started a critical study of doublets (parallel accounts of the same incidents), inconsistencies, and changes in style and vocabulary in the Torah.
Documentary hypothesis | History of the documentary hypothesis
Each "oleh", after being called to the Torah, approaches it, recites a benediction, a portion is read, and the 'oleh' concludes with another benediction. Then the next "oleh" is called. The gabbai recites a Hebrew verse upon calling the first person to the Torah. After that, men are called with: ""Ya'amod" (Let him arise), [Hebrew Name] "ben" (son of) [Father's Hebrew name] ["Ha-Kohen" (the "Kohen") / "Ha-Levi" (the "Levite")] (the name of the Aliyah in Hebrew)." In synagogues where women may receive aliyot, women are called with ""Ta'amod" (Let her arise), [Hebrew Name] "bat" (daughter of) [Father's Hebrew name] ["Ha-Kohen" (the "Kohen") / "Ha-Levi" (the "Levite")](the name of the Aliyah in Hebrew)."
Aliyah (Torah) | The first aliyah
Eikev, Ekev, Ekeb, Aikev, or Eqeb ( — Hebrew for "if [you follow]," the second word, and the first distinctive word in the parashah) is the 46th weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Deuteronomy. It comprises . The parashah tells of the blessings of obedience to God, the dangers of forgetting God, and directions for taking the Land of Israel. Moses recalls the making and re-making of the Tablets of Stone, the incident of the Golden Calf, Aaron's death, the Levites' duties, and exhortations to serve God.
Eikev | Introduction
Biblical Hebrew was gradually reduced to the status of a liturgical language and a language of theological learning, and the Jews of the Second Temple period that started in 516 BC would have spoken a western form of Old Aramaic until their partial Hellenization from the 3rd century BC and the eventual emergence of Middle Aramaic in the 3rd century AD.
Biblical Aramaic | History
The Tanakh was mainly written in biblical Hebrew, with some small portions ( and , , ) written in biblical Aramaic, a sister language which became the "lingua franca" for much of the Semitic world.
Bible | Original languages
The recommended way to study the Torah is by reading the original text written in Hebrew. This allows the reader to understand language-specific information. For example, the Hebrew word for earth is 'adama' and the name of the first man is 'Adam' meaning 'of the earth'. Jewish denominations vary in the importance placed on the usage of the original Hebrew text. Most denominations strongly recommend it, but also allow studying the Torah in other languages, and using Rashi and other commentary to learn language-specific information. Like Orthodox Jews, other Jewish denominations may use any or all of the traditional areas and modes of Torah study.
Torah study | Torah study by various Jewish movements
The Hebrew language is a language native to Israel. Hebrew may also refer to:
Hebrew (disambiguation) | Introduction
The Mishnah or Mishna (; , "study by repetition", from the verb "shanah" , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of rabbinic literature. The Mishnah was redacted by Judah ha-Nasi at the beginning of the third century CE in a time when, according to the Talmud, the persecution of the Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period (536 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten.
Mishnah | Introduction
In the first reading (, "aliyah"), before he died, Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell with this blessing: God came from Sinai, shone on them from Seir, appeared from Paran, and approached from Ribeboth-kodesh, lightning flashing from God's right. God loved the people, holding them in God's hand. The people followed in God's steps, accepting God's Torah as the heritage of the congregation of Jacob. God became King in Jeshurun when the chiefs of the tribes of Israel assembled. Moses prayed that the Tribe of Reuben survive, though its numbers were few. A closed portion (, "setumah") ends here.
V'Zot HaBerachah | First reading — Deuteronomy 33:1–7
From the eighth century CE, the cultural language of Jews living under Islamic rule became Arabic rather than Aramaic. "Around that time, both scholars and lay people started producing translations of the Bible into Judeo-Arabic using the Hebrew alphabet." Later, by the 10th century, it became essential for a standard version of the Bible in Judeo-Arabic. The best known was produced by Saadiah (the Saadia Gaon, aka the Rasag), and continues to be in use today, "in particular among Yemenite Jewry". Rav Sa'adia produced an Arabic translation of the Torah known as "Targum Tafsir" and offered comments on Rasag's work.
Torah | Arabic
Mishpatim ( — Hebrew for "laws," the second word of the parashah) is the eighteenth weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the sixth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah sets out a series of laws, which some scholars call the Covenant Code. It reports the people's acceptance of the covenant with God. The parashah constitutes The parashah is made up of 5,313 Hebrew letters, 1,462 Hebrew words, 118 verses, and 185 lines in a Torah scroll (, "Sefer Torah"). Jews read it the eighteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in February or, rarely, in late January.
Mishpatim | Introduction
In the continuation of the reading, Moses asked God to hear the voice of the Tribe of Judah, restore it, and help it against its foes. The first reading (, "aliyah") and the first open portion (, "petuchah") end here.
V'Zot HaBerachah | First reading — Deuteronomy 33:1–7
Second Temple Judaism was centered not on synagogues, which began to appear only in the 3rd century BCE, but the reading and study of scripture, the Temple itself, and a cycle of continual animal sacrifice. Torah, or ritual law, was also important, and the Temple priests were responsible for teaching it, but the concept of scripture developed only slowly. While the written Torah (the Pentateuch) and the Prophets were accepted as authoritative by the 1st century CE, beyond this core the different Jewish groups continued to accept different groups of books as authoritative.
Second Temple Judaism | Textual Judaism: priests and scribes
Many examples have been documented in the past. One cited example is that by taking every 50th letter of the Book of Genesis starting with the first taw, the Hebrew word "torah" is spelled out. The same happens in the Book of Exodus. Modern computers have been used to search for similar patterns and more complex variants, as well as quantifying its statistical likelihood. Some tests purportedly showing statistically significant codes in the Bible were published as a "challenging puzzle" in a peer-reviewed academic journal in 1994, which was pronounced "solved" in a subsequent 1999 paper published in the same journal.
Bible code | Introduction
The parashah is the longest weekly Torah portion in the Book of Deuteronomy (although not in the Torah), and is made up of 7,442 Hebrew letters, 1,932 Hebrew words, 126 verses, and 258 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah"). Jews generally read it in August or early September. Jews read part of the parashah, , which addresses the Three Pilgrim Festivals (, "Shalosh Regalim"), as the initial Torah reading on the eighth day of Passover when it falls on a weekday and on the second day of Shavuot when it falls on a weekday. And Jews read a larger selection from the same part of the parashah, , as the initial Torah reading on the eighth day of Passover when it falls on a Sabbath, on the second day of Shavuot when it falls on a Sabbath, and on Shemini Atzeret.
Re'eh | Introduction
Judaism's purpose is to carry out what it holds to be the covenant between God and the Jewish people. The Torah (lit. "teaching"), both written and oral, tell the story of this covenant, and provides Jews with the terms of the covenant. The Oral Torah is the primary guide for Jews to abide by these terms, as expressed in tractate Gittin 60b, "the Holy One, Blessed be He, did not make His covenant with Israel except by virtue of the Oral Law" to help them learn how to live a holy life, and to bring holiness, peace and love into the world and into every part of life, so that life may be elevated to a high level of kedushah, originally through study and practice of the Torah, and since the destruction of the Second Temple, through prayer as expressed in tractate Sotah 49a "Since the destruction of the Temple, every day is more cursed than the preceding one; and the existence of the world is assured only by the kedusha...and the words spoken after the study of Torah." Since the adoption of the Amidah, the acknowledgement of God through the declaration from Isaiah 6:3 "Kadosh [holy], kadosh, kadosh, is HaShem, Master of Legions; the whole world is filled with His glory".
Christianity and Judaism | Jewish self-identification
"Mäṣḥafä Kedus" (Holy Scriptures) is the name for their religious literature. The language of the writings is Ge'ez, which also is the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The holiest book is the Orit (meaning "law"), which consists of the Octateuch: Five Books of Moses with Joshua, Judges and Ruth. The rest of the Bible has secondary importance. They are Book of Lamentations from the canon and part of the Book of Jeremiah, as it does in the Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon. Deuterocanonical books that also make up part of the canon are Sirach, Judith, Esdras 1 and 2, Meqabyan, Jubilees, Baruch 1 and 4, Tobit, Enoch, and the testaments of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Beta Israel | Texts
Jews generally read it in late May or June, typically (though not always) on the first Shabbat after Shavuot. As this parashah includes the story of the consecration of the Tabernacle, Jews also read parts of it as Torah readings on the eight days of Hanukkah, when they commemorate the reconsecration of the Temple in Jerusalem. is the Torah reading for the first day; is the Torah reading for the second day; is the Torah reading for the third day; is the Torah reading for the fourth day; is the Torah reading for the fifth day; is the second Torah reading for the sixth day of Hanukkah, which, because it falls on Rosh Chodesh, has as its first reading; is the Torah reading for the seventh day when it does not fall on Rosh Chodesh; and is the second Torah reading for the seventh day when it does fall on Rosh Chodesh, in which case is the first reading; and is the Torah reading for the eighth day.
Naso (parsha) | Introduction
The modern Hebrew alphabet, also known as the Assyrian or Square script, is a descendant of the Aramaic alphabet. It seems that the earlier Biblical books were originally written in the Paleo-Hebrew script, while the later books were written directly in the later Assyrian script. Some Qumran texts written in the Assyrian script write the tetragrammaton and some other divine names in Paleo-Hebrew, and this practice is also found in several Jewish-Greek Biblical translations. While spoken Hebrew continued to evolve into Mishnaic Hebrew, the scribal tradition for writing the Torah gradually developed. A number of regional "book-hand" styles developed for the purpose of Torah manuscripts and occasionally other literary works, distinct from the calligraphic styles used mainly for private purposes.
Biblical Hebrew orthography | Aramaic script
Balak ( — Hebrew for "Balak," a name, the second word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 40th weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the Book of Numbers. In the parashah, Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, tries to hire Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam's donkey speaks to Balaam, and Balaam blesses Israel instead. The parashah constitutes The parashah is made up of 5,357 Hebrew letters, 1,455 Hebrew words, 104 verses, and 178 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah"). Jews generally read it in late June or July.
Balak (parsha) | Introduction
Tetzaveh, Tetsaveh, T'tzaveh, or T'tzavveh ( — Hebrew for "you command," the second word and first distinctive word in the parashah) is the 20th weekly Torah portion (, "parashah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah reports God's commands to bring olive oil for the lamp, make sacred garments for the priests, conduct an ordination ceremony, and make an incense altar. It constitutes The parashah is made up of 5,430 Hebrew letters, 1,412 Hebrew words, 101 verses, and 179 lines in a Torah Scroll (, "Sefer Torah"). Jews read it the 20th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in February or March.
Tetzaveh | Introduction