The Torah: a guide to Judaism’s central text

Religion

Judaism

Language

Hebrew

Contents

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

Place in scripture

First and most authoritative part of the Tanakh

Commandments

613 in rabbinic tradition

Use

Read from a handwritten scroll in synagogue in a yearly cycle of weekly portions

Torah is a Hebrew word usually translated as “teaching” or “instruction,” and sometimes as “law.” The translation “law” reflects the Torah’s many commandments, but the Torah also contains narrative, poetry, genealogy and blessing. Many Jewish teachers prefer “teaching” because it captures the whole.

Genesis (Bereshit) tells of creation, the early generations of humanity, and the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Exodus (Shemot) describes slavery in Egypt, the liberation led by Moses, the revelation at Sinai, the Ten Commandments and the building of the Tabernacle.

Leviticus (Vayikra) contains laws about sacrifice, priesthood, purity, holiness and ethics, including the command to “love your neighbour as yourself.” Numbers (Bamidbar) follows the Israelites’ forty years in the wilderness. Deuteronomy (Devarim) consists largely of Moses’ final speeches, restating the law and including the Shema.

The Hebrew Bible is called the Tanakh, an acronym of its three parts: Torah (Teaching), Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). The Torah holds the highest authority of the three. Christians include these same books in their Old Testament, in a different order.

Traditional Judaism teaches that alongside the Written Torah, God gave Moses an Oral Torah explaining how the commandments are to be understood and practised. This oral tradition was transmitted across generations and later written down in the Mishnah, around 200 CE, and expanded in the Talmud.

Rabbinic Judaism therefore reads the Torah through interpretation. Laws such as the details of Shabbat or kashrut are not found in full in the Written Torah but are developed through the Oral Torah and later legal works. Different Jewish movements understand the authority of this tradition differently.

Jewish tradition counts 613 commandments, mitzvot, in the Torah: 248 positive and 365 negative. They include ethical laws, ritual laws, festivals, dietary rules and civil law. Some applied only to the Temple or the land of Israel and cannot be practised today.

In the synagogue, the Torah is read from a handwritten scroll, the Sefer Torah, written on parchment by a trained scribe, a sofer, using strict rules; a single error can make a scroll unfit for use. The scroll is kept in the ark, dressed in a cover and ornaments, and treated with great honour. Readers follow the text with a pointer called a yad rather than touching it.

The Torah is divided into weekly portions, called parashot, so that it is read in full over a year. Readings take place on Shabbat mornings, Mondays and Thursdays and on festivals. The annual cycle ends and begins again on the festival of Simchat Torah, celebrated with dancing with the scrolls.

A boy at thirteen, and in many communities a girl at twelve or thirteen, often marks becoming bar or bat mitzvah by reading from the Torah for the first time.

Studying Torah is one of Judaism’s highest values. Classical commentators include Rashi, whose eleventh-century commentary is widely studied, as well as Ibn Ezra, Nachmanides and many others. Midrash, a genre of rabbinic interpretation, explores the text through stories and teachings.

Modern scholarship studies the Torah’s historical development, and Jewish movements differ on how such scholarship relates to belief in divine revelation.

Many Jewish festivals are rooted in the Torah. Passover recalls the Exodus from Egypt described in the book of Exodus, and the Seder meal retells that story. Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Sukkot recalls the Israelites’ dwelling in temporary shelters in the wilderness. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the High Holy Days, are described in Leviticus as days of remembrance and atonement.

The weekly Shabbat is also commanded in the Torah, so the text shapes not only what Jews read but how they mark time through the week and the year.

The Torah is the Five Books of Moses, the foundation of Jewish faith and law. Traditionally understood as revealed at Sinai, it is read from handwritten scrolls in an annual cycle, interpreted through the Oral Torah and rabbinic tradition, and studied as a lifelong religious duty.