Torah (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what the Torah is and how it differs from the Talmud in the Jewish religion. In addition, we tell you which books are included in it.

torah judaism origin — The Torah can be found in every synagogue, in a set of scrolls.

What is the Torah?

The Torah (in Hebrew Torah or תּוֹרָה, that is, “teaching”, “doctrine” or “theory”) It is the sacred and fundamental book of the Jewish religion which contains the founding laws and stories of the people and the Hebrew identity. Its content is equivalent to the first five books of the Bible, known in Christianity as Pentateuch and in islam like At-Tawrat.

The content of the Torah It is, for Judaism, the set of instructions, revelations and commandments given by God (Yahweh) to the people of Israel, which is why it contains the sacred law to which Orthodox practitioners adhere. The Torah can be found in hejal from each Hebrew synagogue, transcribed manually into a set of carefully rolled parchments, which unfold across two wooden rollers.

According to religious tradition, the Torah was written by the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai guided by divine inspiration. Since its composition, therefore, was dictated by God point by point and word by word, religion takes a dim view of its translation or alteration.

This is why Torah scholars spend years learning the traditional language in which it is written and that only they can make a meticulous transcription to found a synagogue or give as gifts to young Hebrew families.

The Torah is a book of not only ritual uses, but also ornamental and symbolic, and should not be confused with other Hebrew books of great importance for religious worship, such as the Talmud, the Tanakh or the Mishnah.

Origin of the Torah

The Jewish religion maintains that the Torah was dictated by God to the prophet Moses during his stay on Mount Sinai (sometime in the second millennium BC), but even so it is much older, since it served as God's model for the creation of the universe.

Instead, Lay Torah scholars maintain that it was written between the 5th and 6th centuries BC. c although it is possible that its composition occurred at different times and places, and that the text we know today is the result of various editing and rewriting processes at the hands of different authors.

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However, there is no specialized consensus on the matter: some scholars assume that it was composed in ancient Babylon, or in the Persian period (539-333 BC) of Jewish history, or even in the Hellenistic period (333-333 BC). 164 BC) or the Hasmonean period (140-37 BC).

Other hypotheses propose that it is really a historical compilation, the result of different authors and periods in the history of the Jewish people, and point to the Elephantine Papyri (found at the beginning of the 20th century) as evidence of this: a set of early writings by some polytheistic Jewish sect that existed at the end of the 5th century BC. c.

The five books of the Torah

The Torah is made up of the first five books of the biblical Old Testament, that is, the five books of Moses, which are: Genesis (in Hebrew Bereshit or בְּרֵאשִׁית), Exodus (Shemot or שְׁמוֹת), Leviticus (Vayikra or וַיִּקְרָא), Numbers (Bamidbar or בְּמִדְבַּר) and Deuteronomy (Devarim or דְּבָרִים).

Genesis. Its name in Hebrew means “In the beginning”, since it narrates the creation of the world and humanity, as well as the appearance of the first prophet of antiquity, Abraham, whose descendants were chosen by God to form the tribe of Israel, the creator's favorite. Throughout four literary “movements”, the story of Jacob is also narrated, then that of his son Joseph, and culminates with the presence of the Israelis in Egypt, where they lived in conditions of slavery.
Exodus. Its name in Hebrew means “Names” and contains the story of the departure from Egypt of the Israelite people towards the Promised Land of Canaan under the guidance of the prophet Moses. In this chapter the people of Israel become aware of their ethnic and identity unity, and as a sign of this they receive from God the sacred laws by which they will be guided. So the chapter also contains the details of their prayers, hymns and laws.
Levitical. Its name in Hebrew means “He called”, since most of its sections contain the laws, instructions and explicit orders that God dictated to Moses to teach the Israelites. It is a fundamental book in the description of Jewish religious rites and procedures, whose non-Hebrew name refers to the Levites, Hebrew priests who are the main protagonists of the chapter through rites, offerings and expiations.
Numbers. Its name in Hebrew means “In the Desert” and details the places of residence of the Israelites in the Negev Desert, as well as the meticulous census of the tribal chiefs, the rebellious men, the slaughtered cattle and many other details. logistical and historical references to the young people of Israel. This chapter culminates with the Jews crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land of Canaan.
Deuteronomy. Its name in Hebrew means “these are the words,” but this title changed substantially in the Greek translations of the Pentateuch, becoming deuteros nomos (“Second Law”), since it tells of the new laws that Moses imparted to the people of Israel (as opposed to the “first law” of Mount Sinai). This chapter covers the speech that Moses gave to the Jews before entering the Promised Land, where he explains the laws that must govern the nascent kingdom of Israel: laws for war, marriage laws, moral and logistical laws, and laws about obtaining food. Finally, Deuteronomy tells of the end of Moses' life and the transition of leadership to Joshua.

Differences between the Torah and the Talmud

torah judaism — The Torah is the account of the creation of Jewish identity and the Talmud contains Jewish laws.

Although both are religious and foundational texts of the Hebrew people, the Torah and the Talmud are very different works in its character and composition. The first contains, fundamentally, the story of the creation of Jewish identity: the exodus from Egypt and the escape from slavery, the formation of religious, social and political laws, and the arrival to the Promised Land of Canaan.

Instead, The Talmud is a text of rabbinic origin, which functions as a civil and religious code where Jewish laws and traditions are discussed and detailed, through parables, legends, and sayings. Therefore, it is a later and complementary text to the principles set forth in the Torah and developed in the rest of the Tanakh (the rest of the Old Testament, in Christian terms).

Both the Torah and the Talmud are understood by the Jewish religion as faithful transcriptions of the ancient oral culture of the people of Israel. But unlike the Torah, which is assumed to have been dictated by God to the prophet Moses, the writing of the Talmud is attributed to ancient rabbinic scholars.

It was these scholars who received from Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi (Judah I), sometime in the late 2nd century AD. C. or beginning of the III d. C., a transcription of the Torah (the Mishna) with the purpose of being disclosed and saved from the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem. Thus, there are two major historical editions of this book: that of Jerusalem (approximately the 4th century) and that of Babylon (approximately the 5th century).

The Torah and the Bible

The Torah and the Bible coincide to some extent in their retelling of the founding stories of the Israelite people, but they are not entirely equivalent texts. The Torah corresponds only to the first five books of the Christian Bible that is, the so-called Pentateuch of the Old Testament. This means that the Bible contains the narratives of the Torah, but the entire Bible is not contained in the latter.

The Mishnah

The Mishnah or Mishna (in Hebrew מִשְׁנָה, “repetition”) It is the first major compilation of the traditions, laws and founding stories of the Hebrew people which were passed from generation to generation orally. This first written work is the basis of rabbinic literature and is attributed to Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi (135-219), born 80 years after the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem, who would have compiled all this traditional material in order to preserve it and disseminate it among rabbinic scholars.

The Mishnah is written mostly in Mishnaic Hebrew, with some parts in Aramaic, and contains six orders (sedarim) with seven to twelve treatises (masejtot), subdivided into chapters and paragraphs. These six sections are:

Zeraim. Referring to the religious commandments regarding prayers and food, in accordance with the Jewish law on the matter, the Halacha.
Moed. Referring to Jewish holidays, fasts and Shabbat.
Nashim. Referring to the details of married life and family law.
Nezikin. Referring to Jewish laws on civil, criminal and commercial law, that is, on commerce, private property and the administration of justice.
Kodashim. Referring to the Temple of Jerusalem and the rites that must take place there, such as animal sacrifices, priestly service and the slaughter of livestock according to the Jewish method (kashrut).
Tohorot. Referring to the precepts of bodily purification (Nida), distinguishing between pure and impure behaviors and elements.