The root
of the Hebrew word
"Torah" comes from the
three Hebrew letters,
Yud, Reish, and Hey,
which in one of its
conjugations means
"instruction" or
"teaching."
In its narrowest sense,
it refers to the Five
Books of Moses, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy
which is believed to be
Divine in origin. In its
broadest, the term
'Torah' refers to the
entire body of Jewish
religious law and
teachings. In common
usage, the term refers
to the Hebrew TaNaCH, or
Written Torah.
TaNaCH is an acronym for
the Hebrew words
"Torah," "Neviim," and "Ktuvim,"
which in English are,
respectively, The Five
Books of Moses, The
Prophets, and The
Writings.
A "Sefer Torah," meaning
'book of the Torah,' is
a copy of the Torah
which must be, in order
to be "kosher" (meaning
permissible to be read
at the bimah in a
synagogue) must be
hand-written by a "Sofer,"
or 'scribe,' on
parchment. It is then
considered fit
("kosher") to be read,
and holy.
In addition, there is a
body of work which
Orthodox Jews consider
Divine in origin called
the "Oral Torah." It
includes the Mishnah and
Gemara, which interpret
the Written Torah,
traditionally believed
to be handed down orally
first from G-d to Moses
at Mt. Sinai, then from
Moses orally to Joshua,
then by Joshua to the
Men of the Great
Assembly and on down
through the generations,
until finally, because
our Sages were afraid it
would be forgotten in
the future, it was
written down around the
2nd Century C.E. and
compiled as the Mishnah.
Further commentaries on
the Mishnah were later
written as the Gemara,
and the complete body of
work including the
Mishnah and the Gemara
are called The Talmud,
complied around the 5th
Century C.E.
This
entire body of work can
be, as stated above,
traditionally referred
to as "The Torah." |
