Inrabbinic literature, the wordTorah denotes both the five books (תורה שבכתב "Torah that is written") and the Oral Torah (תורה שבעל פה, "Torah that is spoken"). It has also been used, however, to designate the entireHebrew Bible. The Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according torabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in theTalmud andMidrash.[3] Rabbinic tradition's understanding is that all of the teachings found in the Torah (both written and oral) were given byGod through the prophetMoses, some atMount Sinai and others at theTabernacle, and all the teachings werewritten down by Moses, which resulted in the Torah that exists today. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to thecreation of the world, and was used as the blueprint for Creation.[4] Though hotly debated, the general trend in biblical scholarship is to recognize the final form of the Torah as a literary and ideological unity, based on earlier sources, largely complete by thePersian period,[5][6][7] with possibly some later additions during the Hellenistic period.[8][9]
The words of the Torah are written on ascroll by a scribe (sofer) in Hebrew. ATorah portion is read every Monday morning and Thursday morning at a shul (synagogue) but only if there are ten males above the age of thirteen. Reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases of Jewish communal life. The Torah is also considered a sacred book outside Judaism; inSamaritanism, theSamaritan Pentateuch is a text of the Torah written in theSamaritan script and used as sacred scripture by theSamaritans; the Torah is also common among all the different versions of the ChristianOld Testament; inIslam, theTawrat (Arabic:توراة) is the Arabic name for the Torah within its context as anIslamic holy book believed byMuslims to have been given byGod to theprophets and messengers amongst theChildren of Israel.[10]
Meaning and names
The word "Torah" inHebrew is derived from the rootירה, which in thehif'ilconjugation means 'to guide' or 'to teach'.[11] The meaning of the word is therefore "teaching", "doctrine", or "instruction"; the commonly accepted "law" gives a wrong impression.[12] TheAlexandrian Jews who translated theSeptuagint used the Greek wordnomos, 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 includecustom,theory,guidance,[3] orsystem.[13]
The term "Torah" is used in the general sense to include bothRabbinic Judaism's written andoral law, serving to encompass the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history, including theOral Torah which comprises theMishnah, theTalmud, the Midrash and more. The inaccurate rendering of "Torah" as "Law"[14] may be an obstacle to understanding the ideal that is summed up in the termtalmud torah (תלמוד תורה, "study of Torah").[3] The term "Torah" is also used to designate the entireHebrew Bible.[15]
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 thepre-Exilic literaryprophets. It appears inJoshua[16] andKings,[17] 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[18] was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were "The Book of Moses"[19] and "The Book of the Torah",[20] which seems to be a contraction of a fuller name, "The Book of the Torah of God".[21][22]
Reading pointers, oryad, to ensure more ordinal reading of the Torah.
The Torah starts withGodcreating the world, then describes the beginnings of thepeople of Israel, their descent into Egypt, and the giving of the Torah atMount Sinai. It ends with the death ofMoses, just before the people of Israel cross to thePromised Land ofCanaan. Interspersed in the narrative are the specific teachings (religious obligations and civil laws) given explicitly (i.e.Ten Commandments) or implicitly embedded in the narrative (as inExodus 12 and 13 laws of the celebration ofPassover).
In Hebrew, the five books of the Torah are identified by theincipits in each book;[24] and the common English names for the books are derived from theGreekSeptuagint[citation needed] and reflect the essential theme of each book:
Bəreshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית, literally "In the beginning")—Genesis, fromΓένεσις (Génesis, "Creation")
The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Torah.[25] It is divisible into two parts, thePrimeval history (chapters 1–11) and theAncestral history (chapters 12–50).[26] 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, using the flood, saving only the righteousNoah and his immediate family to reestablish the relationship between man and God.[27] The Ancestral history (chapters 12–50) tells of the prehistory of Israel, God's chosen people.[28] At God's command Noah's descendantAbraham journeys from his home into the God-given land ofCanaan, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his sonIsaac and his grandsonJacob. Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and through the agency of his sonJoseph, thechildren of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, and God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming ofMoses andthe Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series ofcovenants with God, successively narrowing in scope from all mankind (thecovenant with Noah) to a special relationship with one people alone (Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob).[29]
The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Torah, immediately following Genesis. The book tells how the ancientIsraelites leave slavery in Egypt through the strength ofYahweh, the God who has chosen Israel as his people. Yahweh inflicts horrific harm on their captors via the legendaryPlagues of Egypt. With the prophetMoses as their leader, they journey through the wilderness toMount Sinai, where Yahweh promises them the land ofCanaan (the "Promised Land") in return for their faithfulness. Israel enters into acovenant with Yahweh who gives them their laws and instructions to build theTabernacle, the means by which he will come fromheaven and dwell with them and lead them in aholy war to possess the land, and then give them peace.
Traditionallyascribed to Moses himself, modern scholarship sees the book as initially a product of theBabylonian exile (6th century BCE), from earlier written and oral traditions, with final revisions in thePersian post-exilic period (5th century BCE).[30][31]Carol Meyers, in her commentary on Exodus suggests that it is arguably the most important book in the Bible, as it presents the defining features of Israel's identity: memories of a past marked by hardship and escape, a binding covenant with God, who chooses Israel, and the establishment of the life of the community and the guidelines for sustaining it.[32]
The Book of Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use theTabernacle, which they had just built (Leviticus 1–10). This is followed by rules ofclean and unclean (Leviticus 11–15), which includes the laws of slaughter and animals permissible to eat (see also:Kashrut), theDay of Atonement (Leviticus 16), and various moral and ritual laws sometimes called theHoliness Code (Leviticus 17–26). Leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following God's commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Leviticus 17 establishes sacrifices at the Tabernacle as an everlasting ordinance, but this ordinance is altered in later books with the Temple being the only place in which sacrifices are allowed.[citation needed]
Numbers
An opened Torah scroll (Book of Numbers part), and a reading pointer (yad).
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Torah.[33] The book has a long and complex history, but its final form is probably due to aPriestly redaction (i.e., editing) of aYahwistic source made some time in the earlyPersian period (5th century BCE).[6] The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites.
Numbers begins atMount Sinai, where the Israelites have received theirlaws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in thesanctuary.[34] The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land. The people are counted and preparations are made for resuming their march. The Israelites begin the journey, but they "murmur" at the hardships along the way, and about the authority ofMoses andAaron. For these acts, God destroys approximately 15,000 of them through various means. They arrive at the borders of Canaan and send spies into the land. Upon hearing the spies' fearful report concerning the conditions in Canaan, the Israelites refuse to take possession of it. God condemns them to death in the wilderness until a new generation can grow up and carry out the task. The book ends with the new generation of Israelites in the "plains of Moab" ready for the crossing of theJordan River.[35]
Numbers is the culmination of the story ofIsrael's exodus from oppression in Egypt and theirjourney to take possession of the land God promised their fathers. As such it draws to a conclusion the themes introduced in Genesis and played out in Exodus and Leviticus: God has promised the Israelites that they shall become a great (i.e. numerous) nation, that they will have a special relationship with Yahweh their god, and that they shall take possession of the land of Canaan. Numbers also demonstrates the importance of holiness, faithfulness and trust: despite God's presence andhis priests, Israel lacks faith and the possession of the land is left to a new generation.[6]
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 theplains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recounts theforty 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 theLaw 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, withrepentance all can be restored.[36] The final four chapters (31–34) contain theSong of Moses, theBlessing of Moses, and narratives recounting the passing of the mantle of leadership from Moses toJoshua and, finally, the death of Moses onMount Nebo.
Presented as the words of Moses delivered before the conquest of Canaan, a broad consensus of modern scholars see its origin in traditions fromIsrael (the northern kingdom) brought south to theKingdom of Judah in the wake of theAssyrian conquest of Aram (8th century BCE) and then adapted to a program of nationalist reform in the time ofJosiah (late 7th century BCE), with the final form of the modern book emerging in the milieu of the return from theBabylonian captivity during the late 6th century BCE.[37] Many scholars see the book as reflecting the economic needs and social status of theLevite caste, who are believed to have provided its authors;[38] those likely authors are collectively referred to as theDeuteronomist.
One of its most significant verses is Deuteronomy 6:4,[39] theShema Yisrael, which has become the definitive statement ofJewish identity: "Hear, O Israel: theLORD our God, the LORD is one." Verses 6:4–5 were also quoted byJesus in Mark 12:28–34[40] as part of theGreat Commandment.
TheTalmud states that the Torah was written by Moses, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy, describing his death and burial, being written byJoshua.[41] According to theMishnah one of the essential tenets of Judaism is that God transmitted the text of the Torah to Moses[42] over the span of the 40 years the Israelites were in the desert[43] and Moses was like a scribe who was dictated to and wrote down all of the events, the stories and the commandments.[44]
According toJewish tradition, the Torah was recompiled byEzra duringSecond Temple period.[45][46] The Talmud says that Ezra changed the script used to write the Torah from the olderHebrew script to the"Assyrian" script, so called according to the Talmud, because they brought it with them from Assyria.[47]Maharsha says that Ezra made no changes to the actual text of the Torah based on the Torah's prohibition of making any additions or deletions to the Torah in Deuteronomy 12:32.[48]
One common formulation of the documentary hypothesis.
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.[6] The precise process by which the Torah was composed, the number of authors involved, and the date of each author are hotly contested. Throughout most of the 20th century, there was a scholarly consensus surrounding thedocumentary hypothesis, which posits four independent sources, which were later compiled together by a redactor: J, theJahwist source, E, theElohist source, P, thePriestly source, and D, theDeuteronomist source. The earliest of these sources, J, would have been composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BCE,[citation needed] with the latest source, P, being composed around the 5th century BCE.
The consensus around the documentary hypothesis collapsed in the last decades of the 20th century.[49] The groundwork was laid with the investigation of the origins of the written sources in oral compositions, implying that the creators of J and E were collectors and editors and not authors and historians.[50]Rolf Rendtorff, building on this insight, argued that the basis of the Pentateuch lay in short, independent narratives, gradually formed into larger units and brought together in two editorial phases, the first Deuteronomic, the second Priestly.[51] By contrast,John Van Seters advocates asupplementary hypothesis, which posits that the Torah was derived from a series of direct additions to an existing corpus of work.[52] A "neo-documentarian" hypothesis, which responds to the criticism of the original hypothesis and updates the methodology used to determine which text comes from which sources, has been advocated by biblical historian Joel S. Baden, among others.[53][54] Such ahypothesis continues to have adherents in Israel and North America.[54]
The majority of scholars today continue to recognize Deuteronomy as a source, with its origin in the law-code produced at the court ofJosiah as described by De Wette, subsequently given a frame during the exile (the speeches and descriptions at the front and back of the code) to identify it as the words of Moses.[55] However, since the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah's reforms (including his court's production of a law-code) have become heavily debated among academics.[56][57][58] Most scholars also agree that some form of Priestly source existed, although its extent, especially its end-point, is uncertain.[59] The remainder is called collectively non-Priestly, a grouping which includes both pre-Priestly and post-Priestly material.[60]
Date of compilation
The final Torah is widely seen as a product of thePersian period (539–332 BCE, probably 450–350 BCE).[61] This consensus echoes a traditional Jewish view which givesEzra, the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation.[62] Many theories have been advanced to explain the composition of the Torah, but two have been especially influential.[63] The first of these, Persian Imperial authorisation, advanced by Peter Frei in 1985, holds that the Persian authorities required the Jews of Jerusalem to present a single body of law as the price of local autonomy.[64] Frei's theory was, according to Eskenazi, "systematically dismantled" at an interdisciplinary symposium held in 2000, but the relationship between the Persian authorities and Jerusalem remains a crucial question.[65] The second theory, associated with Joel P. Weinberg and called the "Citizen-Temple Community", proposes that the Exodus story was composed to serve the needs of a post-exilic Jewish community organised around the Temple, which acted in effect as a bank for those who belonged to it.[66]
A minority of scholars would place the final formation of the Pentateuch somewhat later, in theHellenistic (332–164 BCE) or evenHasmonean (140–37 BCE) periods.[67] Russell Gmirkin, for instance, argues for a Hellenistic dating on the basis that theElephantine papyri, the records of a Jewish colony in Egypt dating from the last quarter of the 5th century BCE, make no reference to a written Torah,the Exodus, or to any other biblical event, though it does mention the festival ofPassover.[68]
In his seminalProlegomena zur Geschichte Israels,Julius Wellhausen argued that Judaism as a religion based on widespread observance of the Torah andits laws first emerged in 444 BCE when, according to the biblical account provided in theBook of Nehemiah (chapter 8), a priestly scribe namedEzra read a copy of the Mosaic Torah before the populace of Judea assembled in a central Jerusalem square.[69] Wellhausen believed that this narrative should be accepted as historical because it sounds plausible, noting: "The credibility of the narrative appears on the face of it."[70] Following Wellhausen, most scholars throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries[like whom?] have accepted thatwidespread Torah observance began sometime around the middle of the 5th century BCE.[clarify][citation needed]
More recently, Yonatan Adler has argued that in fact there is no surviving evidence to support the notion that the Torah was widely known, regarded as authoritative, and put into practice prior to the middle of the 2nd century BCE.[71] Adler explored the likelihhood that Judaism, as the widespread practice of Torah law by Jewish society at large, first emerged in Judea during the reign of theHasmonean dynasty, centuries after the putative time of Ezra.[72] By contrast,John J. Collins has argued that the observance of the Torah started inPersian Yehud when the Judeans who returned from exile understood its normativity as the observance of selected, ancestral laws of high symbolic value, while during theMaccabean revolt Jews started a much more detailed observance of its precepts.[73]
Rabbinic writings state that the Oral Torah was given to Moses atMount Sinai, which, according to the tradition ofOrthodox Judaism, occurred in 1312 BCE. The Orthodox rabbinic tradition holds that the Written Torah was recorded during the following forty years,[74] though many non-Orthodox Jewish scholars affirm the modern scholarly consensus that the Written Torah has multiple authors and was written over centuries.[75]
All classical rabbinic views hold that the Torah was entirely Mosaic and of divine origin.[76] Present-dayReform and Liberal Jewish movements all reject Mosaic authorship, as do most shades ofConservative Judaism.[77]
Torah reading (Hebrew:קריאת התורה,K'riat HaTorah, "Reading [of] the Torah") is a Jewish religiousritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from aTorah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll (or scrolls) from theark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with traditionalcantillation, and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is distinct from academicTorah study.
Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced byEzra the Scribe after the return of the Jewish people from theBabylonian captivity (c. 537 BCE), as described in theBook of Nehemiah.[78] 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 theTemple in Jerusalem (70 CE). In the 19th and 20th centuries CE, new movements such asReform Judaism andConservative 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 prayer services on certain days of the week, fast days, and holidays, as well as part of the afternoon prayer services of Shabbat, Yom Kippur, a section of the Pentateuch is read from a Torah scroll. OnShabbat (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section ("parashah") is read, selected so that the entire Pentateuch is read consecutively each year. The division ofparashot found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities (Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite) is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides inMishneh Torah,Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls, chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of theparashot for the Torah on theAleppo Codex.Conservative andReform synagogues may readparashot on a triennial rather than annual schedule,[79][80] On Saturday afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following Saturday's portion is read. OnJewish holidays, the beginnings of each month, andfast days, special sections connected to the day are read.
Jews observe an annual holiday,Simchat Torah, to celebrate the completion and new start of the year's cycle of readings.
Torah scrolls are often dressed with a sash, a special Torah cover, various ornaments, and aketer (crown), although such customs vary among synagogues. Congregants traditionally stand in respect when the Torah is brought out of the ark to be read, while it is being carried, and lifted, and likewise while it is returned to the ark, although they may sit during the reading itself.
The Torah contains narratives, statements of law, and statements of ethics. Collectively these laws, usually calledbiblical law or commandments, are sometimes referred to as theLaw of Moses (Torat Moshɛתּוֹרַת־מֹשֶׁה),Mosaic Law, orSinaitic Law.
Rabbinic tradition holds that Moses learned the whole Torah while he lived on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights and both the Oral and the written Torah were transmitted in parallel with each other. Where the Torah leaves words and concepts undefined, and mentions procedures without explanation or instructions, the reader is required to seek out the missing details from supplemental sources known as the Oral Law or Oral Torah.[81] Some of the Torah's most prominent commandments needing further explanation are:
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.
Kashrut: As indicated in Exodus 23:19 among other places, a young goat may not be boiled in its mother's milk. 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 formilk (חלב) is identical to the word foranimal 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, most information regarding the rules and traditions of Shabbat are dictated in the Talmud and other books deriving from Jewish oral law.
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.[82]
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 oftannaim, the oral tradition was written down around 200 CE by RabbiJudah ha-Nasi, who took up the compilation of a nominally written version of the Oral Law, theMishnah (משנה). Other oral traditions from the same time period not entered into the Mishnah were recorded asBaraitot (external teaching), and theTosefta. Other traditions were written down asMidrashim.
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 theGemara. Gemara is written in Aramaic (specificallyJewish Babylonian Aramaic), having been compiled in Babylon. The Mishnah and Gemara together are called the Talmud. The rabbis in theLand of Israel also collected their traditions and compiled them into theJerusalem Talmud. Since the greater number of rabbis lived in Babylon, the Babylonian Talmud has precedence should the two be in conflict.
Orthodox and Conservative branches of Judaism accept these texts as the basis for all subsequenthalakha and codes of Jewish law, which are held to be normative. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism deny that these texts, or the Torah itself for that matter, may be used for determining normative law (laws accepted as binding) but accept them as the authentic and only Jewish version for understanding the Torah and its development throughout history.[citation needed] Humanistic Judaism holds that the Torah is a historical, political, and sociological text, but does not believe that every word of the Torah is true, or even morally correct. Humanistic Judaism is willing to question the Torah and to disagree with it, believing that the entire Jewish experience, not just the Torah, should be the source for Jewish behavior and ethics.[83]
Kabbalists hold that not only do the words of Torah give a divine message, but they also indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Thus they hold that even as small a mark as akotso shel yod (קוצו של יוד), theserif of the Hebrew letteryod (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 (c. 50 – c. 135 CE), is said to have learned a new law from everyet (את) in the Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); theparticleet is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark thedirect object. In other words, theOrthodox belief is that even apparently contextual text such as "And God spoke unto Moses saying ..." is no less holy and sacred than the actual statement.[citation needed]
Manuscript Torahscrolls are still scribed and used for ritual purposes (i.e.,religious services); this is called aSefer Torah ("Book [of] Torah"). They are written using a painstakingly careful method by highly qualifiedscribes. 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 that 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, asefer Torah (plural:Sifrei Torah) is a copy of the formal Hebrew text handwritten ongevil orklaf (forms ofparchment) by using aquill (or other permitted writing utensil) dipped in ink. Written entirely inHebrew, asefer Torah contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trainedsofer ("scribe"), an effort that 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 theHebrew letters are observed. See for example theMishnah Berurah on the subject.[84] 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 amitzvah for every Jew to either write or have written for him a Sefer Torah. Torah scrolls are stored in theholiest part of thesynagogue in theArk known as the "Holy Ark" (אֲרוֹן הקֹדשׁaron hakodesh in Hebrew.)Aron in Hebrew means "cupboard" or "closet", andkodesh is derived from "kadosh", or "holy".
TheBook of Ezra refers to translations and commentaries of the Hebrew text intoAramaic, the more commonly understood language of the time. These translations would seem to date to the 6th century BCE. The Aramaic term fortranslation isTargum.[85] TheEncyclopaedia Judaica has:
At an early period, it was customary to translate the Hebrew text into the vernacular at the time of the reading (e.g., in Palestine and Babylon the translation was into Aramaic). The targum ("translation") was done by a special synagogue official, called the meturgeman… Eventually, the practice of translating into the vernacular was discontinued.[86]
However, there is no suggestion that these translations had been written down as early as this. There are suggestions that the Targum was written down at an early date, although for private use only.
The official recognition of a written Targum and the final redaction of its text, however, belong to the post-Talmudic period, thus not earlier than the fifth century C.E.[87]
One of the earliest known translations of the first five books of Moses from the Hebrew into Greek was the Septuagint. This is aKoine 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 withHellenistic Judaism. It contains both a translation of the Hebrew and additional and variant material.[88]
Later translations into Greek include seven or more other versions. These do not survive, except as fragments, and include those byAquila,Symmachus, andTheodotion.[89]
Latin
Early translations into Latin—theVetus Latina—were ad hoc conversions of parts of the Septuagint. With SaintJerome in the 4th century CE came theVulgate Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible.[90]
Arabic
From the eighth century CE, the cultural language of Jews living under Islamic rule becameArabic rather than Aramaic. "Around that time, both scholars and lay people started producing translations of the Bible intoJudeo-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 bySaadiah (the Saadia Gaon, aka the Rasag), and continues to be in use today, "in particular among Yemenite Jewry".[91]
Rav Sa'adia produced an Arabic translation of the Torah known asTargum Tafsir and offered comments on Rasag's work.[92] There is a debate in scholarship whether Rasag wrote the first Arabic translation of the Torah.[93]
Modern languages
Jewish translations
The Torah has been translated by Jewish scholars into most of the major European languages, including English, German, Russian, French, Spanish and others. The most well-known German-language translation was produced bySamson Raphael Hirsch. A number ofJewish English Bible translations have been published, for example by Artscroll publications.[94]
TheSamaritan Torah (ࠕࠫࠅࠓࠡࠄ,Tōrāʾ), also called theSamaritan Pentateuch, is the scripture ofSamaritanism, which is slightly different from the Torah ofJudaism. TheSamaritan Pentateuch was written in theSamaritan script, a direct descendant of thePaleo-Hebrew alphabet that emerged around 600 BCE. Some 6,000 differences exist between the Samaritan andJewish Masoretic Text, most of which are minor spelling andgrammar variations, while others involve significantsemantic changes, such as the uniquely Samaritan commandment to construct an altar onMount Gerizim.[95] Nearly 2,000 textual variations are found to be consistent with theKoine Greek[96]Septuagint, some with theLatin Vulgate.[97] It is reported that Samaritans translated their Pentateuch intoAramaic, Greek andArabic.[98]
Although differentChristian denominations have slightly different versions of theOld Testament in their Bibles, the Torah as the "Five Books of Moses" (or "theMosaic Law") is common among them all.
Islam states that the Torah was sent by God. The "Tawrat" (Arabic:توراة) is the Arabic name for the Torah within its context as anIslamic holy book believed byMuslims to be given by God to Prophets among the Children of Israel, and often refers to the entire Hebrew Bible.[10] According to the Quran,God says, "It is He Who has sent down the Book (the Quran) to you with truth, confirming what came before it. And He sent down the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)." (Q3:3) However, the Muslims believe that this original revelation was corrupted (tahrif) (or simply altered by the passage of time and human fallibility) over time by Jewish scribes.[99] The Torah in the Quran is always mentioned with respect in Islam. The Muslims' belief in the Torah, as well as the prophethood of Moses, is one of thefundamental tenets of Islam.
The Islamic methodology oftafsir al-Qur'an bi-l-Kitab (Arabic:تفسير القرآن بالكتاب) refers to interpreting the Qur'an with/through the Bible.[100] This approach adopts canonicalArabic versions of the Bible, including the Torah, both to illuminate and to add exegetical depth to the reading of the Qur'an. Notable Muslimmufassirun (commentators) of the Bible and Qur'an who weaved from the Torah together with Qur'anic ones include Abu al-Hakam Abd al-Salam bin al-Isbili ofAl-Andalus andIbrahim bin Umar bin Hasan al-Biqa'i.[100]
^Schmid, Konrad; Lackowski, Mark; Bautch, Richard. "How to Identify a Persian Period Text in the Pentateuch". R. J. Bautch / M. Lackowski (eds.), On Dating Biblical Texts to the Persian Period, FAT II/101, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019, 101–118. "There are, however, a few exceptions regarding the pre-Hellenistic dating of the Pentateuch. The best candidate for a post-Persian, Hellenistic text in the Pentateuch seems to be the small 'apocalypse' in Num 24:14-24, which in v. 24 mentions the victory of the ships of the כִּתִּים overAshur andEber. This text seems to allude to the battles betweenAlexander and thePersians, as some scholars suggested. Another set of post-Persian text elements might be the specific numbers in the genealogies of Gen 5 and 11. These numbers build the overall chronology of the Pentateuch and differ significantly in the various versions. But these are just minor elements. The substance of the Pentateuch seems pre- Hellenistic."
^Römer, Thomas "How "Persian" or "Hellenistic" is the Joseph Narrative?", in T. Römer, K. Schmid et A. Bühler (ed.), The Joseph Story Between Egypt and Israel (Archaeology and Bible 5), Tübinngen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021, pp. 35-53. "The date of the original narrative can be the late Persian period, and while there are several passages that fit better into a Greek, Ptolemaic context, most of these passages belong to later revisions."
^Merrill, Rooker & Grisanti 2011, p. 163, Part 4. The Pentateuch by Michael A. Grisanti: "The Term 'Pentateuch' derives from the Greekpentateuchos, literally, ... The Greek term was apparently popularized by the Hellenized Jews of Alexandria, Egypt, in the first century AD..."
^Grabbe, Lester (2017).Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?. T&T Clark. p. 249-250. "It was once conventional to accept Josiah's reform at face value, but the question is currently much debated (Albertz 1994: 198–201; 2005; Lohfink 1995; P. R. Davies 2005; Knauf 2005a)."
^Collins, John J. (2022). "The Torah in its Symbolic and Prescriptive Functions".Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel.11 (1):3–18.doi:10.1628/hebai-2022-0003 (inactive 1 November 2024).ISSN2192-2276.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
^For more information on these issues from an Orthodox Jewish perspective, seeModern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations, Ed.Shalom Carmy, andHandbook of Jewish Thought, Volume I, byAryeh Kaplan.
^Fields, Harvey J. (1979)."Section Four: The Reading of the Torah".Bechol Levavcha: with all your heart. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations Press. pp. 106–111. Archived fromthe original on 19 February 2005 – via Union for Reform Judaism.
Birnbaum, Philip (1979).Encyclopedia of Jewish Concepts. Wadsworth.
Blenkinsopp, Joseph (1992).The Pentateuch: An introduction to the first five books of the Bible.Anchor Bible Reference Library. New York: Doubleday.ISBN978-0-385-41207-0.
Carr, David M. (2014)."Changes in Pentateuchal Criticism". In Sæbø, Magne; Ska, Jean Louis; Machinist, Peter (eds.).Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. III: From Modernism to Post-Modernism. Part II: The Twentieth Century – From Modernism to Post-Modernism. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN978-3-525-54022-0.
Chilton, B.D., ed. (1987).The Isaiah Targum: Introduction, Translation, Apparatus and Notes. Michael Glazier, Inc.
Frei, Peter (2001). "Persian Imperial Authorization: A Summary". In Watts, James (ed.).Persia and Torah: The Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press. p. 6.ISBN9781589830158.
Friedman, Richard Elliot (2001).Commentary on the Torah With a New English Translation. Harper Collins Publishers.
Lang, Isabel (31 December 2015).Intertextualität als hermeneutischer Zugang zur Auslegung des Korans: Eine Betrachtung am Beispiel der Verwendung von Israiliyyat in der Rezeption der Davidserzählung in Sure 38: 21–25 (in German). Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH.ISBN9783832541514.
Merrill, Eugene H.; Rooker, Mark; Grisanti, Michael A., eds. (2011).The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament.
Nadler, Steven (2008)."The Bible Hermeneutics of Baruch de Spinoza". In Sæbø, Magne; Ska, Jean Louis; Machinist, Peter (eds.).Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: The History of its Interpretation, II: From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN978-3525539828. Retrieved18 September 2015.
Neusner, Jacob (2004).The Emergence of Judaism. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
Rogerson, John W. (2003)."Deuteronomy". In James D. G. Dunn; John William Rogerson (eds.).Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans.ISBN9780802837110.
Ska, Jean Louis (2014)."Questions of the 'History of Israel' in Recent Research". In Sæbø, Magne; Ska, Jean Louis; Machinist, Peter (eds.).Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. III: From Modernism to Post-Modernism. Part II: The Twentieth Century – From Modernism to Post-Modernism. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN978-3-525-54022-0.
Sommer, Benjamin D. (30 June 2015).Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition. Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library.
Rothenberg, Naftali, (ed.),Wisdom by the week – the Weekly Torah Portion as an Inspiration for Thought and Creativity, Yeshiva University Press, New York 2012
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 year-by-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
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 Andrews University, Scotland, 1956
_-_Mus%25C3%25A9e_d%2527art_et_d%2527histoire_du_Juda%25C3%25AFsme.jpg)
