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Pentateuch)
Torah, (תורה) is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or especially Law. It primarily refers to the first section of the Tanakh, i.e. the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
These books are Genesis (Bereishit בראשית), Exodus (Shemot שמות), Leviticus (Vayikra ויקרא), Numbers (Bemidbar במדבר) and Deuteronomy (Devarim דברים) . Collectively they are also known as the Pentateuch (Greek for "five containers", where containers presumably refers to the scroll cases in which books were being kept) or Hamisha Humshei Torah (חמשה חומשי תורה) (Hebrew for "the five parts of the Torah", or just Humash חומש "fifth" for short).
Jews also use the word Torah, in a wider sense, to refer to the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history. In this sense it might include the entire Tanakh, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the midrashic literature. In its widest sense, Jews use the word Torah to refer to any kind of teachings or philosophy.
Structure of the five books
The Torah does not contain a complete and ordered system of legislature, but rather, a general philosophical basis, and a great number of specific laws. These laws are often reminiscent of the existing customs in the ancient middle east, but have important conceptual variations from them.
The book of Deuteronomy is different from the previous books; thus sometimes the first four books of the Bible are known as the Tetrateuch.
The first six books of the Bible as a unit (The Torah immediately followed by the book of Joshua) is sometimes referred to as the Hexateuch, as the book of Joshua picks up directly where Deuteronomy leaves off.
Punishments
For a violation of the first seven commandments, the penalty was death. The punishment for stealing was restitution and compensation to the one whose property had been stolen; for false witness, retribution.
The last commandment, against covetousness or wrong desire, carried with it no sanction enforceable by the judges. It transcended man-made laws in that it made every man his own spiritual policeman and got at the root, or source, of the violation of all the commandments. If wrong desire was indulged, it would eventually manifest itself in a violation of one of the other nine commandments.
Strict justice was enforced by the law of talion or retaliation, like for like, where injuries were deliberately inflicted. (De 19:21, Leviticus 24:17) There is at least one recorded instance of the execution of this penalty. (Jg 1:6, 7).
Jewish view of the Torah
The Torah is the primary document of Judaism, being the source of the 613 mitzvot [מצוות] and most of its ethical framework.
According to Jewish tradition, these books were given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. This dictation included not only the "quotes" which appear in the text, but every word of the text itself, including phrases such as "And God spoke to Moses..."
The rabbis hold that not only are the words giving a Divine message, but indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Thus they hold that even as small a mark as a kotzo shel yod (קוצו של יוד), the serif of the Hebrew letter yod (י), the smallest letter, was 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," or whether it appears in that oft repeated "And God spoke unto Moses saying." In a similar vein, Rabbi Akiva, who died in AD 135, is said to have learned a new law from every et (את) in the Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); the word et is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark the accusative case. In other words, the Orthodox view is that "And God spoke unto Moses saying..." is no less important than the actual statement.
One kabbalistic interpretation is that the Torah constitutes one long name of God, and that it was broken up into words so that human minds can understand it. While this is effective since it accords with our human reason, it is not the only way that the text can be broken up. In that sense, the Torah is for Orthodox Jews that rush of letters and sounds that can mean so many different things.
There is little support for Bible criticism in Orthodox Judaism; the accepted Orthodox view is that the Torah was dictated to the letter to Moses, which is widely considered one of the Jewish principles of faith. Most religious authorities consider Bible criticism a form of heresy. Rabbinic commentators who took issue with the scientific approach are Rabbis Meir Leibush Malbim and David Zvi Hoffmann .
Translations
Torah translations have existed for over 2000 years. An early example is the Septuagint, which according to the legend was produced at the instigation of a king or pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
The best-known translation of antiquity is probably the Targum of Onkelos the Proselyte, which is still used as a tool for Torah study and quoted extensively by Rashi in questions on etymology.
The Torah and the oral law
Rabbinical Judaism (i.e. Orthodox Judaism) holds that the Torah has been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. They point to the text of the Torah, where they believe many words are left undefined, and many procedures mentioned without explanation or instructions; they believe the reader is assumed to be familiar with the details from other, oral, sources.
This parallel set of material was originally transmitted orally, and came to be known as the oral law. At the time, it was forbidden to write and publish the Oral Law, as any writing would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation and abuse. However, after great debate, this restriction was lifted when it became apparent that it was the only way to ensure that the law could be preserved. To prevent the material from being lost, around AD 200, Rabbi Judah haNasi took up the redaction of a written version of the oral law; it was compiled into the first major written work of rabbinic Judaism, the Mishnah. Over the next four centuries this body of law, legend, ethical teachings underwent debate and analysis in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in Israel and Babylon). These commentaries on the Mishnah, called gemara, eventually came to be edited together into compilations known as the Talmud.
Most Jews follow the traditional explication of these laws that can be found in this later literature. Karaites, who reject the oral law, and adhere solely to the laws of the Torah, are a major exception.
Christian view of the Torah
Christianity also believes that the Torah is the word of God; however most Christians do not necessarily hold that it was "dictated" to Moses all at once. Further, traditional Christianity holds that while the Torah's quotes from God should literally be understood as quotes from God Himself, the rest of the text is not a direct quote, but rather human words written by a prophet under divine inspiration. Thus the entire Torah is held to be a holy revelation, but not all of it is seen as a quote. The Christian belief that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine has a very close analogy in the traditional Christian view of Scripture.
Samaritans
The Samaritans have their own version of the Torah, which contains many variant readings. Many of these agree with the Septuagint against the Masoretic Text, leading many scholars to believe that parts of the Samaritan text may have once been common in ancient Palestine, but rejected by the Masoretes.
Scientific view of the Torah
There is no scientific consensus on the dates of the writing and canonization of the Torah, and estimates range from the 10th to the 6th centuries BC. Several professors of archeology claim that many stories in the Old Testament, including important chronicles about Abraham, Moses, Solomon, and others, were actually made up for the first time by scribes hired by King Josiah (7th century BC) in order to rationalize monotheistc belief in Yahweh. Others claim that the foremost motivation behind the text is political and has to do with the division between the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom.
The prevailing theory amongst liberal and secular scholars, linguists and historians holds that the text of the Torah appears to be redacted together from a number of earlier sources; this is known as the documentary hypothesis (DH), sometimes called the "JEDP" theory. See the documentary hypothesis page for the arguments of its proponents and oponents.
Evidently, the extensive written records of neighboring countries such as Egypt, Assyria, etc., do not mention any of the stories of the Bible or its main characters before 650 BC. See the book references below.
See also
References
- William G. Dever, Who Were the Early Israelites?, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI (2003).
- Neil A. Silberman et al., The Bible Unearthed, Simon and Schuster, New York (2001).
Last updated: 02-08-2005 05:25:29
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55
