Judaism is not only a set of beliefs about God, the universe and man, but a comprehensive way of life, which is filled with rules and practices affecting every aspect of life. For example, it defines the daily life of people such as the things people can or cannot eat how the people conduct business and what people can or cannot wear among others. The word Torah has different meanings in Judaism. For example, it is used to refer to the five books of the Hebrews bible commonly referred to as the Old Testament by non-Jews. According to Judaism, the five books contain the biblical laws to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. It is also commonly referred to as Chumash, Pentateuch or the five books of Moses. The Torah is also used to capture the entire corpus of the Jewish law comprising the written and the unwritten law.
According to Jewish traditions, Moses received the Torah from Mount Sinai holding that it was an ancient tradition that existed even before being revealed to Moses by God. The Jewish traditions further express that the Torah was created before the creation of the earth by God. They hold that the Torah was the first six or seven creations that God created prior to the mainstream creation. Some of the Jews further their argument by stating that the Torah was among the blueprints that guided God in creating the world. The Bible refers to the Torah as the “Torah of the Lord” or the “Torah of Moses”, which was given to the Jewish, peoples the congregation of Jacob, with the purpose of making Israel a holy nation or a kingdom of priests.
The belief that the Torah was from heaven was among the few real dogmas of rabbinic theology holding that, in entirety Torah was from heaven. According to various biblical stories, Moses had ascended to heaven where the angels delivered Torah to him. In Jewish teachings, they hold that Torah is among the three things that sustain the world explaining that the heaven and earth exist due to the existence of Torah. It has been identified and associated with love, freedom, goodness, wisdom and life, and it was for all mankind. Jewish philosophers argue that the Torah was first offered to other nations, but it was rejected after which it was offered to Israel. However, there have been numerous intellectual analysis of the Torah with different intellectuals offering differing explanations in regard to the origin and its adoption in the Jewish society.
The five books comprising Torah are Genesis referred to as Bereishith in Jewish, meaning the beginning and the second was Shemoth commonly referred to as Exodus meaning the names. The third book commonly referred to as Leviticus is referred to as Vayiqra in Jewish, while the fourth is referred to as Bamidbar in Jewish is commonly referred to as Numbers. The last book is known as Devarim in Jewish and is commonly referred to as Deuteronomy. Torah teachings are usually done from hand-written and attractive Hebrew calligraphy scrolls providing illustrations of the relevant laws. The parchment on the scrolls are not touched as some state that they are too holy to be touched by human beings while others say that since they are made from animal skins touching would amount to ritual defilement.
Oral Torah is an addition to the written scriptures, which provides traditional explanation and interpretation of scripture’s meaning, as well as application of the law. According to orthodox Jews, the oral Torah was taught to Moses by God who taught other Jews, and the sequence has gone into the present day. The tradition of teaching the oral law has gone through the Jewish history for many years until the 2d century when it compiled into law commonly referred to as Mishnah. There have been other commentaries elaborating the oral Torah in both Jerusalem and Babylon, which have been referred to as Gemara. The two additional commentaries are known together as Talmud and there exist both Jerusalem Talmud and Babylonian Talmud. However, the Babylonian Talmud is more comprehensive and the most common among the Jews. Reading and understanding Talmud is a difficult task since it leaves gaps of reasoning assuming that a person understands and knows their meaning.
The concepts in Talmud are expressed in shorthand and the supporting biblical verses are referenced with only one to three words preserving a variety of views on every issue presented. Therefore, all perceived meanings and views are accepted since they do not identify and clearly state the accepted ones. Mishnah is further subdivided into six sections referred to as sedarim and focuses on diverse subjects affecting the society such as agricultural laws referred to as seraim among others.
In conclusion, Torah comprises the Jewish laws, which define all aspects of their life. Jews believe that these laws originated from God even before the creation of the world, and they define Israel as the holy nation. The written Torah is comprised of the five books of the bible commonly referred to as the Old Testament in Christianity. The oral Torah provides explanation and interpretation of the written Torah and Jew believe that it was passed to Moses by God, and it runs through history until when it was documented through commentaries.
Works Cited
Berman, Elie. "Judaism: The Written Law - Torah." 2013. Jewis Viirtual Library. 19 September 2013 <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/The_Written_Law.html>.
Novak, Philip. The World's Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions. California: HarperCollins, 2011.
Smart, Ninian. The World's Religions. California: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
