Book of torah
Author: s | 2025-04-24
A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India. A Torah scroll (Hebrew: סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah, lit. Book of Torah ; plural: סִפְרֵי תוֹרָה Sifrei Torah) is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books
THE BOOK OF THE TORAH - api.pageplace.de
Instruction or teaching, torah can also mean law or statute — something one is not just guided to do, but required to do. And it can also refer to a custom, a kind of loose, unwritten law.Both in antiquity and today, the word torah is used to refer to something quite small, such as a singular bit of instruction or teaching. Today, you might hear someone get up in front of a group to share “words of Torah” which could possibly have no direct relation to the Five Books of Moses. Equally, torah is used to refer to something much larger or more amorphous, even most or all of Jewish teaching and practice, old and new.How the Five Books of Moses Came to be Called the TorahThe Torah itself, with a capital “T” (that is, the five books of Moses), does not actually refer to itself by name. In fact, it does not refer to itself at all, since these were originally separate books that were later gathered into a collection, traditionally in the time of Ezra. The word torah does appear throughout the five books where it clearly means “instruction.” For instance, in Exodus 24:12, it is essentially synonymous with mitzvah:The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings (torah) and commandments (mitzvah) which I have inscribed to instruct them.”In a great many cases, torah refers to instructions that accompany a sacrifice or ritual. In these contexts, it is clear that it refers only to those specific instructions (to pick but one example, see Leviticus 7:11).The Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, is different. This book, which is primarily composed of speeches of Moses, understands itself as a repetition of instructions that Moses received from God and gave to the Israelites. This book refers to its contents as torah, as teaching, right from the beginning:These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan … On the other side of the Jordan, Sanctuary. Contained within the ark will be the congregation's Torah scroll(s). Above the ark is the Ner Tamid (Hebrew for "Eternal Flame"), which is a light that remains lit constantly, even when the sanctuary is not in use.Torah Scrolls. Contained within the ark, the Torah scrolls are enshrined in the place of greatest honor within the sanctuary. A Torah scroll contains the Hebrew text of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Artwork. Many sanctuaries will be decorated with artwork or stained glass windows. The artwork and motifs will vary widely from congregation to congregation.Memorial Boards. These usually contain plaques with names of people of the congregation who have died, along with the Hebrew and English dates of their death.Siddur. This is the main prayer book of the congregation containing the Hebrew liturgy read during the prayer service. Chumash. This is a copy of the Torah in Hebrew. It usually contains an English translation of the Torah, as well as the Hebrew and English text of the Haftarot read after the weekly Torah portion.Completing a Book of the Torah
Later Jewish tradition. The core of Jewish worship is the recitation of the (6:4) and the public reading of the Torah (rooted in 31: 11). Also based on Deuteronomy are the duty of blessing God after meals (Birkat Hamazon, Deuteronomy 8:10), Kiddush [a prayer of sanctification] on Shabbat (Deuteronomy 5:12), affixing mezuzahs (also known as mezuzot) to doorposts, wearing tefillin (phylacteries) (Deuteronomy 6:8‑9, 11:18, 20) and tzitzit (fringes) (Deuteronomy 22:12), and charity to the poor (e.g., Deuteronomy 15:8).Deuteronomy is the source of the concept that religious life should be based on a sacred book and its study. As the biblical book that deals most explicitly with beliefs and attitudes, it plays a major role in Jewish theology. In the theological‑ethical introduction of his digest of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides cites Deuteronomy more than any other book, starting with the command to believe in God and Him alone.Deuteronomy’s effect on Jewish life cannot be overstated. No idea has shaped Jewish history more than monotheism, which this book asserts so passionately.Excerpted with the permission of the Rabbinical Assembly from Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (© 2001 by The Rabbinical Assembly, published by the Jewish Publication Society ). Sign Up for Our Newsletter Get Jewish wisdom & discovery in your inbox. A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India. A Torah scroll (Hebrew: סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah, lit. Book of Torah ; plural: סִפְרֵי תוֹרָה Sifrei Torah) is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first booksThe Torah, [Torah the five books of Moses - Archive.org
The whole book of Psalms has been divided into five books or sections (Ps. 3-41; Ps. 42-72; Ps. 73-89; Ps. 90-106, and 107-145). The reason for these divisions is that each section has a final poem, which concludes with a similar line that looks like an editorial addition, “May the Lord, the God of Israel, be blessed forever. Amen and Amen” (Ps. 41:13; Ps. 72:19; Ps. 89:52, and 106:48).Psalms 1-2: Introduction to the Key Themes of PsalmsThe book has a conclusion and an internal organization of five sections. Psalms 1 and 2 serve as the book’s introduction. These psalms clearly stand apart from the rest of Book One based on their authorship. They are anonymous, while the majority of psalms in the first book are linked to King David. Their content is also unique. Psalm 1 starts by celebrating the person who is “blessed” because they meditate on the Torah, prayerfully reading and obeying it. The Hebrew word torah simply means “teaching,” but it also refers to the first five books of the Bible that contain the foundational laws of Judaism. It seems that the word has both of these meanings in Psalm 1. The book of Psalms is being offered as a new Torah that will teach God’s people about the lifelong practice of prayer as they strive to obey the commands of the first Torah.Psalm 2 is a poetic reflection on God’s promise to King David, recounted in 2 Samuel 7. God told David that from his line would come a messianic (that is, “anointed”) King, who would establish God’s Kingdom over the world, defeating evil and rebellion among the nations. The psalm concludes by saying that all those to take refuge in this messianic king will be “blessed,” the same word used in the opening of Psalm 1.Together, these two poems tell us that the book of Psalms is designed to be the prayer book of God’s people, who are striving to be faithful to the commands of the Torah and hoping and waiting for the messianic kingdom.Psalms 3-41: The Foundation of Covenant FaithfulnessWith these themes introduced, we can begin to see intentionality in how the smaller books have been designed around the same ideas. For example, Book One contains a collection of poems (Ps. 15-24) that opens and closes with a call to covenant faithfulness. The opening Psalm 15 is followed by three poems (Ps. 16-18) To a large extent, the book of Dvarim is a retrospective of events and laws taught in previous sections of the Torah. For this reason, the book is often called Mishneh Torah or Deuteronomy, which both mean 'repetition of the law'. The book begins by outlining the time, place and context of what is to follow.These are the words which Moshe spoke to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Aravah opposite the Red Sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Lavan, and Hazerot, and Di-Zahav, eleven days' journey from Horev by way of Mount Se'ir to Kadesh-Barnea. And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moshe spoke to the people of Israel, according to all that God had given him in commandment to them. After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived at Ashtarot in Edre'i. On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moav, Moshe deigned to explain this Torah, saying: (Devarim 1:1-5)The time is the fortieth year after the Exodus, the place is Transjordan, and the context is the aftermath of the battles with Sichon and Og - battles that were won and described in the Book of Bamidbar.And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and allThe Torah, [Torah the five books of Moses : Free Download
We are glad to offer a Bible created for American Jews that could not read the Bible in Hebrew. Download freely on your phone or tablet this English version of the Tanakh: the JPS 1917, the renowned English translation of the Tanakh.The term "Tanach” is derived as an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the three great divisions of the Jewish text: Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim (Books of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings)Enjoy the Hebrew Bible with unique functionalities:1) COMPLETELY FREEDownload your English translation of the entire Tanakh for free. Compatible with Android devices.2) OFFLINEYou can absolutely use it without WI-FI service. 3) AUDIO BIBLERead or listen to the Holy Word every day on your smartphone!4) PERSONALIZE YOUR TANAKH- Copy, send and share verses- Bookmark your favorite verses- Create and organize a favorites list- Add your own notes- Ability to increase/decrease the font- Switch into night mode to a high-quality reading- Go back to the last verse read- Keyword researchList of books of the Tanakh:1- Torah or books of the Law includes the five books of the Torah, which, according to traditions, were revealed directly by God to Moses on Mount Sinai: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 2- Nevi'im (the book of the Prophets) that includes Isaiah, Jeremias, Ezekiel, the twelve Minor Prophets, Josue, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings.3-Ketuvim (The writings) that includes the great book of poems, the Psalms, and Proverbs, Joseph, Esther; Songs of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles.The Book Of Jubilees: The Torah Calendar
But can only be completed after great discipline and sustained practice-and even then, almost accidentally-by the student. Nachmanides, or Ramban (1194-1270), however, cautions dilettante students from wrongly supposing that they have uncovered the mysteries. He writes: "Now behold I bring into a faithful covenant and give proper counsel to all who look into this book not to reason or entertain any thought concerning any of the mystic hints which I write regarding the hidden matters of the Torah, for I do hereby firmly make known to him [the reader] that my words will not be comprehended nor known at all by any reasoning or contemplation, excepting from the mouth of a wise Cabalist speaking into the ear of an understanding recipient."; This translation is from "Torah on the Web-Virtual Beit Midrash"; ( but also see Ramban (Nachmanides): Commentary on the Torah, especially his Introduction to the Torah, (Hebrew original first written in the mid-1200s and available in a number of editions; important five volume English annotated translation by Charles B. Chavel, Shilo Publishing House, New York, 1971-76). "The Dark Illumination of Sat Hon,"; Parabola, Summer 2009, p. 48 - 55. A fool, in its highest manifestation, is one who is given over completely to a spiritual belief or secular principle. We find examples among some of the prophets in ancient Israel, in Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, the North American First Nations and among shamanic traditions worldwide. In a modern secular or psychological sense, one could be a fool for an. A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India. A Torah scroll (Hebrew: סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah, lit. Book of Torah ; plural: סִפְרֵי תוֹרָה Sifrei Torah) is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India. A Torah scroll (Hebrew: סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah, lit. Book of Torah ; plural: סִפְרֵי תוֹרָה Sifrei Torah) is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first booksBooks on the Parashah - Torah Musings
It’s a rule that you HAVE to copy from something. It doesn’t have to be an actual scroll, but it has to have a Torah text which has been checked against another text which has been checked, etc. We say that you must copy from another text, even if you know it by heart, to try to guard against the text becoming altered in transmission. I have a book called a tikkun soferim to copy from. The bit in the front says that it was put together by expert scribes and that the text is super-correct, so that scribes know it’s okay to use this book as their master copy.A tikkun for scribes is not the same as a tikkun for Torah readers.The recto of my tikkun soferim looks like this:You can see that it’s printed, with lots of little squiggles and doodles, that are vowels, notation, and stage directions. It tells you which verse you’re in (and the chapter number, at the start of a chapter – this is verse 17, though)The verso has the same line, but printed just as it appears in the Torah, with Torah script instead of type, and nothing except the letters themselves:Instead of a verse number, it has a line number. Columns have between 42 and 60 lines, depending on which layout you choose (dictated, to a certain extent, by geography and fashion). When you’re writing, you want to keep track of where you are, and counting lines makes a lot more sense than counting verses – like if you’re studying a poem, when you tend to use line numbers as a reference rather than count sentences.The two letters in grey on the right-hand side are the most useful, and one of the things which make a scribe’s tikkun different from a reader’s tikkun. Since not all words are the same length, it’s not possible to make each line have exactly the same number of letters in it. We want each line to be justified (i.e. to form neat columns) so you’re generally going to have to squish or stretch the letters to achieve this. This little note tells you how.Letters are measured in yuds, because yud is the smallest letter.Yud counts as one, obviously. So do narrow letters (gimel, vav, zayin, and nun), and a space between words. All the other letters count as two yuds when written in the normal way,Comments
Instruction or teaching, torah can also mean law or statute — something one is not just guided to do, but required to do. And it can also refer to a custom, a kind of loose, unwritten law.Both in antiquity and today, the word torah is used to refer to something quite small, such as a singular bit of instruction or teaching. Today, you might hear someone get up in front of a group to share “words of Torah” which could possibly have no direct relation to the Five Books of Moses. Equally, torah is used to refer to something much larger or more amorphous, even most or all of Jewish teaching and practice, old and new.How the Five Books of Moses Came to be Called the TorahThe Torah itself, with a capital “T” (that is, the five books of Moses), does not actually refer to itself by name. In fact, it does not refer to itself at all, since these were originally separate books that were later gathered into a collection, traditionally in the time of Ezra. The word torah does appear throughout the five books where it clearly means “instruction.” For instance, in Exodus 24:12, it is essentially synonymous with mitzvah:The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings (torah) and commandments (mitzvah) which I have inscribed to instruct them.”In a great many cases, torah refers to instructions that accompany a sacrifice or ritual. In these contexts, it is clear that it refers only to those specific instructions (to pick but one example, see Leviticus 7:11).The Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, is different. This book, which is primarily composed of speeches of Moses, understands itself as a repetition of instructions that Moses received from God and gave to the Israelites. This book refers to its contents as torah, as teaching, right from the beginning:These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan … On the other side of the Jordan,
2025-03-28Sanctuary. Contained within the ark will be the congregation's Torah scroll(s). Above the ark is the Ner Tamid (Hebrew for "Eternal Flame"), which is a light that remains lit constantly, even when the sanctuary is not in use.Torah Scrolls. Contained within the ark, the Torah scrolls are enshrined in the place of greatest honor within the sanctuary. A Torah scroll contains the Hebrew text of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Artwork. Many sanctuaries will be decorated with artwork or stained glass windows. The artwork and motifs will vary widely from congregation to congregation.Memorial Boards. These usually contain plaques with names of people of the congregation who have died, along with the Hebrew and English dates of their death.Siddur. This is the main prayer book of the congregation containing the Hebrew liturgy read during the prayer service. Chumash. This is a copy of the Torah in Hebrew. It usually contains an English translation of the Torah, as well as the Hebrew and English text of the Haftarot read after the weekly Torah portion.
2025-04-21Later Jewish tradition. The core of Jewish worship is the recitation of the (6:4) and the public reading of the Torah (rooted in 31: 11). Also based on Deuteronomy are the duty of blessing God after meals (Birkat Hamazon, Deuteronomy 8:10), Kiddush [a prayer of sanctification] on Shabbat (Deuteronomy 5:12), affixing mezuzahs (also known as mezuzot) to doorposts, wearing tefillin (phylacteries) (Deuteronomy 6:8‑9, 11:18, 20) and tzitzit (fringes) (Deuteronomy 22:12), and charity to the poor (e.g., Deuteronomy 15:8).Deuteronomy is the source of the concept that religious life should be based on a sacred book and its study. As the biblical book that deals most explicitly with beliefs and attitudes, it plays a major role in Jewish theology. In the theological‑ethical introduction of his digest of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides cites Deuteronomy more than any other book, starting with the command to believe in God and Him alone.Deuteronomy’s effect on Jewish life cannot be overstated. No idea has shaped Jewish history more than monotheism, which this book asserts so passionately.Excerpted with the permission of the Rabbinical Assembly from Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (© 2001 by The Rabbinical Assembly, published by the Jewish Publication Society ). Sign Up for Our Newsletter Get Jewish wisdom & discovery in your inbox
2025-04-12The whole book of Psalms has been divided into five books or sections (Ps. 3-41; Ps. 42-72; Ps. 73-89; Ps. 90-106, and 107-145). The reason for these divisions is that each section has a final poem, which concludes with a similar line that looks like an editorial addition, “May the Lord, the God of Israel, be blessed forever. Amen and Amen” (Ps. 41:13; Ps. 72:19; Ps. 89:52, and 106:48).Psalms 1-2: Introduction to the Key Themes of PsalmsThe book has a conclusion and an internal organization of five sections. Psalms 1 and 2 serve as the book’s introduction. These psalms clearly stand apart from the rest of Book One based on their authorship. They are anonymous, while the majority of psalms in the first book are linked to King David. Their content is also unique. Psalm 1 starts by celebrating the person who is “blessed” because they meditate on the Torah, prayerfully reading and obeying it. The Hebrew word torah simply means “teaching,” but it also refers to the first five books of the Bible that contain the foundational laws of Judaism. It seems that the word has both of these meanings in Psalm 1. The book of Psalms is being offered as a new Torah that will teach God’s people about the lifelong practice of prayer as they strive to obey the commands of the first Torah.Psalm 2 is a poetic reflection on God’s promise to King David, recounted in 2 Samuel 7. God told David that from his line would come a messianic (that is, “anointed”) King, who would establish God’s Kingdom over the world, defeating evil and rebellion among the nations. The psalm concludes by saying that all those to take refuge in this messianic king will be “blessed,” the same word used in the opening of Psalm 1.Together, these two poems tell us that the book of Psalms is designed to be the prayer book of God’s people, who are striving to be faithful to the commands of the Torah and hoping and waiting for the messianic kingdom.Psalms 3-41: The Foundation of Covenant FaithfulnessWith these themes introduced, we can begin to see intentionality in how the smaller books have been designed around the same ideas. For example, Book One contains a collection of poems (Ps. 15-24) that opens and closes with a call to covenant faithfulness. The opening Psalm 15 is followed by three poems (Ps. 16-18)
2025-04-12