We explain what the Torah is and how it differs from the Talmud in the Jewish religion. In addition, we tell you which books it is composed of.
What is the Torah?
The Torah (in Hebrew Torah or תּוֹרָה, that is, “teaching”, “doctrine” or “theory”) is the sacred and fundamental book of the Jewish religion, which contains the founding laws and stories of the people and the Hebrew identity. Its content is equivalent to the first five books of the Bible, known in Christianity as the Pentateuch and in Islam as At-Tawrat.
The content of the Torah is, for Judaism, the set of instructions, revelations and commandments given by God (Yahweh) to the people of Israel, which is why it contains the sacred law to which Orthodox practitioners adhere. The Torah can be found in the hechal of every Hebrew synagogue, transcribed manually on a set of carefully rolled scrolls, which are unfolded through two wooden rollers. You must read about Wedding Anniversary once.
According to religious tradition, the Torah was written by the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai, guided by divine inspiration. Since its composition, therefore, was dictated by God point by point and word by word, religion frowns on its translation or alteration.
This is why Torah scholars spend years learning the traditional language in which it is written, and that only they can make a meticulous transcription to found a synagogue or give as a gift to young Hebrew families.
The Torah is a book that is not only used for ritual purposes, but also for ornamental and symbolic purposes, and should not be confused with other Hebrew books of great importance for religious worship, such as the Talmud, the Tanakh or the Mishnah.
Origin of the Torah
The Jewish religion maintains that the Torah was dictated by God to the prophet Moses during his stay on Mount Sinai (sometime in the second millennium BC), but that even so it is much older, since it served as a model for God for the creation of the universe.
On the other hand, secular Torah scholars maintain that it was written between the 5th and 6th centuries BC. C., although it is possible that it was composed at different times and places, and that the text we know today is the fruit of various editing and rewriting processes by different authors.
However, there is no specialized consensus on the subject: some scholars assume that it was composed in ancient Babylon, or in the Persian period (539-333 BC) of Jewish history, or even in the Hellenistic period (333-164 BC) or the Hasmonean period (140-37 BC).
Other hypotheses propose that it is really a historical compilation, the product of different authors and periods of the history of the Jewish people, and point to the Elephantine Papyri (found at the beginning of the 20th century) as evidence of this: a set of early writings of some polytheistic Jewish sect that existed at the end of the 5th century BC. Maybe you should definitely read about Roman Numerals once.
The five books of the Torah
The Torah is made up of the first five books of the biblical Old Testament, that is, the five books of Moses, which are: Genesis (in Hebrew Beresheet or בְּרֵאשִׁית), Exodus (Shemot or שְׁמוֹת), Leviticus (Vayikrá or וַיִּקְרָא), Numbers (Bamidbar or בְּמִדְבַּר) and Deuteronomy (Devarim or דְּבָרִים).
Genesis
Its name in Hebrew means “In the beginning,” since it narrates the creation of the world and of humanity, as well as the appearance of the first prophet of antiquity, Abraham, whose descendants were chosen by God to form the tribe Israel, the creator’s favorite. Throughout four literary “movements”, the story of Jacob is also told, then that of his son Joseph, and culminates with the presence of the Israelites in Egypt, where they lived in conditions of poverty. slavery.
Exodus
Its name in Hebrew means “Names” and contains the story of the departure of the Israelite people from Egypt towards the Promised Land of Canaan under the guidance of the prophet Moses. In this chapter the people of Israel become aware of their ethnic unity and identity, and as a sign of this, it receives from God the sacred laws by which it must be guided. Thus, the chapter also contains the details of its prayers, hymns and laws.
Leviticus
Its name in Hebrew means “He called,” since most of its sections contain the laws, instructions and explicit orders that God dictated to Moses to teach the Israelites. It is a fundamental book in the description of the rites and Jewish religious procedures, whose non-Hebrew name alludes to the Levites, Hebrew priests who are the main protagonists of the chapter through rites, offerings and atonements.
Numbers
Its name in Hebrew means “In the desert” and details the places of residence of the Israelites in the Negev Desert, as well as the detailed census of the tribal leaders, the men who revolted, the heads of cattle slaughtered, and many other logistical and historical details concerning the young people of Israel. This chapter culminates with the crossing of the Jews from the Jordan River to the Promised Land of Canaan.
Deuteronomy
Its name in Hebrew means “these are the words,” but this title changed substantially in the Greek translations of the Pentateuch, becoming deuteros nomos (“Second Law”), since it recounts the new laws that Moses imparted to the people. of Israel (as opposed to the “first law” of Mount Sinai). This chapter covers the speech Moses gave to the Jews before entering the Promised Land, in which he explains the laws that are to govern the nascent kingdom of Israel: laws for war, marriage laws, moral and logistical laws, and laws about obtaining food. Finally, Deuteronomy narrates the end of Moses’ life and the transition of leadership to Joshua.
Differences between the Torah and The Talmud
Although both are religious and foundational texts of the Hebrew people, the Torah and the Talmud are very different works in character and composition. The first contains, fundamentally, the story of the creation of the Jewish identity: the exodus from Egypt and the escape from slavery, the formation of religious, social and political laws, and the arrival in the Promised Land of Canaan.
On the other hand , the Talmud is a text of rabbinical origin, which functions as a civil and religious code, where Jewish laws and traditions are discussed and detailed, through parables, legends and sayings. Therefore, it is a later text and complementary to the principles set forth in the Torah and developed in the rest of the Tanakh (the rest of the Old Testament, in Christian terms).
Both the Torah and the Talmud are understood by the Jewish religion as faithful transcriptions of the ancient oral culture of the people of Israel. But unlike the Torah, which is believed to have been dictated by God to the prophet Moses, the writing of the Talmud is attributed to ancient rabbinical scholars.
It was these scholars who received from Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi (Judah I), sometime in the late 2nd century AD or early 3rd century AD, a transcription of the Torah (the Mishnah) for the purpose of dissemination. and saved from the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Thus, there are two major historical editions of this book: the one from Jerusalem (approximately from the 4th century) and the one from Babylon (approximately from the 5th century).
The Torah and the Bible
The Torah and the Bible coincide to a certain extent in their account of the founding stories of the Israelite people, but they are not entirely equivalent texts. The Torah corresponds only to the first five books of the Christian Bible, that is, the so-called Pentateuch of the Old Testament. This means that the Bible contains the narratives of the Torah, but the latter does not contain the entire Bible.
The Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna (in Hebrew מִשְׁנָה, “repetition”) is the first great compilation of the traditions, laws and founding stories of the Hebrew people, which were passed down from generation to generation orally. This first written work is the basis of rabbinical literature and is attributed to Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi (135-219), born 80 years after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, who is said to have compiled all this traditional material in order to preserve it and disseminate it among rabbinical scholars.
The Mishnah is written mostly in Mishnaic Hebrew, with some parts in Aramaic, and contains six orders (sedarim) with seven to twelve treatises (masechtot), subdivided into chapters and paragraphs. These six sections are:
- Zeraim: Refers to the religious commandments regarding prayers and food, in accordance with the Jewish law on the matter, the Halacha.
- Moed: Refers to Jewish holidays, fasts and Shabbat.
- Nashim: Refers to the details of married life and family law.
- Nezikin: Refers to Jewish laws on civil, criminal and commercial law, that is, on trade, private property and the administration of justice.
- Kodashim: Refers to the Temple of Jerusalem and the rites that must take place there, such as animal sacrifices, priestly service and the slaughter of cattle according to the Jewish method (kashrut).
- Tohorot: Refers to the precepts of bodily purification (Nidah), distinguishing between pure and impure conduct and elements.
