Torah in Judaism
A presentation for REL 306
Dr. Laurence Boxer – Jan., 2004
Meanings of Torah
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Law, teaching, instruction, tradition
Five Books of Moses
Tanakh – the Jewish Bible
Oral Torah, Written Torah
TaNaKH – Torah, Nevi’im, K’tuvim
- the Written Torah
Torah – 5 Books of
Moses
• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
Nevi’im – Prophets
•Joshua
•Amos
•Judges
•Obadiah
•I Samuel
•Jonah
•II Samuel
•Micah
•I Kings
•Nahum
•II Kings
•Habakkuk
•Isaiah
•Zephaniah
•Jeremiah
•Haggai
•Ezekiel
•Zechariah
•Hosea
•Malachi
•Joel
K’tuvim – Scriptures –
“Wisdom Literature”
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Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
•Daniel
•Ezra
•Nehemiah
•I Chronicles
•II Chronicles
Talmud – Oral Torah
• Commentary, explanation, “filling in
the holes” of Tanakh
• Evolution of legal system
• Originally, transmitted orally – thus,
“Oral Torah”
• Persecution, increasing complexity
necessitated putting into writing
Talmud - Mishnah
• Consists of Mishnah, Gemara
• Mishnah – literally, 2nd – 2nd Torah –
“Mishnah Torah” also used as nickname
for Deuteronomy (Greek translation) - as
Deuteronomy reviews much of earlier
Torah, Mishnah expands & clarifies much
Torah
• Mishnah compiled ~ year 200; Rabbi
Judah haNasi (the Prince), ed., with
teachings of many scholars of his &
earlier times
Talmud - Gemara
• Gemara – completion (of Talmud), developed years ~200 600
• Mishnah raised many questions of interpretation; Gemara
seeks to clarify, both with legal discussion and aggadah –
interpretive stories (historical, legends, Biblical
commentary, tall tales, jokes)
• Babylonian & Jerusalem Gemara, respectively, yield
Babylonian & Jerusalem Talmud. Babylonian more highly
regarded, as Roman persecutions drove many greatest
scholars to Babylon.
• Talmud not “completed” – later scholars published
commentaries that are part of standard modern editions –
text side-by-side with commentary
Talmud & Christian Antisemitism
• Many times, Christians burned Talmud as
allegedly anti-Christian.
• Actually, Christians & Christianity are
unimportant in Talmud. Talmud’s primary
concerns: Jewish law & conduct of Jewish
life; not relations with other religions.
• Most references to Christians via
“sectarians” – minim – deviants, heretics
– dismissive term, indicating
unimportance; merely one of several
sects deviating from mainstream Judaism
of Talmudic era
Commandments of Torah
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613, including many obsolete due
to current lack of central sanctuary
7 for B’nai Noah – commandments
expected of all mankind:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Establish courts
No blasphemy
No idolatry
No incest
No murder
No robbery
No cruelty (specifically, ripping limb from
live animal for food)
Holiness
• What does holiness mean? Is it a
term concerned only with ritual &
prayer?
• Lev. 19:2: You shall be holy, for I,
the Lord your G-d, am holy.
• Subsequent verses include matters
of prayer & ritual, but also laws of
kindness: Lev. 19:9-10, 13, 14, 18
(“Golden Rule”)
Holiness - Isaiah
• Isaiah often refers to G-d as “the Holy
One of Israel” (e.g., 41:16, 43:3, 54:5,
55:5, 60:14).
• Isaiah 1 condemns sacrifices of those
who fail to aid the oppressed, corrupt
justice with bribes.
• On Yom Kippur (fast day; most intensely
spiritual day of Jewish calendar), we read
Isaiah 57:14 – 58:14; note condemnation
of fast corrupted by business &
oppression of poor (58:3-7).
Holiness Requires
• Kindness to others – imitating G-d,
who clothes the naked (Gen. 3:23)
and buries the dead (Deut. 34:6)
• Study: [Hillel said] an empty-headed
person cannot be sin-fearing, nor
can an ignorant person be pious…
Avot (from Talmud) 2:5
Justice
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Amos 5:24: Let justice roll down like
waters and righteousness like a mighty
stream.
• Deut. 16:20: Justice, justice shall you
pursue….
Note tension implicit in wording – repetition
of “justice” implies both
1. zeal, and
2. moderation – pursue justice justly –
don’t allow zeal to lead you to think ends
justify unjust means
Justice – An Eye for an Eye
• Ex. 21:
22: And if men strive together….
23: But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life
for life,
24: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot ….
• Does this call for retaliatory mutilation?
26-27: And if a man smite the eye of his bondman,
or the eye of his bondwoman, and destroy it, he
shall let him go free….
• Verses 26-27 clarify that “An eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth” calls for fair compensation, not
retaliatory mutilation.
Justice – Capital Punishment
• Several forms of capital punishment are mentioned in
Torah – stoning, burning, sword, strangling (note not
crucifixion)
• Deut. 19:15: One witness shall not rise up against a man
for any iniquity … at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the
mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.
• Note origin of 5th Amendment – this verse prevents torturing
a confession from accused.
• Further, witnesses were required to be mature and of high
character.
• Further, in capital case, witnesses were required to warn
accused during commission of crime of possible capital
punishment.
• Further, accused was allowed to interrupt execution with
additional testimony - repeatedly
• Result: capital punishment rare in Jewish justice – a court
that executed a criminal twice in 70 years was called
destructive.
Justice – Right and Good
• Deut. 6:18: And you shall do that which is
right and good….
• Why “and good”? Sometimes “right” (legal
entitlement) is not “good.”
• D’varim Rabbah 3:3: Simon ben Shetach
bought a donkey and found a gem in the
animal’s collar. It was his legal right to
keep the gem, but he insisted on returning
it to the animal’s seller.
• In civil suits, Jewish ideal is compromise
settlement – “good” above “right”
Government
• King must be student & scribe (Deut.
17:18-19) of Torah, and is subject to
Torah.
• Divided government – separation of
courts, king (tribe of Judah), priests
(Levites descended from Aaron),
prophets; see esp. Deut. 16:18 – 18:22
• System of multi-tiered appellate courts
recommended by Jethro (Ex. 18:13-26);
judges to be learned in law, capable and
hating bribes
Torah Study – Religious Obligation
Hillel taught:
 Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and
pursuing peace, loving thy fellow creatures and
drawing them near to Torah … Avot 1:12
 …He who does not study, deserves to die….
Avot 1:13
 ... Do not say, when I have leisure I will study;
perhaps you will have no leisure. Avot 2:5
Shammai taught: Fix a period for your study of
Torah…. Avot 1:15
Torah is compared to
• Water, wine, milk, bread in Isaiah 55:1-2
(urges buy these without money and
without price – thus, they represent Torah
wisdom, acquired without money). As
one can’t go without water for 3 days,
Torah is read in public every Mon.,
Thurs., Sat.
• Light, fire: Deut. 33: 2, 4: The Lord came
from Sinai … at His right hand was a fiery
law …. Moses commanded us the Torah
….
Torah compared to fig tree
• Proverbs 27:18: One who tends a fig tree will
enjoy its fruit....
• Why is Torah compared to a fig tree? Most trees
& vines -- olive, grape, date -- have their fruit
ripen together, but fig tree's fruit is picked
gradually over a long time. Similarly with the
Torah: “You learn some today and more
tomorrow; you cannot learn it all at once.”
• Further, fig trees are beautiful & give pleasant
shade; Torah is described in Proverbs 3:13-18:
Happy is the one that finds wisdom .... Her ways
are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold
upon her, and happy is every one that holds her
fast.
Torah compared to Song
• Deut. 31:30: And Moses spoke in the ears of
Israel the words of this song …
• Direct reference of “song” is Deut. 32:1-47, but
reference is extended to entire Torah. Why?
• Much of Torah is difficult. However, unlike many
other areas of intellectual activity that appeal only
to specialists, but like song, all can enjoy & learn
Torah at their own level. As a professional
musician or songwriter appreciates a song
differently than average person, a Torah scholar
appreciates Torah differently from the average
person, but both can learn & enjoy.
Methods of Torah Study
Avot 5: 24: Ben Bag-Bag taught: Turn it [Torah] over, turn it
over, for in it is contained everything ….
Torah is studied using a variety of methods. For an introduction to
several of them, with examples, see my presentation at
http://faculty.niagara.edu/boxer/essays/rel/presentations/study.ppt
Torah Commentators
Torah is studied with the aid of the commentary of
great scholars. Some of these commentaries:
• Talmud – English version from Soncino, 18 vol.
• Midrash Rabbah – English version from Soncino,
~12 vol. - compilation developed over several
centuries from teachings of many
• Rashi – Rabbi Shlomo (Solomon) ben Yitzhak,
French, 1040-1105 – “Father of Commentators”
• Ramban – Rabbi Moses ben Nachman
(Nachmanides), Spanish, 1194-1268
• R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, German, 1808-1888
Torah Commentators
More commentators:
• R. Joseph Hertz – British, 20th Cent. –
Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Soncino – a popular
commentary
• Nechama Leibowitz – Israeli, 20th Century – New
Studies in
Bereshit/Shmot/Vayikra/Bamidbar/Devarim,
Jerusalem, World Zionist Organization –
interprets & compares great commentators’ work
• Etz Hayim, Jewish Publication Society, 2001 – a
popular commentary compiled by modern
scholars