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| Sefer Torah at old Glockengasse Synagogue (reconstruction), Cologne, Germany |
The etymological
meaning of "Torah" is direction, teaching, instruction, or doctrine.
Its root in Hebrew is ירה, (yareh) which means to shoot an arrow in order to
hit a mark. The mark or target is the truth about God and how one relates to
Him.
Meanwhile,
in the Rabbinic Judaism terminology, Torah may refers many different definitions
depending on which context it referred to. The first and very limited sense is
the five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) given by
God to Moses in Mount Sinai. Other experts say that Torah refers to all the law
given to Moses the written Torah and the Oral Torah. While, in the broader
sense, Torah refers to the whole body of Jewish law and teachings.
TORAH SHEBICHTAV (WRITTEN TORAH)
Torah
Shebichtav or written Torah are
the five books of Moses dictated by God to Moses in the Mount Sinai, Egypt.
This revelation happened during Moses’ exodus together with the Hebrew people
(ancestry of seven sons of Abraham) escaping from Pharaoh’s tyranny to the
promised land of Canaan. The reason of the exodus was because the Hebrew
people, who were very well-accepted in Egypt when Joseph becomes one of the
rules of Egypt, underwent very terrible treatment by Pharaoh, one of which is
slavery.
In
Christianity this written Torah is called the Old Testaments. Regardless to
some insignificant changes in the way and which language it is written, the
ideas found in Torah is exactly similar to that in the Old Testament of Bible. It
concludes us that in Judaism there is no Old Testaments nor New Testaments.
Another way to call the written Torah is Tanakh,
meaning law of Judaism or the Jewish Bible.
The five
books of Moses teaches moral and ethics by telling the stories of the previous
prophets of the Abrahamic religion (Monotheism) and ways of living under the
Judaism law. Each part of the five books are named based on the several
beginning verses. They are Bereishith
(In the beginning...) later on translated as Genesis in English; Shemoth (The
names...) as Exodus; Vayiqra (And He called...) as Leviticus; Bamidbar (In the
wilderness...) as Numbers; and Devarim (The words...) as Deuteronomy.
Genesis
Genesis begins
with the creation process of the universe, the creation of the first human
(Adam) and his descent. It continues with the story of the three patriarchs
(Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and Joseph as well as the four matriarchs (Sarah,
Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel). God promised the patriarchs the land of Canaan.
However, Jacob’s sons decided to leave Canaan for Egypt for famine suffering
Canaan.
Exodus
Exodus
presents the revelation of a teaching for Hebrew people though Moses in Mount
Sinai on their journey out of Egypt. They accept the teaching and agree to be
His worshiper and obey His law. It also tells about the first violation of the
covenant upon the Golden Calf Idolization. It is finished with the instruction
of building Tabernacle/Temple and the story of how it is constructed.
Leviticus
Leviticus
explains the procedures of how to utilize the newly built Tabernacle/Temple.
Explanation about cleanliness and uncleanliness, animals permitted to eat, the
law of how to slaughter animals, Day of Atonement, and moral and ritual laws.
This book also include the explanation about rewards for realizing the God’s
commandments and punishment to not doing them.
Numbers
Number
chronicles the consolidation of the Hebrew people to be a community moving
together from Sinai to the promised land of Canaan. At that time, Canaan was
full of infidels that the Hebrew people could not just migrate to it. They
wander in the desert for forty years in the surrounding area of Kadesh. The
book is ended up with that they reach Moab opposite Jericho region and are
ready to enter the Promised Land.
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
contains a series of religious preaching by Moses on the land of Moab opposite
Jericho. The essential topic of the book is a warning to the Children of Israel
to not worship idolatry, to not walk on the way of the infidels.
Today’s
Written Torah are kept in Ark of Covenant in Synagogues. When reading the
written Torah, one is supposed to not touch it, some say because it is too
sacral to be touched by humans, some say humans are supposed to not contaminate
its purity, some others say that human’s sweat contain acid that can break the
leather over time. People read it with the help of a pointer call “Yad”, in
Hebrew Yad means hand, the pointer is in the shape of hand.
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| Torah Ark of the Szeged Synagogue |
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| A yad resting on an open Torah scroll. |
Sources:
TORAH SHEBE'AL PEH
(SPOKEN TORAH)
Torah
Shebe'al Peh or Spoken Torah is a part of the Jewish Bible
(whole body of Jewish law/ Tanakh) which
is the commentary to the written Torah. Some verses of the written Torah are
taught with insufficient details, they need further explanation so that the
commandments or Mitzvos are easily
understandable. The details to those verses are found in the Spoken Torah.
According to Rabbinic tradition, the
Spoken Torah is revealed along with the Written Torah to Moses at the same
time, i.e. during his forty day contemplation meeting his God in Mount Sinai. To
avoid incomplete subject, misinterpretation, and abuse, it was prohibited to
record the oral law into writing material as well as to publish it. For
hundreds of years, it remained oral and apprenticed orally from generation to
generation.
In the year of 135 CE, a great revolt led
by Simon Bar-Kokhba arose following the second destruction of Solomon Temple by
Roman ruler in Palestine (Canaan). This failed rebellion caused decline of the
Jewish community. Over a million Jews were persecuted and even killed. Schools
of Torah Studies (Yeshiva) along with
thousands of their rabbinical scholars and students were devastated. The number
of knowledgeable Jews declined in a huge number.
The death of so many Torah teachers made
up Rabbi Jehudah haNasi’s mind to start documenting the Oral Law in to written
materials, it happened approximately in 200 C.E. Rabbi Jehudah decided to take
fast reaction to preserve the Oral Law even if to realize that he would break
the resistance of leading Judaism rabbis upon writing the Oral Law for
centuries.
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| 'Siege and destruction of Jerusalem', La Passion de Nostre Seigneur c.1504 |
The major explanation over the written
Torah is compiled in the Mishnah, compiled
between 200-220 C.E. by Rabbi Yehudah haNasi. A series of commentary and debate
regarding the Mishnah is compiled in
the Gemara. The compilation of the Misnah and Gemara is the Talmud. There are two periods of Talmud production
and publication. First in Jerusalem 300-350 CE, so-called the Jerusalem Talmud,
and second in Babylonia 450-500 CE, so-called the Babylonian Talmud.
Source:
http://www.torah.org/learning/basics/primer/torah/oraltorah.html
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/talmud_&_mishna.html
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