- What is the Torah?
- Origin of the Torah
- The five books of the Torah
- Differences between the Torah and the Talmud
- The Torah and the Bible
- The Mishnah
We explain what the Torah is and how it differs from the Talmud in the Jewish religion. In addition, we tell you what are the books that compose it.
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 religion Jewish, which contains the founding laws and stories of the Jewish people and identity. Its content is equivalent to the first five books of the Bible, known in the Christianity What Pentateuch and in the Islam What At-Tawrat.
The content of the Torah is, for the Judaism, the set of instructions, disclosures and commandments delivered 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 hejal from every Hebrew synagogue, manually transcribed onto a set of carefully rolled parchments, which unfold across two wooden rollers.
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 takes a dim view of its translation or alteration.
It is for all this that 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 gifts to young Hebrew families.
The Torah is a book of uses not only rituals, but also ornamental and symbolic, 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 God as a model for the creation of the universe.
Instead, lay Torah scholars hold that it was written between the 5th and 6th centuries BCE. C., although it is possible that its composition took place at different times and places, and that the text we know today is the result of various editing and rewriting processes at the hands of different authors.
However, there is no specialized consensus on the matter: some scholars suppose 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 really is a historical compilation, the result 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. c.
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 (Vayikra or וַיִּקְרָא), Numbers (bamid bar 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 the humanity, as well as the appearance of the first prophet of antiquity, Abraham, whose descendants were chosen by God to form the tribe of Israel, the favorite of the creator. Throughout four literary "movements", the story of Jacob is also narrated, then that of his son, his son Joseph, and culminates with the presence of the Israelis in Egypt, where they lived in conditions of slavery.
- Exodus. Its name in Hebrew means “Names” and contains the story of the Israelite people leaving Egypt for the Promised Land of Canaan under the guidance of the prophet Moses. In this chapter the people of Israel become aware of their ethnic and identity unity, and as proof of this they receive from God the sacred laws by which they will be guided. So the chapter also contains the detail of his prayers, hymns and laws.
- Levitical. His name in Hebrew means "He called", since most of his sections contain the explicit laws, instructions and orders that God issued to Moses to teach the Israelites. This 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 expiations.
- 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 chiefs of the tribes, the rebellious men, the slaughtered heads of cattle and many other details. logistical and historical references to the young people of Israel. This chapter culminates with the Jews crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land of Canaan.
- Deuteronomy. His 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 contains 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 that Moses gave to the Jews before entering the Promised Land, in which he explains the laws that must govern the nascent kingdom of Israel: laws for the warmarriage laws, moral laws and logistics, and laws on 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 their character and composition. The first contains, fundamentally, the account of the creation of the identity Jewish: the exodus from Egypt and escape from slavery, the shaping 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 laws and laws are discussed and detailed. traditions Jews, through parables, legends and sayings. Therefore, it is a text subsequent and complementary to the principles set forth in the Torah and developed in the rest of the Tanach (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 assumed to have been dictated by God to the prophet Moses, the writing of the Talmud is attributed to ancient rabbinic scholars.
It was these scholars who received from Rabbi Yehuda Hanasí (Judah I), sometime in the late 2nd century AD. C. or beginning of the III d. C., a transcription of the Torah (the Mishnah) for the purpose of being disclosed and saved from the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem. Thus, there are two major historical editions of this book: that of Jerusalem (from the fourth century approximately) and that of Babylon (from the fifth century approximately).
The Torah and the Bible
The Torah and the Bible agree to some extent in their retelling 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. That means that the Bible contains the narratives of the Torah, but the entire Bible is not contained in the latter.
The Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishnah (in Hebrew מִשְׁנָה, "repetition") is the first great compilation of the foundational traditions, laws and stories of the Hebrew people, which were passed from generation to generation orally. This first written work is the basis of rabbinical literature and is attributed to Rabbi Yehuda Hanasí (135-219), born 80 years after the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem, who would have compiled all this traditional material in order to preserve it. and spread it among rabbinical scholars.
The Mishnah is written mostly in Mishnaic Hebrew, with some parts in Aramaic, and contains six orders (sedarim) with from seven to twelve treated (masechtot), subdivided into chapters and paragraphs. These six sections are:
- Zeraim. Referring to the religious commandments regarding prayers and food, in accordance with the Jewish law on the matter, the Halajá.
- Moed. Referring to Jewish holidays, fasts and Shabbat.
- Nashim. Referred to the details of married life and family law.
- Nezikin. Referring to the Jewish laws on the civil law, penal Y trade, that is, about the trade, private goods and the provision of Justice.
- Kodashim.Referring to the Temple of Jerusalem and the rites that must take place in it, such as animal sacrifices, priestly service and the slaughter of cattle according to the Jewish method (kashrut).
- Tohorot. Referring to the precepts of corporal purification (Niddah), distinguishing between pure and impure behaviors and elements.