The Jewish faith does not stop with "And G-d created the heavens and the
earth." It starts there. It continues to acknowledge that "I am the
L-rd your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt." He is a living G-d,
who continues to play a role in the universe He created. He is a sovereign G-d,
who is concerned about the behavior of the people He created, and to that end
has found ways to make His will known to mankind.
Central to the belief in a living G-d is the Jewish belief that He
communicated His will and His commandments to the creature whom He endowed with
free will, but whom He called to be His obedient servant. The very essence of
Judaism rests upon the acceptance of a spiritual-historical event in which our
ancestors participated as a group, as well as upon acceptance of subsequent
spiritual revelations to the Prophets of Israel. The extraordinary historical
event I refer to is the promulgation of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. G-d's
will was also made manifest in the Written Torah, written down by Moses under
Divine prophecy during the forty-year period after the exodus.
Side by side with the Five Books of Moses (Pentateuch), we believe that G-d's
will was also made manifest in the Oral Tradition or Oral Torah which also had
its source at Sinai, revealed to Moses and then orally taught by him to the
religious heads of Israel. The Written Torah itself alludes to these oral
instructions. This Oral Torah - which clarifies and provides the details for
many of the commandments contained in the Written Torah - was transmitted from
generation to generation until finally recorded in the second century to become
the cornerstone upon which the Talmud was built.
Torah is a record of G-d reaching out to man, and not vice versa. No
interpretation of Judaism is Jewishly valid if it does not posit G-d as the
source of Torah.
What is "the Torah"?
Technically it refers to the Five Books of Moses. This is the Written Torah (Torah
SheBiktav). The scroll upon which it is written and which is kept in the
Holy Ark of the synagogue is called a Scroll of the Torah (Sefer Torah).
In a sense, this is the constitution of the Jewish people. By Torah is also
meant the Oral Torah (Torah She-B'al Peh) "which Moses received at
Sinai, and transmitted to Joshua, and Joshua to the Elders, and the Elders to
the Prophets, and the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly..." (Ethics
of the Fathers 1:1).
The Oral Torah included the finer points of the commandments, the details of
the general principles contained in the Scriptures and the ways by which the
commandments were to be applied. For example, the Torah forbids "work"
on the Sabbath. What constitutes "work"? How shall "work" be
defined for purposes of the Sabbath? Except for several references to such tasks
as gathering wood, kindling fire, cooking and baking, the Written Torah does not
say. The Oral Torah does.
The Written Torah commands that animals needed for food be killed "as I
have commanded you" (Deuteronomy 12:21). How shall this slaughtering take
place? What regulations govern such slaughtering? The Written Torah does not
say. The Oral Torah does.
The Written Torah commands us to "bind them as a sign upon your hands
and as frontlets between your eyes." This reference to tefillin
leaves us in the dark as to how they were to be made up, what they were to
consist of, how they were to be donned. The Written Torah does not say. The Oral
The Written Torah prescribes capital punishment for various crimes. What
legal rules and procedures had to be followed before such a verdict could be
handed down? What were the limitations? The Written Torah does not say. The Oral
Ultimately, this Oral Torah was reduced to writing. During the second century
C.E., it was incorporated into the Mishnah, which in turn became the cornerstone
for the Gemara which consists of the monumental records and minutes of the case
discussions and legal debates conducted by the Sages. Mishnah and Gemara
together make up the Talmud.
The Torah, whether Written or Oral, is the teaching that directs man how to
live. Although it speaks primarily to Israel, it also has directives for all of
mankind. It is concerned with every aspect of human life. Ritual laws, generally
thought of as "religious observances," are only part of the total
complex of commandments. The commandments of the Torah, its statutes and
regulations, cover the entire range of human and social behavior. It asserts its
jurisdiction in areas of behavior which in other religions are generally thought
of as belonging to the ethical or moral domains or to the jurisdiction of
secular civil and criminal codes of law. Even its non-legal and non-statutory
sections stress spiritual truths and convey insight into the still finer
extra-legal ethical and moral norms of behavior.
The rest of the books of the Hebrew Bible, written over a period of many
centuries, consists of the Prophets (Neviim) and the Sacred Writings (Ketuvim).
These books convey the teachings of the Prophets in the context of Israel's
history over a period of about seven hundred years. They tell of the Prophets'
visions of G-d and of their ongoing struggles to promote greater allegiance
among the people to the teachings of the Torah; of their struggles against the
many false prophets and priests who so often misled the people and turned them
away from G-d and the Torah. Among these books is the inspirational Psalms that
reflects man's deepest religious sentiments.
The Torah, with the Neviim and the Ketuvim are together
referred to as TaNaKh. (This is what the Christian world and non-Jews calls the
"Old Testament" but which to the Jew has always been the only
testament.) In the broadest sense, however, the study of Torah refers not only
to the Scriptures and the Oral Torah, but also to the entire body of rabbinic
legislation and interpretation based upon the Torah that developed over the
centuries. For the Torah was always a living law, constantly applied by a living
people to real conditions that were often changing. Though these are obviously
the result of human efforts, they are an integral part of the entire body of
religious jurisprudence to which the Torah itself grants authoritative status:
"And you shall observe and do according to all that they shall teach you.
According to the law which they shall teach you and according to the judgment
which they shall tell you, you shall do" (Deuteronomy 17:10-11).
Torah is the embodiment of the Jewish faith. It contains the terms of his
Covenant with G-d. It is what makes a Jew Jewish.