What is Torah?
The Torah makes up the first 5 books of the holy book of the Jewish religion and originates from the Hebrew term Yará, which means teaching, instruction, or the law.
It is considered a guide for Jews, with 613 commandments that teach how they should or should not act, whether in the social, family, or religious relationships, for example.
The Torah tells the story of God's creation of the world, the arrival of the Jewish people in Israel, and the death of Moses on Mount Nob. It consists of five books and is equivalent to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Christian Bible. Are they:
Bereshit, also known as Genesis;
Shemot, also known as Exodus;
Vayikrah, also known as Leviticus;
Bamidbar, also known as Numbers;
Devarim, also known as Deuteronomy.
There are two types of Torah: written, which contains the 613 written commandments, and oral, which is the set of instructions that teach how to fulfill the commandments of the Written Torah.
Among these 613 commandments, 248 are considered positive teachings, which guide the Jewish people to what should be done, and the other 365 are considered negative teachings, which instruct them on what should not be done.
The Jews consider that Moses wrote the Torah through the teachings of the God of Israel, which passed directly to him. This revelation from God to Moses took place 50 days after the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.
Upon leaving Egypt, the Jews wandered for forty years through the desert towards the so-called Promised Land, where Israel is located.
Throughout that time, Moses was responsible for transcribing the teachings received by God and transmitting them to the prophets of the time and the Jewish people. Therefore, the Torah is also called by the Jews Torat Moshe, the Law of Moses, considered the greatest prophet by Jewish tradition.
For public Torah readings, Jews divide the books into small sections and begin reading them in order, starting with Genesis and ending with Deuteronomy.
When dividing the book, the small excerpts are read three times throughout the week, inside the Synagogues, on specific days:
on Mondays and Thursdays, small sections are read,
and the main reading takes place on Saturday mornings, a holy day for Jews called Shabbat by Jewish tradition.
These Torah scrolls, distributed on parchments, are called Sefer Torah and are the holiest objects in Judaism.
The origin and history of the Torah
The teachings that make up the Torah were sent by God to Moses on top of Mount Sinai, during the exodus of the Jewish people, which took place between 1300 and 1250 BC.
