Jews, like Christians and Muslims, are frequently considered “People of the Book”. Anita Diamant thinks that it is more accurate to call the Jews “The People of the Library”. Living a Jewish Life, 2007, p. 71. From Book to a library – is that a way of all religions? In addition to Tenekh there are the additional books - Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, and Siddur. To get to know about Jewish books, particularly the Jewish Bible (Tenekh) you may visit www.judaism.com.
Tenakh
The Jews believe that Torah, with 613 commandments or mitzvot, a part of the Hebrew Scriptures, or the most Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish people, contains God’s conversations with Moses that was passed on to the people. Out of the 613 commandments 248 are the “to do” and the rest of the 365 are “not to do”.
Reading the Torah – the collection of five books, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – is a regular part of the Jewish community worship that takes place once a week. Torah is kept in the Ark of the synagogue. The Torah is always read in Hebrew language.
[A Jew uses a yad, a pointer to guide the reading.]
Jews believe that God spoke the Torah to Moses directly and Moses wrote them down without any error. No word of the Torah has been changed ever since then. However, this belief is modified among the different groups of Jews – Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Progressive Jews.
The Jews believe in prophets and other wise people who were raised from among the Hebrew people to call people to the “obedience of God”. Their writings were also collected and named Nevi’im and Ketuvim respectively. It is the collection of these writings – Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim – makes the Jewish Holy Scriptures Tenakh. The Jews read a part of Nevi’im every week after they read the Torah. During festival times they also read parts of Ketuvim. Psalms, part of the Ketuvim, are songs sung all the time.
Books that belong to the three categories of the Tenakh – Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim are to be found in LR p. 236. You are expected to become familiar with these books and to which category they belong! You may note that Christians also use all these books but will categorize slightly different!
Consider the following quotes from the Tenekh:
From the Law:
1. For the “Ten Commandments” (Exodus 20:2-17), please read LR, p. 244.
From the Prophets:
2. “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, I will not accept them;and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5: 21-24)
From the Writings:
“I passed by the field of one who was lazy, by the vineyard of a stupid person; and see, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior.” (Proverbs 24: 30-34)
Mishnah
Jews believe that there are other writings of great importance. For hundreds of years the teachers and leaders of the Jewish community known as rabbi handed down oral traditions on how to keep the 613 mitzvot. These were later written down and came to be known as Mishnah. Jews studied the Mishnah very carefully and listened to the discussions of the rabbi on the Mishnah. It is a reference to a “process”.
Talmud
Around 500 C.E decided to write down the Mishnah all those discussions and called it Talmud, which is now very important for the Jews today. It is a collection of books. It is a reference to a “process”.
Please look at these quotes from Talmud:
1. “He who loves his wife as himself; who honours her more than himself; who rears his children in the right path, and who marries them off at the proper time of their life, concerning him it is written: “And you will know that your home is of peace.” (Yebamoth 62)
Here are some from Pirke Avot (Chapters of the Ancestors or Sayings of the Fathers):
2. “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And, if not now, when?" (Hillel)
3. “You do not have to finish the work but you are not free to neglect it!” (Tarfon)
4. “Who is wise? The one who learns from everyone. Who is strong? The one who controls oneself. Who is rich? The one who is happy with what he has. Who is honourable? The one who honours others.” (Ben Zoma)
Midrash
The Jews have another concept called midrash, explanation or interpretation, to the Tenakh. It is generally a story to explain what is in the Tenakh. It is the concept of “commentary” that you see among Christians or tafsir of the Muslims. One may say that the Talmud is a kind of a Midrash, a commentary to the Tenakh.
Please look at this Story from the Midrash:
This story explores how Abraham turned away from idol worship, a story that has resemblance to the story in the Holy Qur’an (21:51-64) of the Muslims!
“Abraham’s father was an idol merchant and left him in charge of the store one day. Abraham at all the statues, of different sizzes and materiels, then took a large hammer and smashed them one by one – all but the very biggest. His father was furious with him but Abraham pointed to the idol and said, “That one did it!
‘Don’t be stupid’, replied his father. ‘It couldn’t possibly … Idols have no power!’
‘Then why do you worship them?’ …”
Tenakh
The Jews believe that Torah, with 613 commandments or mitzvot, a part of the Hebrew Scriptures, or the most Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish people, contains God’s conversations with Moses that was passed on to the people. Out of the 613 commandments 248 are the “to do” and the rest of the 365 are “not to do”.
Reading the Torah – the collection of five books, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – is a regular part of the Jewish community worship that takes place once a week. Torah is kept in the Ark of the synagogue. The Torah is always read in Hebrew language.
[A Jew uses a yad, a pointer to guide the reading.]
Jews believe that God spoke the Torah to Moses directly and Moses wrote them down without any error. No word of the Torah has been changed ever since then. However, this belief is modified among the different groups of Jews – Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Progressive Jews.
The Jews believe in prophets and other wise people who were raised from among the Hebrew people to call people to the “obedience of God”. Their writings were also collected and named Nevi’im and Ketuvim respectively. It is the collection of these writings – Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim – makes the Jewish Holy Scriptures Tenakh. The Jews read a part of Nevi’im every week after they read the Torah. During festival times they also read parts of Ketuvim. Psalms, part of the Ketuvim, are songs sung all the time.
Books that belong to the three categories of the Tenakh – Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim are to be found in LR p. 236. You are expected to become familiar with these books and to which category they belong! You may note that Christians also use all these books but will categorize slightly different!
Consider the following quotes from the Tenekh:
From the Law:
1. For the “Ten Commandments” (Exodus 20:2-17), please read LR, p. 244.
From the Prophets:
2. “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, I will not accept them;and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5: 21-24)
From the Writings:
“I passed by the field of one who was lazy, by the vineyard of a stupid person; and see, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want, like an armed warrior.” (Proverbs 24: 30-34)
Mishnah
Jews believe that there are other writings of great importance. For hundreds of years the teachers and leaders of the Jewish community known as rabbi handed down oral traditions on how to keep the 613 mitzvot. These were later written down and came to be known as Mishnah. Jews studied the Mishnah very carefully and listened to the discussions of the rabbi on the Mishnah. It is a reference to a “process”.
Talmud
Around 500 C.E decided to write down the Mishnah all those discussions and called it Talmud, which is now very important for the Jews today. It is a collection of books. It is a reference to a “process”.
Please look at these quotes from Talmud:
1. “He who loves his wife as himself; who honours her more than himself; who rears his children in the right path, and who marries them off at the proper time of their life, concerning him it is written: “And you will know that your home is of peace.” (Yebamoth 62)
Here are some from Pirke Avot (Chapters of the Ancestors or Sayings of the Fathers):
2. “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And, if not now, when?" (Hillel)
3. “You do not have to finish the work but you are not free to neglect it!” (Tarfon)
4. “Who is wise? The one who learns from everyone. Who is strong? The one who controls oneself. Who is rich? The one who is happy with what he has. Who is honourable? The one who honours others.” (Ben Zoma)
Midrash
The Jews have another concept called midrash, explanation or interpretation, to the Tenakh. It is generally a story to explain what is in the Tenakh. It is the concept of “commentary” that you see among Christians or tafsir of the Muslims. One may say that the Talmud is a kind of a Midrash, a commentary to the Tenakh.
Please look at this Story from the Midrash:
This story explores how Abraham turned away from idol worship, a story that has resemblance to the story in the Holy Qur’an (21:51-64) of the Muslims!
“Abraham’s father was an idol merchant and left him in charge of the store one day. Abraham at all the statues, of different sizzes and materiels, then took a large hammer and smashed them one by one – all but the very biggest. His father was furious with him but Abraham pointed to the idol and said, “That one did it!
‘Don’t be stupid’, replied his father. ‘It couldn’t possibly … Idols have no power!’
‘Then why do you worship them?’ …”
Question to Explore:
Discuss how the Jewish community balances the growth with her rootedness in the "revelations" given to the ancient sages by discussing the concept of the sacred writings of the Jewish community.
