Jewish Sacred Texts

These ancient documents embody not only Judaism's religious precepts, but also
the historical, cultural and social heritage of the Jewish people.

The Babylonian Talmud

 The importance of Judaism's sacred texts extends far beyond their

religious significance. These ancient documents embody not only
Judaism's religious precepts, but also the historical, cultural and social
heritage of the Jewish people. In Israel, where attitudes towards tradition
range from the ultra-orthodox to the secular, sacred texts carry a variety of
meanings - from a spiritual, moral and practical guide to everyday life, to a
historical and cultural wealth which is critically examined and studied.
 The stories, ideas and philosophies of the sacred texts, encompassing
millenia of Jewish study and thought, are evident in much of Israel's
modern culture, which draws on the legacies of the past even as it gives
voice to the issues and concerns of the present.
  
 The Torah
  
 At the basis of all Jewish sacred texts is
the Torah. In its most basic sense, the Torah is the Pentateuch - the five
books of Moses, which tell the story of the Creation of the world, God's
covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the Exodus from Egypt, the
revelation at Mt. Sinai (where God enunciated the Ten Commandments),
the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert, and a recapitulation of that
experience shortly before the entrance to the Promised Land.
  
 The principal message of the Torah is the absolute unity of God, His
creation of the world and His concern for it, and His everlasting covenant
with the people of Israel. The Pentateuch both embodies the heritage of the
Jewish people - retelling its history, setting forth its guiding precepts and
foretelling its destiny - and carries universal messages of monotheism and
social conduct, which have had tremendous impact on western civilization.
Thus, the Torah is also the origin of certain non-Jewish traditions, among
them the recognition of the Sabbath as a day of rest.
 Torah also signifies teaching. The Pentateuch itself uses the
word Torah to denote a specific body of statutes; in this
sense, Torah means "law," and is often so translated generally.
  
 While Jewish tradition has throughout the centuries ascribed divine
authorship to the Torah, many scholars and modern Jewish thinkers hold
that the Torah was compiled incrementally by various authors over a long
period of time, making it not only the shaper of Jewish history but also its
product.
  
 The Bible
  
 The Jewish Bible is known in Hebrew as the Tanakh, an acronym of the
three sets of books which comprise it: the Pentateuch (Torah), the
Prophets (Nevi'im) and the Writings (Ketuvim). The latter two include
nineteen compilations, largely in Hebrew but with certain books of
the Ketuvim also containing extensive portions in Aramaic, which were
composed over a period of centuries - from shortly before the Israelite
conquest of the Land of Israel (13th century BCE) to shortly after the return
to Judah and Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE).
  
 The books of the Prophets contain historical writings covering the period
between the settlement of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and their
exile to Babylon, as well as the moral and religious exhortations of the
Prophets (among them Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel). The Writings, also
known as the Hagiographa, are a mixture of liturgical and secular poetry,
wisdom literature and historical writings.
  
 The Tanakh is the Jewish canon, which assumed its final shape
between the Babylonian exile and the first century CE. The sages who took
part in the finalization of the canon excluded certain texts, known as the
Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, which they did not consider divinely
inspired. The Jewish canon is distinguished from the Christian canon in the
non-inclusion of the New Testament and a slightly different order of
presentation of the Prophets. Diacritical marks (for vocalization,
pronunciation and cantillation) were finalized by the tenth century CE.
  
 Copyists of canon literature for ritual use in synagogues work with
ancient tools (parchment and quill pens) and take the greatest care to avoid
modifying the text in any way. The oldest known parchments (the Dead
Sea Scrolls, produced shortly before the Common Era) are virtually
identical to those produced today.
  
 The Bible is the most translated book in the world. It has been rendered
into more than 200 languages in its entirety, and individual books have
been retold in nearly a thousand tongues for and by non-Jewish peoples.
Its translation began with the Septuagint (a translation into Greek rendered
for Jewish use in Egypt) in the early third century BCE.
  
 Although canon texts are never amended or edited within the context of
their religious use, Biblical criticism - an academic discipline that takes a
historical and critical approach to the canon - has compiled a massive body
of scholarship since its coalescence in the nineteenth century.
  
 Commentaries on the Canon
  
 The Bible has given rise to numerous commentaries, which are included
among the Jewish sacred writings. The first known Jewish commentaries
date from the second century BCE, when Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the
vernacular. Although also known as targumim - translations - they are
interpretive and contain fragments of exegesis and legend. There are
targumim for all the biblical books except for those written largely in
Aramaic.
  
 Rabbinical commentaries have proliferated from the Talmudic era (see
below) to the present day. Their purpose, in many cases, was to make the
biblical text, as well as the rabbinic traditions concerning it, accessible to
medieval and then modern audiences. The approaches of the
commentators range from the literal to the mystical, with careful attention
being paid even to minute details in the Biblical text: an ellipsis, a
grammatical oddity, a "misspelling," or even a letter of a different size may
elicit a torrent of commentary. The best-known rabbinical commentator on
the Bible is Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040-1105), who tried to
strike a balance between literal explication of the text and classical rabbinic
homiletics.
  
 The Oral Law
  
 The Mishna
 According to tradition, the oral law - a hermeneutic, interpretive, and
analytic exegesis of the Torah, the written law - was given to Moses at Mt.
Sinai and handed down by a succession of lay and clerical elites. By the
second century BCE, and especially after the destruction of the Second
Temple (70 CE), the rabbinical leadership, faced with a proliferation of
traditions and interpretations, began to arrange and edit the material. The
final result was a document redacted and arranged by Rabbi Judah Hanasi
(second century CE) and called the Mishna, a word signifying "repetition"
and "teaching." Sages whose teachings are mentioned in the Mishna are
 known as Tanna'im. The Tannaitic period, during which the Mishna was
compiled, lasted from the destruction of the Second Temple to the early
part of the third century CE.
  
 The Mishna is divided into six orders, each comprised of tractates,
ordinarily reckoned at 63 in number. Each tractate is divided into chapters,
which in turn contain various numbers of teachings, each also known as
a Mishna (pl.: Mishnayot).
  
 Other material from this period, which was not included in the Mishna,
can be found in the Tosefta or in additional teachings, known as Baraitot,
found in the two Talmudim (see below). The Mishna as well as this
supplementary material are written almost exclusively in Hebrew.
 The Mishna is also an important source with regard to matters of the
Temple rite and lay customs of the time.
  
 The Talmud
 With the advent of the Mishna, a class of rabbis known
as Amora'im (third century CE through the sixth century) discussed this
document, elaborated on it, performed emendations and reconciled
ostensible contradictions. The totality of their endeavor is the Gemara.
The Gemara and the Mishna together form the Talmud (pl. Talmudim) - a
word that refers to the act of study.
  
 There are in fact two Talmudim, Jerusalem (compiled in the Land of
Israel) and Babylonian. The Babylonian Talmud covers 37 of the 63
standard tractates and includes several later works - 2.5 million words on
4,894 folio pages in all. The Jerusalem Talmud is structured differently -
shorter, more succinct, at times cryptic, and more focused on legal matters.
The Babylonian Talmud contains more Biblical homiletics and exegesis,
and its argumentation is easier to follow. The Gemara generally adheres to
the structure of the Mishna, but branches associatively into other matters,
creating a free-form admixture of remarks - legalistic, anecdotal and ethical.
  
 Unlike the Mishna, much Talmudic discourse is in Aramaic. Because of
the Talmud's special nature and its role as the basis for religious rulings,
many of them applying to daily life, the commentaries on this work are
especially copious.
  
 The Talmudic style is often either conversational or elliptic, in the
manner of "lecture notes." Unlike biblical texts, Talmudic passages have
innumerable variant readings and abound with copyists' errors, erroneous
insertions, and euphemisms meant to circumvent hostile censors.
  
 Aside from their primary religious purpose, both Talmudim contain
important information regarding the events, customs and language of their
time. As such, they have been studied at length by modern scholars of
history, religion and linguistics.
  
 The systematizing of the Talmud began several generations before its
final version was produced in the early sixth century CE. The earliest
fragmentary manuscripts of the Talmud extant today may date from the
ninth century. The first complete printed Talmud was produced in 1520-
1523 by Daniel Bomberg, a Christian. His edition created an external form
of the Talmud that has survived without change ever since, including
pagination and the layout of the major commentaries.
  
 Alongside the Mishna and the Talmud grew a corpus of texts dedicated
to the exegesis of the Bible, known as the Midrash (pl. midrashim). The
earliest texts of Midrash contain exegetical traditions of the Sages from the
period of the Tannai'm. These texts are dedicated to both Halakhic (legal)
and Aggadic (homiletical) exegesis.
  
 During the period of the Amorai'm, the exegesis of the Bible was mainly
limited to homiletical matters (Aggadah). The main collection of Amoraic
exegesis is the Midrash Rabbah, ordered according to the books of the
Bible and containing both line-by-line exegesis (e.g., Bereshith Rabbah - on
Genesis) and more developed sermonic material (e.g., Vayikrah Rabbah -
on Leviticus).
  
 Commentaries on the Oral Law
  
 Just as the Mishna required a "commentary" in the form of
the Gemara as soon as it was redacted, so did the Talmud need explication
once it assumed its definitive form. The first running commentaries on
the Talmud (as distinct from limited remarks) took shape in the tenth
century. Rashi's eleventh-century commentary, spanning nearly all
 tractates of the Babylonian Talmud, remains the most popular and
influential work of its type.
  
 Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) wrote the first comprehensive
commentary on the entire Mishna - an Arabic work translated into Hebrew
in the late thirteenth century.
  
 Commentaries on the Talmud, including the Mishna, are so vast as to
account, in nearly microscopic print, for half - if not most - of the pages in a
standard Talmudic volume. On a typical page of Talmud, a small quantity of
text is bracketed by two commentaries: Rashi's and that of the Tosafot, the
work of 12th-14th century rabbis who refer to other locations in
the Talmud in order to clarify and resolve perceived inconsistencies.
Arrayed around this material, in the margins of the page, are textual
emendations, references to biblical verses and miscellaneous specialized
remarks.
  
 Halakhic (Legal) Literature
  
 Neither the Mishna nor the Talmud is a true code of law. Because both
the rabbinical leadership and the laypersons desired such a code - for
religious purposes and for the administration of their autonomous
communities - post-Talmudic authorities developed a genre of "arbitership"
that followed two paths: responsa and formal codification. Each seeks to
refine the Talmudic eclectic into lucid rules for religious and civil conduct,
coupled with inspirational and moral messages.
  
 Responsa
  
 Responsa are a Jewish "common law." Usually originating in laypersons'
queries to rabbis, they date to the Talmudic period. By the tenth century, as
the Jewish dispersion widened, the number of responsa reached tens of
thousands. Although the first collection of responsa appeared in the first
half of the eighth century, the arbiters did not generally publish their
responsa in book form, as many do today.
 Responsa are important not only in their explication of legal and ritual
minutiae, but in the light they shed on Jewish history. Whenever a new
halakhic code gained wide acceptance, new opportunities and needs for
 responsa arose. Collections of responsa have been produced for all
circumstances, including Nazi ghettos and concentration camps. Some
collections are so thoroughly studied that their authors are known by the
names of their books only.
  
 The Codes
  
 However comprehensive the responsa can be, they are no substitute for
a constant and readily consultable legal code. The aim in creating such a
code was to form a legal system for current use, at once authoritative and
anchored in earlier sources.
  
 The first prescriptive legal code arranged by subject matter,
the Halakhot Pesuqot, appeared in the 8th century. A breakthrough
endeavor in this respect was Sefer Hahalachot (Book of Laws) by Rabbi
Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi (1013-1103). Arranged in the order of 24 Talmudic
tractates, it covers only laws used at the time - excluding, for example, the
sacrificial rite. This was followed shortly afterwards and is best represented
by Maimonides' Mishne Torah. The very name of this book suggests a
recapitulation of the oral law, and the text is set forth in
pure Mishnaic Hebrew. The novelty of the Mishne Torah is its ambition to
be free-standing. After he refined the entire Talmud into definitive rulings,
Maimonides reasoned, Jews should not have to consult any work other
than his.
  
 Maimonides' work was severely criticized in some quarters for its
audacity. An army of critics, defenders, and neutral commentators has
spent the interceding centuries probing and debating the sources of some
of his rulings, which he did not cite. This process defeated Maimonides'
purpose: Jewry at large, except for the Yemenite community, did not
embrace his code as its exclusive source of halakhic authority.
  
 Foremost among the later codifiers was Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-
1575), who combined Maimonidean and Alfasian elements along with the
four-division structure of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher into a new code, entitled
the Shulhan Arukh (the "Set Table"). The Shulhan Arukh is even more
succinct and conclusive than the Mishne Torah, dispensing not only with
sources but also with ethical remarks and explications of rules. It also
overlooked the customs and halakhic rulings of Ashkenazi Jewry. To
 correct this, Rabbi Moses Isserles of Poland (1525 or 1530-1572) authored
a "Tablecloth" for Caro's "table." This action, in addition to two 17th century
commentaries - Magen Avraham and Turei Zahav - has made the Shulhan
Arukh the abiding authority for nearly all Orthodox Jews.
  
 Mysticism
  
 Jewish mysticism is preoccupied with esoteric matters extending beyond
the legally-oriented literature. The "generic" collective name of this branch
of sacred texts, kabbala (from the Hebrew lekabel, to receive, signifying
knowledge handed down by tradition) represents the esoteric teachings of
Judaism, especially those that emerged in the twelfth century and
thereafter. In its wider sense, kabbala denotes Jewish mysticism in its
entirety.
  
 Kabbalistic writings created a Jewish "mystical theology" that has its
own sub-genres and terminology. They seek God in all things, probe His
mysteries and explore relations between divine and human life. Important
kabbalistic themes include angelology and demonology, the traits and
secret names of God and eschatology (the study of the End of Days).
  
 The main work in kabbala is the Zohar ("Splendor"), a body of literature
including exegetical statements, homilies, and eclectic discussions that
parallel the weekly Torah portions and the first part of the Song of Songs.
While Kabbalistic tradition traces the Zohar to the Mishnaic sage Rabbi
Simeon bar Yohai and his associates, modern literary scholarship places
its authorship in the thirteenth century, when it became known, and credits
its authorship to Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon in Guadalajara, northeast
of Madrid.
  
 Several generations after the Zohar came to be known, it sparked a
renewal in the development of kabbala in Spain, including a profusion of
commentaries. The expulsion of Jews from Spain (1492)
infused kabbala with messianic and apocalyptic trends and expanded its
sphere of influence to Italy, Northern Africa, Turkey, and the Land of Israel.
From there, it spread to Poland and Lithuania, where it also influenced the
Hassidic (Pietist) movement, which is sometimes described as
"applied kabbala."
  
 Mainstream Ashkenazi rabbinical authorities do not encourage
widespread study of mystical literature, especially by the young, possibly as
a result of Talmudic comments about the power and danger of kabbalistic
thinking. Today, kabbala is also the subject of academic and modern study,
due mostly the work of world-renowned scholar Professor Gershom
Sholem.
  
 How Jewish Sacred Texts are Used
  
 The Torah (Pentateuch) is divided into fifty-four "portions," which are
read at the synagogue every Sabbath in an annual cycle, beginning and
ending shortly after the Jewish New Year. Excerpts from the Prophets and
other biblical writings are read on the Sabbath and festivals. The readers of
these texts use the cantillation marks set forth a millennium ago in melodic
patterns that vary among different communities.
  
 Study of the Talmud is most intensive in yeshivot (religious academies),
but also occurs in synagogues and individuals' homes - where this activity
is also a social event - and in universities. Most major universities in Israel
today have a department of Talmudic or Rabbinic literature. In accordance
with a twentieth-century innovation, thousands of laypersons study a page
of Talmud each day, following a coordinated schedule, thus covering the
entire work in approximately seven years.
  
 Most synagogues maintain well-stocked libraries of sacred texts and
collections of religious books.
  
 Sacred Texts in the Jewish Home
  
 Sacred texts can be found on the bookshelves of many Jewish homes.
The Tanakh (Torah, Prophets and Writings), often accompanied by
commentary, can be found even in most secular homes (many Israelis
receive a Tanakh as a gift on occasions such as finishing school or
completing basic training in the army). In observant homes (and many non-
observant ones as well), the basic literature is often accompanied by an
extensive library, including the Biblical books with additional commentaries,
the Mishna (with basic commentaries), the Talmud (voluminous
commentaries included), the Shulhan Arukh, and later codes and manuals
on religious practice. Alongside these are works in related disciplines of
 religious scholarship - philosophy, ethics and current events, to name only
three - and specialized literature corresponding to the family's affiliations
(Hassidic, Sephardi, Ashkenazi). Rabbis own and consult vast collections
of Talmudic commentaries, responsa and legal codes.
  
 Prayerbooks are standard in the homes of almost all Jews.
The siddur (pl. siddurim), used in daily and Sabbath worship, reflects more
than a millennium of development, before which prayers were treated as
part of an oral tradition and recited by heart. Although the commission of
prayers to writing began at the end of the Talmudic era, the first
true siddur, Seder Rav Amram Gaon, compiled at the request of Spanish
Jewry, dates from the ninth century. First used only on Yom Kippur and
other fasts, the siddur has gained such acceptance that current rabbinical
thinking strongly discourages memorization. Some siddurim also contain
festival services, halakhic guidelines for worship and commentaries on the
liturgy. The liturgical rite is presented in several versions, differentiated by
communities (Ashkenazi, hassidic, Sephardi, Yemenite).
Some siddurim have a service for Israel's Independence Day, introduced
by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
 Additional articles of sacred literature found in many homes include
the Haggada (the Passover story) and a Sabbath hymnal (often coupled
with the Grace after Meals).
  
 Because they are sanctified by their content, these writings, when
rendered unusable, are placed in a geniza (storage facility or archive) and
then given a ritual burial.
  
 Modernity and the Sacred Texts
  
 The emergence of a Hebrew-speaking community in Israel, millions
strong, made Jewish sacred texts more accessible and has given rise to a
profusion of new works in the modern vernacular. Cardinal among them are
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's commentary on the Talmud (Babylonian and
Jerusalem) and Rabbi Pinhas Kehati's commentary on the Mishna. Jewish
statehood, the existence of a Jewish army, relations with non-Jews,
international trade, and modern agriculture and food handling are only a
few of the issues covered in thick rabbinical treatises, books, periodicals
and pamphlets.
  
 Jewish texts have also played a pivotal role in the revival of Hebrew
culture in Israel. Bible studies are now included in the curricula of all
schoolchildren, secular and observant (with the educational approach and
areas of emphasis formulated accordingly), while universities pursue the
study of these texts in a variety of interdisciplinary approaches. The
influence of the Jewish sacred texts is also evident in modern Israeli art
and literature, which give ancient stories, concepts and imagery a new
shape and voice. Two notable literary examples are Israel's national poet,
H. N. Bialik, and Nobel Laureate S.Y. Agnon, both of whom drew
extensively on Rabbinic sources in their internationally-acclaimed works.
  
 The computer revolution has not left the sacred literature unaffected.
A responsa database has been in existence for nearly a generation at Bar-
Ilan University in Ramat Gan. More recently, private entrepreneurs have
created "Torah software" and products such as the Hebrew
Bible and Talmud online. Profuse religious commentary, ranging from the
weekly Torah portion to advice in observing dietary laws, has become
available on the Internet.
  
 In Israel today, the study of Jewish sacred texts and their adaption to
modern life continues with unprecedented vigor.
  
