Sacred Texts: Bible (Heb. Tanakh) The sacred texts of the Jewish people and the basis of all subsequent Jewish culture. The Hebrew word for Bible, Tanakh, is an acronym of the words Torah (Pentateuch), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings or Hagiographa). The books of the Bible are referred to as sacred texts or sacred writings in order to distinguish them from contemporary noncanonical works known as Apocrypha. The biblical texts were written (not oral) and therefore read. The term Mikrah (scriptures) also serves to distinguish the books of the Bible from the Mishnah and Midrash, which originally were not committed to writing. The Bible consists of 24 books (1) the Pentateuch, which accounts for five of these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; and (2) the Prophets. In the Hebrew tradition, these books are customarily divided into (a) Former and (b) Latter Prophets. (a) The Former Prophets includes the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel (I and II) and Kings (I and II), and are really historical books, although they do contain stories of earlier prophets such as Nathan, Elijah and Elisha. (b) The books of the Latter Prophets are the three major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and the so-called Twelve Minor Prophets - a collection of short prophetic books: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habak-kuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. (3) The Hagiographa comprises the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Five Scrolls of Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, and the final historical books of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles (I and II). According to tradition, while the Pen-tateuch was written by Moses at the dictation of God, all the other books of the Bible were written under the influence of prophetic inspiration. The books of the Bible, in fact, represent but a selection of Hebrew prophetic witings. The definition of the canon, what would be included and what not, took place in the Second Temple period. As late as the first and second centuries, however, there were opinions which advocated the exclusion of Ezekiel, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Esther. Among the books excluded from the canon are works such as Sefer h-Yashar (The Book of the Upright) and Sefer Divrei ha-Yamim le-Malkhei Yehudah ve-Israel (The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Israel), actually mentioned in the Bible itself. These as well as other noncanonical sources have either been lost or have survived as part of the Apocrypha. The books of the Bible can be classified according to content into works of history, prophecy, poetry, law and wisdom literature. The authorative (Hebrew) text of the Bible was finalized on the basis of various manuscripts by a succession of scholars known as masoretes, whose work seems to have concluded around the tenth century CE. This is known as the masoretic text, the words masorete and masoretric being derived from the Hebrew masorah, which means tradition. Even with the finalization of its text, however, the Bible was not easily readable. Todays divisions into verses developed gradually, and it is clear that the present division differs from that known during the talmudic period (third to fifth centuries). The emergence of the final form of the biblical text was hastened by the addition of the cantillation signs (ta'amei ha-mikra), which indicate the emphasized syllable of each word and the proper musical intonation as well as serving as a kind of punctuation and verse ending. In the tenth century, the scholars of Tiberias completed the work of the Masorah, i.e. the reading of each word of the Bible together with its vocalization (nikkud). The present division into chapters is actually foreign to the Jewish tradition; it is a Christian division dating to the Middle Ages. When the Jews first printed the Hebrew Bible in Venice in the sixteenth century, it was printed according to the Christian division into chapters. The Pentateuch was also divided into the portions read each week in the synagogue. This reading is from a Torah scroll, a copy of the Pentateuch handwritten on parchment. Those qualified to produce such Torah scrolls are known as scribes (Heb. sofer stam) Such scribes also write the parchments for mezunot and tefillin. The Bible is the basis of all subsequent Jewish culture. The Mishnah and Talmud are based directly on the Pentateuch, and the entire Bible served as material for the Midrashim (works of biblical exposition and homiletics that originated in the Second Temple period and continued to be produced until the twelfth century). The latest classical work, the Zohar, produced in the thirteenth century, embraces the Bible for its source and serves as the central book of Jewish mysticism. Torah The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. These are known in Hebrew also as Humash and Hamishah Humshei Torah and in English as the Five Books of Moses, and the Pentateuch. The Torah is the basis of all Jewish law and thought. It comprises a large body of law as well as narratives of the Creation of the world, mankind's early history, and the origins of the Jewish people from Abraham to the death of Moses. According to tradition, the Torah was divinely revealed at Mount Sinai, and Moses wrote it. The in-depth study of Torah is meant to be the Jew's primary intellectual activity, the way to a life of spiritual transcendence and the only basis for personal fulfilment and true happiness (simhah). Since the Middle Ages, the text of the Torah has been studied together with the commentary of Rashi. Hundreds of other commentaries have been written as well. The most popular of these are collected in the editions of the Torah known as Mikra'ot Gedolot, with over 40 classical rabbinic commentaries. In a wider sense Torah can refer to the entire Written Law, i.e. all the books of the Bible from Genesis to Chronicles. Moreover, the term Torah can include the whole corpus of Oral Law, which is an explanation and extension of the written Torah. The Books of the Prophets (Heb. Nevi'im) The second section of the Hebrew Bible (Torah, Prophets, Hagiographa). There is a general division between the Former and Latter Prophets. The books of Josua, Judges, Samuel and Kings comprise the section of the Former Prophets. They present a survey of the history of Israel until the destruction of the First Temple. They are thus not, strictly speaking, prophetic books, although they contain accounts of Elijah, Elisha and Nathan. The books of the Latter Prophets include the three major prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. According to talmudic tradition, the Book of Isaiah was copied out by King Hezekiah and his school; Jeremiah's prophecies were written by himself and copied by his scribe Baruch, and the books of Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets were recorded by the Men of the Great Assembly. Hagiographa (The Writings, Heb. Ketuvim) The third and last section of the Hebrew Bible (Torah, Prophets, Writings). The order of the books according to traditionally accepted sources is: Psalms, Proverbs and Job. They are considered the principal works of the Hagiographa and even have their own special cantillation. The Five Scrolls follow next, and are arranged in the order of their reading in the synagogue: Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther. Next are the three post-Exilic books - Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah. The concluding volume is Chronicles, which is divided into two books and is a survey of Jewish history from its biblical beginnings until the declaration of Cyrus. Psalms (Heb. Tehilim) First book of the Hagiographa (Ketuvim) section of the Bible. It is a collection of 150 poems, most of which are ancient prayers. The book is divided into five parts: (1) chapters 1-41; (2) chapters 42-72; (3) chapters 73-89; (4) chapters 90-106; (5) chapters 107-150. Each of these sections concludes with a benediction of thanksgiving to God. A number of psalms are written in alphabetical acrostic, and Psalm 119 is composed of eight verses for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew name Tehilim means praise, and the psalms were written primarily in praise of God, although themes such as moral instruction, faith, exhortation to good deeds, as well as many prayers for God's help in times of distress are also included. Each psalm is an independent composition, and generally, there is no connection between chapters. As a fixed order of Hebrew prayer developed, many psalms were incorporated, about one third of the Psalter is included in the prayer book. In times of danger, ill health, personal or national crises, rather than drafting new or impromptu prayers it became standard practice to recite psalms, often chosen for their appropriateness to the particular situation. Many Jews recite psalms daily, often with great fervour, some completing the entire book each week, others completing it according to a monthly cycle. The Kabbalah and Hasidim placed great emphasis on this practice. Certain psalms have been assigned by custom to particular occasions. So, for instance, Psalm 107, which opens with the words, "Praise the Lord, for He is good ... Thus let the redeemed of the Lord say, these He has redeemed from adversity ... " is recited by those who have been rescued from danger. Those who wish God's guidance to see the proper path recite Psalm 139, "O Lord, You have examined me and known me. When I sit down or up You know it ... and guide me in ways everlasting." Psalm 38, "O Lord, do not punish me in wrath; do not chastise me in fury" is recited as a supplication for divine mercy in times of trouble. Groups of men who met daily to recite psalms together existed in many communities. Such a group is known as a Hevra Tehilim. Various communities have developed their own characteristic melodies for the public recitation of psalms. The expression "a Tehilim Jew", i.e. a Jew of the Psalms, refers to one who feels the constant need of God's help, protection, and guidance, and therefore recites psalms faithfully. In his work Ma'aseh Efod, Profiat Duran lists 72 verses from Psalms, which Nahmanides revealed as appropriate for particular occasions, such as healing, finding lost property, winning a litigation, safety in travel, and so forth. The cantillation signs of the Book of Psalms (as well as the books of Job and Proverbs) differ from those employed for the other books. They are known as ta'amei emet (the Hebrew word emet is an acrostic for the Hebrew word for Job, Proverbs and Psalms). Several psalms not included in the biblical canon were discovered in the Dead Sea Psalms Scroll. Talmud After the Bible the Jewish people's most important literary work. The Talmud is an extensive work summarizing hundreds of years of scholarly activity in Eretz Israel and Babylon and containing within it the written record of the Oral Law and its development. Due to its tremendous scope, it is known (affectionately) as the "Sea of Talmud". The kernal of the Talmud is the Mishnah, a concise summary of the Jewish law as derived from the Bible. The Gemara consists mostly of the study, clarification, explanation, and application of the Mishnah. This is done through a wide ranging, in-depth (though not always systematic) discussion of every law of the Mishnah. The Gemara and Mishnah taken together are the Talmud. Although the Gemara is a kind of commentary on the legal code that is the Mishnah, its discussion is frequently inconclusive, and it is rarely used, today, as a direct sole source for legal decisions. On the other hand, it would be inconceivable to issue a ruling without first understanding the talmudic discussion in depth. The Talmud discusses regulations concerning every conceivable aspect of public and private life. It is the repository of thousands of years of Jewish wisdom in the form not only of legal rulings but also stories, parables, sayings, historical accounts, science, common sense, and humour. The structure of the Talmud is free association among ideas, concepts, incidents, and personalities. At times a long series of unrelated statements will be quoted, their only connection being that all were made by the same scholar. At other times, a wide range of scholars having no connection in time or plce will be quoted concerning one subject or discussion. Topics change with surprising suddenness. Although the text of the Mishnah serves as a jumping off point, the talmudic discussion travels extremely far afield. In addition to its discussion of everyday circumstances, the Talmud often treats the most far-fetched hypothetical cases imaginable in its effort to arrive at the operating principles of Jewish law by way of inductive reasoning. The reasoning may be straightforward, complex, or even tortuous. The discussion may lead through the most subtle analysis of a single word of the Bible to a thorough exploration of a particular religious commandment, or exhaustive discussion of one mishnah. Although it is based upon tradition and the smooth transmission of authority from one generation to the next, the Talmud, as a result of its method of uncompromising investigation and inquiry, constantly calls the conventional wisdom into question. Above all the Talmud was meant to be studied, and so it was throughout all Jewish history. Indeed its study constitutes the main intellectual pursuit of Jewish laymen and scholars in all generations, and its contents were the greatest single influence on the Jewish way of life and the development of Judaism. As such, it was feared and despised by the enemies of Judaism, who anathematized and burned it in several countries during pogroms. Mishnah The first codification of the Oral Law. The term Mishnah is derived from the Hebrew verb shanah, meaning "to repeat" and to recapitulate one's learning, or teaching. Initially the sages used to learn the Oral Law (as is implied by its name) through oral repetition as they had no recourse to a written summary. The need for such a summary grew in urgency as more and more laws and regulations were added and as the Torah laws were increasingly bound with qualifications, limitations and reservations. These qualifications of Torah laws were necessitated in order to prevent contradiction between the regulations which could lead to transgressing previously enacted laws; and also when there was a fear lest the multiplication of laws cause people to forget some of them. This consideration became particularly crucial with the wider dispersion of the Jews following the destruction of the second Temple and the danger of the collapse of Jewish religious unity. The Mishnah was compiled almost completely by Rabbi Judah the Prince in Eretz Israel, in about 200 CE. He collected all the teachings of his predecessors and contemporaries, sorted them out by caregories, and created a separate Order for each group of subjects. There are six such Orders (sedarim) in the Mishnah. In Hebrew these are called Shishah Sidrei (Mishnah), otherwise referred to by the abbreviation Shas. Each of the orders is further subdivided into tractates. The tractates themselves are further subdivided into chapters and each chapter is divided into paragraphs called mishnayot, which has given rise to the name of the entire compilation as the Mishnah. The Orders are: 1. Zera'im (Seeds), as the name implies, contains laws and regulations regarding agriculture. Its first tractate, Berakhot has no thematic connected to the Order in which it is found, it deals almost exclusively with regulations about prayers and benedictions. 2. Mo'ed deals with the Sabbath and festivals. 3. Nashim deals mostly with laws of personal status such as marriage, divorce and related matters. 4. Nezikin deals with civil law and jurisprudence, financial transactions, all matters of interpersonal commercial relations, arrangements to be followed in the courts and also laws regarding capital punishment. 5. Kodashim deals exclusively with the sacrifices that were offered in the Temple. 6. Tohorot deals with purification of the body, house and its utencils as well as of food. Editing of the Mishnah was the final stage in the extended activities of that group of sages who lived in Eretz Israel in the first two centuries of the common era. They are known as tannaim, i.e. "teachers of the Mishnah". A crucial role in the process of compilation fell to Rabbi Akiba, who is universally regarded as the first sage to organize the laws into categories in order to facilitate their teaching. Another sage with an important role was Rabbi Meir, whose teachings form a significant base for Judah's subsequent redaction of the Mishnah. The language of the Mishnah is clear Hebrew, but it is unique and somewhat separate in character from the Hebrew of the Bible, bearing affinity to Aramaic in grammar. Once edited, the Mishnah served as the base for an even more comprehensive compilation of the Oral Law, called the Gemara. Since the Mishnah is written in a precise and relatively simple language it served as the first stage before one began studying the Gemara. The common people who were forced to end their formal studies at a relatively early age drew their basic knowledge of the Oral Law from the Mishnah. Tradespeople and others who could not study full-time would foregather on Sabbath afternoons and even during weekday evenings, in order to learn Mishnah. Oral Law According to tradition, the Written Law, i.e. the Pentateuch of the Bible, was revealed to Moses along with the set of unwritten explanations known as the Oral Torah or Oral Law. The tractate Avot of the Mishnah (1:1) opens with an account of the chain of tradition according to which Moses passed the Torah on to his successor Joshua, and Joshua to the elders who continued the process until the end of the talmudic period (third to sixth centuries). The "Torah" mentioned in this passage is the Oral Torah, which by its nature was more dynamic than the fixed text of the Written Law. It came to include not only the explanations of the Written Law, and even a number of laws not recorded therein, but also various subsequent enactments meant to ensure proper observance of Judaism. Traditional Judaism sees the Oral Law as inextricably bound up with the Written Law and indeed, without the traditions of the Oral Law, the first five books of the Bible would hardly be comprehensible. Any number of commandments cannot be understood at all without recourse to the Oral Law. An example is the commandment of the Four Species taken at Succot. The Bible commands: "On the first day you shall take the product of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook ... " (Lev. 23:40). Without an oral tradition it would be impossible to know precisely which species are meant. Another example is the commandment of tefillin. The Bible (Deut. 11:18) commands the wearing of "frontlets" (totafot) between the eyes. Only by oral tradition is to know what is intended. The Decalogue contains instructions covering the Sabbath: " ... but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God: you shall not do any work ... " (Ex. 20:10). Again, what kinds are permitted?. Or: "You shall live in booths (succot) seven days ..." (Lev. 23:42); what is a booth? The Oral Law is indispensable for understanding these as well as many other biblical commandments. Further, the Oral Law contains many enactments which relate to accepted Jewish practices that are not explicit in the Written Law. Examples of this kind are the instruction of the festival of Hanukkah and kindling the Sabbath and festival lights. Thirdly the Oral Law contains rabbibinic rules intended to modify laws in the Written Law to make them applicable for new conditions. Examples of this category are Hillel's prozbul relating to loans due in the Sabbatical Year and Johanan ben Zakkai's practical annulment of the trial by ordeal for a woman suspected of adultery. Since the Oral Law was meant to remain just that, it was originally forbidden to commit any of it to writing. In later generations, however, there was a well-justified fear that large portions might be forgotten, and the authorities of the time declared that there are occasions when the Torah must be violated in order that it be preserved (et la'asot la-Adonai, haferu Toratekhar; PS. 119:126; Git 60a). The transcribed oral traditions ultimately developed into the Mishnah and the Talmud, which remain to this day the basis of all Jewish observance. The talmudic sages interpreted the verse, "Your laws to Jacob and Your instructions to Israel" (Deut. 33:10), as demonstrating that two Torahs, one written and one oral were given to the Jewish people. The Samaritans and Karaites do not recognize the Oral Law. Midrash A generic category of that body of post-biblical literature that serves as a commentary on the Bible and interprets it beyond its literal meanings. The genre is composed of two basic divisions: Midrash Halakhah, meant to supply evidence or provide allusions for understanding the legal rationale of halakhah that derives from the Torah, and Midrash Aggadah, homiletics or guides, to the legendary and non-legal strata of the Bible. Both types are interspersed throughout the large body of literature produced by the sages, although there are special compilations which organize and anthologize midrashim (pl.). In the case of Midrash Halakhah, the material is derived from expositions of individual verses that are found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. There are those who hold that these midrashim served as the source of halakhah others, like Maimonides emphasize the antiquity of the halakhah known and precisely transmitted by each generation. In their view the Midrash is merely an additional textural support, a method of liason between the Bible and the halakhah. The antiquity of the Midrash Aggadah is undisputed. It is the part of the Oral Law that does not deal with halakhah (laws and regulations) but with narrative, philosophical, ethical and prophetic aspects of Judaism. Aggidic literature includes parables, theology, fables, legends, fantasies, aphorisms, puns, gematria (numerology), humour and small talk aimed at stimulating the interest of people who came to hear a sermon, which, in turn, was aimed at teaching and encouraging the masses to remain loyal to the Jewish observance and lifestyle. It was said of Ezra that he began the process of Midrash: "For Ezra had dedicated himself to study the Teachings of the Lord so as to observe it, and to teach law and rules to Israel" (Ezra 7:10). It was Ezra who institutionalized the public reading from the Torah. Also. " .. it became customary in Ezra's time that an interpretator be present to translate to the public that which the reader read from the Torah so that they would understand the matter at hand" (Maim., Hilkhot Tefillah 12). Every translation is, of course, also a gloss. Along with the Torah reading, people convened on the Sabbath to hear a sermon (derashah). There is a supposition that three years were required to complete the cycle of Torah readings in Eretz Israel compared to only one year in the Diaspora (exile). It stems from the abbreviation there of the weekly portions to allow more time in the synagogues for a sermon to be delivered. Midrashim may be categorized according to one of several opening formulas. Some midrashim start with a question of halakhah: " may our teacher instruct us" (yelammedenu rabbenu) followed immediately by the opening answer, "This is what our masters taught". By this sophisticated technique the sermonizer was able to introduce his subject. There are times when the preacher would cite chapter and verse from an altogether different book whose manifest meaning had ostensibly no connection with the matter at hand. Through clever interweaving of texts and allusions he would move from the extraneous opening to the actual homily of the book in question. There are many volumes of Midrash. Most if not all midrashim were originally sermons held at a synagogue or at a bet midrash, later to become popularized books of basic lore. People studied them, sometimes in public. Preachers had recourse to them and frequently reworked their motifs for use in talks on contemporary events. Zohar ([The Book of] Splendour) The central work of the Kabbalah. It held an important place in the spiritual life of the Jews during the main period of kabbalistic influence (1500-1750). Just as the Talmud is viewed as the principal source for the supplementation of the laws of the Pentateuch and its interpretataion, so the Zohar is for many Jews the fundamental source for viewing the world, which complements and interprets the implications and mysteries hidden in the Bible. The Zohar is largely arranged as a Midrash on the Five books of the Torah, in particular the first three, as well as on the Song of Songs, Ruth and Lamentations. It consists of long homilies, including stories and short statements, all of which reveal, apart from the simple biblical interpretation, the deep implications of the passage in question. For example, in the narrative telling of Isaac's arrival in Gerar, "When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister" ... " (Gen. 26:7) the Zohar suggests that Isaac was actually accompanied by the Shekhinah, i.e. the Divine Presence, based on what is said in Proverbs (7:4), "Say to Wisdom, "You are my sister." From the mid-eighteenth century the study of the Zohar has lessened because of the decrease in kabbalistic influence. However, the book is valued to this day by a great proportion of traditional Jewry, particularly by the hasadim in the Western countries, as well as by some Eastern communities. Prayer Book (Heb. Siddur) A collection or "order" of prayers containing primarily prayers for weekdays. Siddurim (pl.) may also contain the Book of Psalms, the tractate Avot of the Mishnah (since one chapter of Avot is recited each week during the summer after the Sabbath Minhah service), explanations, and laws regulating the recital of the different prayers. Although the general outline of all siddurim is similar, there is no one uniform edition. Many different versions exist, each reflecting the customs that developed over the years in a particular community. One of the first known authoritive collections of prayers is the Seder Tefillot Kol h-Shanah, the "Order of Prayers for the Entire Year", a work that follows the customs of the academies (yeshivot) of Babylonia. This collection was sent by Amram Gaon of Sura (ninth century) to the Jews of Spain. Another early version is the siddur of Saadiah Gaon (tenth century). Maimonides (twelth century) also compiled an order of prayers for the entire year, and incorporated it in his law code, the Yad ha-Hazakah. Rashi's siddur (eleventh century) is the first such compilation for Ashkenazi Jewry of France. Special collections of prayers, liturgical poetry (piyyutim) and explanations evolved for each holiday. Such volumes were known as a mahzor, from the Hebrew word meaning a "cycle". With the development of the mahzorim (pl.) the contents of the siddur became restricted to the prayers for weekdays, Sabbaths, and Rosh Hodesh, with only the main festival prayers represented. Some siddurim may contain the main prayers of Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur as well.