Question: What is the Torah?
Answer: The Torah is the primary document of Judaism. Torah, which means "teaching", is God's revealed instructions to the Jewish People. It teaches Jews how to act, think and even feel about life and death.
The Torah contains 613 commandments (mitzvot). The Ten Commandments are considered the most important commandments of the Torah. The Torah also contains stories that teach us about God's relationship with the Jewish People.
There are two parts to the Torah:
1. Written Torah
2. Oral Torah
Written Torah
The Written Torah is often called the Tanakh, which stands for Torah (T), Nevi'im (N) and Ketuvim (K). The Written Torah contains:
1. Five Books of Moses (Chumashe Torah)
2. Prophets (Nevi'im)
3. Writings (Ketuvim)
The Five Books of Moses (also called Chumashe Torah or Chumash from the Hebrew word for five) were given to the Jewish People at Mount Sinai during their exodus from Egypt approximately 3500 years ago. They include Genesis (Beresheet), Exodus (Shemot), Vayikra (Leviticus), Numbers (Bamidbar), and Deuteronomy (Devarim).
Prophets (Nevi'im) are direct prophecies or recordings of what God said to the prophets. Writings (Ketuvim) are books written by the prophets with the guidance of God.
Because the books included in Tanakh were mainly written in Hebrew, the Tanakh is sometimes referred to as the Hebrew Bible. Christians refer to the Tanakh as the Old Testament to differentiate it from later writings they also consider holy.
Oral Torah
The Oral Torah, explanations of the Written Torah, was originally passed down verbally from generation to generation.
After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, it was decided the Oral Torah should be written down so it would not be forgotten. In the 2nd century C.E., Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and a group of Sages compiled the Mishnah. The Mishnah is a written outline of the Oral Torah.
Over the next few centuries, Jewish scholars studied the Mishnah. Their discussions, questions and decisions became known as the Gemara. The Gemara is commentaries elaborating on the Mishnah.
The Talmud is the combination of the Mishnah and Gemara together. In the 4th century, the Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in Israel. In the 5th century, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled in Babylon. The Babylonian Talmud is studied and used more than the Jerusalem Talmud because it is more comprehensive.