The Tenakh & the Talmud (AQA GCSE Religious Studies A (8062))

The Study of Tenakh

The Study of Tenakh

• The Tenakh is the main sacred Jewish text and governs all aspects of Jewish life

• The Old Testament in the Christian Bible is made up of the books of the Tenakh, although they appear in a different order

• Often the Tenakh is written TeNaKh. The capital letters are the initials of the different sets of books that it comprises:

  • T for Torah, N for Nevi’im and K for Ketuvim

The Tenakh

The Torah

• The Torah is the name given to the laws and teachings within Judaism

• The Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament:
  

  • Genesis

  • Exodus

  • Leviticus

  • Numbers

  • Deuteronomy

• The Torah was given to Moses by God and it contains the mitzvot, including the Ten Commandments

• The Torah is always treated with great respect within Judaism:

  • It is an honour to be asked to read from it at a service in the synagogue

  • No one is allowed to touch the Torah with their bare hands

  • Instead, a pointer called a yad is used to follow the words

A Yad 

• The Torah is read aloud over a year in Orthodox synagogues, or over three years in Reform synagogues

• When the Torah is carried through the synagogue, worshippers in the congregation bow as it passes them

Nevi'im (Prophets)

• The Nevi'im consists of eight books that trace Jewish history and say more about the laws

• Each of the books is named after one of eight prophets who are believed to have been chosen by God to encourage Jews to follow God’s laws

• There are two sections to the Nevi’im:

  • These are the former and the latter prophets

  • The former prophets talk about the history of the Israelites

  • The latter prophets contain the words of 15 prophets, including Isaiah

Sections of the Nevi'im

Ketuvim (Writings)

• The Ketuvim contains 11 books, including Psalms and Proverbs

• Many of these books contain writings on philosophy

Sections of the Ketuvim

The Use & Significance of Tenakh

The Use and Significance of Tenakh

• The Tenakh is written in Hebrew and contains the Torah, teachings of the prophets and sacred writings

• The Tenakh is the main sacred Jewish text and governs all aspects of Jewish life:

  • The Tanakh contains the Ten Commandments that were given directly to Moses on Mount Sinai, which guide Jewish people on how to show love of God and how to show love of one's neighbour

  • The Tenakh contains all 613 mitzvot which are actions that Jews have to perform or avoid

  • The Tenakh contains the Torah, which is the Jewish written law

  • The Tenakh contains a detailed history of Jewish people such as Abraham, Moses and the other prophets

  • Jews are encouraged to study the Tanakh at length so that they can develop their relationship with God

The Use and Significance of Torah

• The Torah is considered by Jews to be the holiest part of the Tenakh

• It was given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and many Jews see it as the direct word of God

• All Jews use the Torah to help guide them in their lives, but some Jews use the Torah more strictly than others

• For example, some Orthodox Jews believe that it is important to follow every rule in the Torah

• However, Reform Jews tend to follow the rules they feel are most important and disregard some rules they see as outdated

• The Torah is significant to all Jews, and is used in many ways:

  • It is read aloud weekly at the synagogue and it takes a year to recite the whole Torah

  • The festival of Shavout celebrates God’s revelation of the Torah to Moses

  • The commandments in the Torah shape the way that Jews live their lives today

The Use and Significance of Nevi'im

• Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections of the Tanakh, following the Torah (law) and before Ketuvim (writings)

• The Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:

  • Former prophets or Nevi'im Rishonim, which contains the books of Joshua through to Kings

  • Latter prophets or Nevi'im Aharonim, which mostly contains prophecies in the form of biblical poetry

• These books describe the history of Judaism after the death of Moses

• They tell of the Jews’ relationship with God and their history

• They show the covenant relationship with God in action and how the Jewish people worked through this

• The Haftarah is a text selected from the books of Nevi'im that is read publicly in the synagogue after the reading of the Torah on each Sabbath, as well as on Jewish festivals and fasting days

The Use and Significance of Ketuvim

• Ketuvim is the final of the three major sections of the Tanakh, following the Torah (law) and the Nevi'im (prophets)

• The purpose of Ketavim (similar to Nevi'im), is to record the history of the Jews and their actions within the covenant relationship with God

• The books are very varied and deal with different events and themes:

  • For example, the story of Job is about a righteous man who is seriously tested by God

  • One of the main teachings here is that we may not necessarily suffer due to sin

  • This section also contains the book of Psalms, which is a collection of writings in praise of God

The Study of Talmud

The Talmud

• Although the Torah is absolute and everlasting, some Jews look for new interpretations of its words to relate better to today

• The Talmud helps with this as it interprets the laws of the Torah and relates them to modern issues

• The Talmud is a collection of teachings and discussions from early rabbis about the Torah, and it is split into two parts:
  

  • The Mishnah was compiled by Rabbi Judah Ha’Nasi, who wrote down the oral law so that it could not be misinterpreted in the future. It explains how to apply and follow the mitzvot

  • The Mishnah includes lessons and quotations by scholars from first-century rabbis and their discussions about how the laws given in the written Torah could be adapted to suit new situations

  • The Gemara is a collection of discussions and comments relating to the Mishnah

• There are two versions of the Talmud: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud

  • They differ in many ways apart from their places of origin and dates of compilation

Differences between Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds

Studying the Talmud

• Jews place great importance on the Torah and Talmud and consider them to be the source of all the significant teachings

• The Talmudic discussion and its conclusions provide us with the origins of our many laws and customs

• Studying the Talmud can help Jews search for the many important issues and values that are important for a practicing Jew

• By studying the Talmud, Jews hope to contribute to the conversations that have guided Jewish Law for nearly two millennia

Conversations and commentaries on Jewish law

The Use & Significance of the Talmud

The Significance of the Talmud

• The Talmud contains rabbinic teachings which interpret and expand Torah law to make it relevant to the daily life of Jews in the first five centuries CE

• For many Jews the Talmud is as holy and binding as the Torah itself

• Rabbinic tradition as laid down in the Talmud is also referred to as the Oral Torah

  • According to traditional belief, the Oral Torah was given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai at the same time as he received the Written Torah

  • It was passed down by word of mouth for generations until it was written down by rabbis in the Talmud

  • The Oral Torah is the ancient rabbinic tradition of which the Talmud is the most important document

  • The Talmud consists of the Mishnah and the Gemara

  • Each commentary is related to a section of the Mishnah and presents rabbinic discussions about it

The Use of the Talmud

• The rabbinic teachings of the Talmud explain in great detail how the commandments of the Torah are to be carried out:

  • For example, the Torah teaches us that one is prohibited from working on the Sabbath, but there is no detailed definition in the Torah of work

    • The Talmudic tracate called Shabbat devotes an entire chapter to the meaning of work and the various categories of work that are allowed

  • Jews may also look to the Talmud when dealing with modern issues that that did not exist when the Torah was created

    • For example, it may be used to discuss questions that are raised relating to genetic engineering, euthanasia, contraception and the concept of the sanctity of life

• The Talmud is still studied today, in yeshivot, in the synagogue during kollel, or in between prayers, and at home 

• The Talmud covers all subject matters important to Jewish life, such as Shabbat, the Laws of Niddah, the Laws of Yom Tov, blessings, fasts, and many more

• Jews today can find a lot of meaning as well as practical knowledge from the Talmud and commentary