50 Fun Facts About Torah

How many books make up the Torah?

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, which is why the Greek name is Pentateuch, 'five scrolls'.

The Hebrew word Torah is usually translated as what?

'Law' is the older English rendering, which is why Christian writers long called it the Law of Moses.

What does the Greek-derived word Pentateuch literally mean?

It comes from pentateuchos; the Torah is also called the Five Books of Moses.

Bereshit, the Hebrew name of Genesis, literally means what?

Each book takes its Hebrew name from its opening words; Shemot (Exodus) means 'Names'.

What is the Hebrew name of Leviticus, meaning 'And He called'?

The English name Leviticus comes from the Levites, the priestly tribe whose laws fill the book.

Bamidbar, the Hebrew name for the fourth book, means what?

The English name comes from the two censuses of the Israelites recorded in the book.

Devarim, the Hebrew name for Deuteronomy, means what?

The Greek-derived Deuteronomy means 'second law', since Moses repeats the law in his farewell speeches.

What is a Chumash?

It is typically printed with rabbinic commentaries such as Rashi alongside the text.

According to traditional Jewish belief, who wrote the Torah?

This is called Mosaic authorship; scholars date the final form to the Persian period around the 5th century BCE.

In rabbinic tradition, the Written Law is paired with what?

The Oral Torah's interpretations are embodied in the Talmud and Midrash.

How many commandments does Jewish tradition count in the Torah?

The Hebrew shorthand is taryag mitzvot; the tassels of the tzitzit are said to add up to 613 by gematria.

Which medieval scholar's Sefer Hamitzvot is the most famous enumeration of the 613 commandments?

He used fourteen rules, the shorashim, to decide what counted as a commandment.

By gematria, the word tzitzit has a numerical value of 600; what brings the total to 613?

That is the traditional reason the fringes are said to remind the wearer of all the commandments.

How many letters are in a complete Sefer Torah?

Every one must be copied correctly by hand, which is why a scroll can take about a year and a half to write.

What is a scribe who writes a Torah scroll called?

He writes with a quill dipped in special ink on parchment from ritually clean animals.

On what material is a Sefer Torah written?

Only two types are permitted, gevil and klaf; the ink must flex as the scroll is rolled and unrolled.

What must happen if a scribe makes an error while writing God's name in a Torah scroll?

Ordinary mistakes can be scraped away; unusable sheets are buried in a genizah rather than thrown out.

Roughly how long can it take a scribe to complete a Torah scroll?

The scroll is then dressed with a mantle, breastplate, crown and rimonim finials.

What is the pointer used to follow the text during a Torah reading called?

The Hebrew word means 'hand', and the rod usually ends in a tiny hand with a pointing index finger; silver is common.

Why is a pointer used rather than a finger during Torah reading?

Contact with skin would damage the parchment and ink over time.

What is the cabinet that houses the Torah scrolls in a synagogue called?

Ashkenazim call it the aron kodesh and Sephardim the hekhal; it is placed on the wall facing Jerusalem.

What is the ornate curtain that covers the doors of the Torah ark called?

It echoes the curtain that hung before the Ark of the Covenant in the ancient Temple.

How many weekly portions divide the Torah for the annual reading cycle?

In years with fewer Sabbaths, some portions are doubled up so the cycle still finishes on time.

How does each weekly Torah portion get its name?

So the cycle begins with Bereshit and ends with V'Zot HaBerachah, read on Simchat Torah.

What is the reading from the Prophets that follows the Torah portion on Sabbath mornings called?

It is usually chosen to echo the theme of that week's portion.

On which days of the week, besides the Sabbath, is the Torah read publicly in synagogue?

The tradition is linked to the ancient market days, when people gathered in towns.

On what date of the Hebrew month of Tishrei is Simchat Torah celebrated in Israel?

Outside Israel it falls on the 23rd; the name means 'Rejoicing with the Torah' and the holiday is not mentioned in the Torah itself.

How many hakafot, or circuits, are the Torah scrolls carried around the synagogue on Simchat Torah?

The dancing that follows often spills out into the street.

On Simchat Torah, the honour of reading the year's final portion is called Hatan Torah. What does Hatan mean?

The Hatan Bereshit, the 'Genesis groom', then starts the whole cycle again with the creation story.

In which two places do the Ten Commandments appear in the Torah?

The second version sits inside Moses's second speech, delivered on the Plains of Moab.

Whose name is changed to Israel after wrestling with an angel in Genesis?

His twelve sons became the twelve tribes; Genesis ends with the death of his son Joseph in Egypt.

Which cave-plot does Abraham buy as a family tomb, believed to be at modern Hebron?

He then sends his servant back to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac among his relatives.

Whose flock is Moses tending when he encounters God in the burning bush?

Jethro is his Midianite father-in-law, and the encounter sends Moses back to Egypt to confront Pharaoh.

How many plagues does God send upon Egypt in the Book of Exodus?

They include a river of blood, frogs and thick darkness before the death of the firstborn.

What structure does God instruct Moses to build in Exodus so that God may dwell among the people?

The instructions take up the second half of the book, chapters 20 to 40, after the covenant at Sinai.

Which chapter of Leviticus sets out the Day of Atonement, including the goat sent 'to Azazel'?

Chapter 11 has the dietary laws and chapter 25 the jubilee year; the Holiness Code runs from 17 to 26.

Which two sons of Aaron are struck down in Leviticus for improper ritual conduct?

The whole book unfolds at Sinai in the month or so between finishing the Tabernacle and setting out.

How many spies does Moses send into Canaan in the Book of Numbers?

Only Joshua and Caleb report a land flowing with milk and honey; the rest talk of giants and the people refuse to enter.

Which tribe is exempted from military service and left out of the census in Numbers?

The book's English name comes from the two censuses of the Israelites it records.

Which Moabite king hires the diviner Balaam to curse the Israelites in Numbers?

An angel stops Balaam's donkey on the road, and he ends up blessing Israel and foreseeing the 'Star of Jacob'.

What is made in Numbers to ward off the fiery serpents biting the Israelites?

Anyone bitten who looked at the bronze snake on its pole lived; Miriam dies at Kadesh Barnea soon after.

On which mountain does Moses die at the end of the Torah?

He hands leadership to Joshua, delivers the law to the Levites and is buried by God, never entering Canaan.

Deuteronomy's three long speeches are delivered by Moses in which location?

The final four chapters add the Song of Moses, the Blessing of Moses and his death.

The Shema, the centrepiece of Jewish daily prayer, opens with a verse from which chapter of Deuteronomy?

Deuteronomy 6:4; the word Shema means 'hear', and the verses are written inside tefillin and mezuzah scrolls.

The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Torah, was produced in which city?

Tradition says Ptolemy II commissioned seventy-two translators in the 3rd century BCE, hence the name 'Seventy'.

Targum Onkelos is a translation of the Torah into which language?

The Samaritan Pentateuch, by contrast, is a Hebrew version written in the Samaritan script.

In the documentary hypothesis, what do the letters J, E, D and P stand for?

Julius Wellhausen's Prolegomena made it the dominant academic account of the Torah's origins for a century.

By what name does Islamic tradition refer to the Torah?

It is counted among the holy books revealed by God, alongside the Psalms and the Gospel.

According to the Talmud, Ezra changed the Torah's script from old Hebrew to one named after which empire?

Tradition says the returning exiles brought the 'Assyrian' script with them; Maharsha holds the text itself was unchanged.

Roughly how many differences exist between the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Jewish Masoretic Text?

Most are minor spelling and grammar variants, written in a script descended from Paleo-Hebrew.