50 free Torah trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
48 free Torah trivia questions with answers, written for Hebrew school classrooms, synagogue quiz nights, bar and bat mitzvah parties and anyone brushing up on the Five Books of Moses. It covers what the word Torah means, the Hebrew names of Genesis through Deuteronomy and why they are called that, and the story arc from creation to Moses's death on Mount Nebo: Noah, Abraham, Jacob's wrestling match, the burning bush, the plagues, Sinai, the golden calf, the twelve spies, Balaam's donkey and the Shema. It also covers the Torah as an object and a practice: how a sofer writes a Sefer Torah on parchment, its 304,805 letters, what happens when a scribe misspells God's name, the yad, the ark and the parochet, the 54 weekly portions and the haftarah, Simchat Torah's seven circuits, the 613 mitzvot and the tzitzit gematria, and how the Torah reached the wider world through the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch and Targum Onkelos. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia before publishing and each question links to its source. Difficulty runs from easy questions about the five books to hard ones on chapters, scholarship and scribal law.
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Q 01How many books make up the Torah?
Five
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, which is why the Greek name is Pentateuch, 'five scrolls'.
Q 02The Hebrew word Torah is usually translated as what?
Instruction
'Law' is the older English rendering, which is why Christian writers long called it the Law of Moses.
Q 03What does the Greek-derived word Pentateuch literally mean?
Five scrolls
It comes from pentateuchos; the Torah is also called the Five Books of Moses.
Q 04Bereshit, the Hebrew name of Genesis, literally means what?
In the beginning
Each book takes its Hebrew name from its opening words; Shemot (Exodus) means 'Names'.
Q 05What is the Hebrew name of Leviticus, meaning 'And He called'?
Vayikra
The English name Leviticus comes from the Levites, the priestly tribe whose laws fill the book.
Q 06Bamidbar, the Hebrew name for the fourth book, means what?
In the desert
The English name comes from the two censuses of the Israelites recorded in the book.
Q 07Devarim, the Hebrew name for Deuteronomy, means what?
Words
The Greek-derived Deuteronomy means 'second law', since Moses repeats the law in his farewell speeches.
Q 08What is a Chumash?
The Torah in bound book form
It is typically printed with rabbinic commentaries such as Rashi alongside the text.
Q 09According to traditional Jewish belief, who wrote the Torah?
Moses
This is called Mosaic authorship; scholars date the final form to the Persian period around the 5th century BCE.
Q 10In rabbinic tradition, the Written Law is paired with what?
The Oral Law
The Oral Torah's interpretations are embodied in the Talmud and Midrash.
Q 11How many commandments does Jewish tradition count in the Torah?
613
The Hebrew shorthand is taryag mitzvot; the tassels of the tzitzit are said to add up to 613 by gematria.
Q 12Which medieval scholar's Sefer Hamitzvot is the most famous enumeration of the 613 commandments?
Maimonides
He used fourteen rules, the shorashim, to decide what counted as a commandment.
Q 13By gematria, the word tzitzit has a numerical value of 600; what brings the total to 613?
Eight threads and five knots
That is the traditional reason the fringes are said to remind the wearer of all the commandments.
Q 21What is the cabinet that houses the Torah scrolls in a synagogue called?
The ark
Ashkenazim call it the aron kodesh and Sephardim the hekhal; it is placed on the wall facing Jerusalem.
Q 22What is the ornate curtain that covers the doors of the Torah ark called?
The parochet
It echoes the curtain that hung before the Ark of the Covenant in the ancient Temple.
Q 23How many weekly portions divide the Torah for the annual reading cycle?
54
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?
Q 14How many letters are in a complete Sefer Torah?
304,805
Every one must be copied correctly by hand, which is why a scroll can take about a year and a half to write.
Q 15What is a scribe who writes a Torah scroll called?
A sofer
He writes with a quill dipped in special ink on parchment from ritually clean animals.
Q 16On what material is a Sefer Torah written?
Parchment from kosher animals
Only two types are permitted, gevil and klaf; the ink must flex as the scroll is rolled and unrolled.
Q 17What must happen if a scribe makes an error while writing God's name in a Torah scroll?
The whole sheet is removed and replaced
Ordinary mistakes can be scraped away; unusable sheets are buried in a genizah rather than thrown out.
Q 18Roughly how long can it take a scribe to complete a Torah scroll?
About a year and a half
The scroll is then dressed with a mantle, breastplate, crown and rimonim finials.
Q 19What is the pointer used to follow the text during a Torah reading called?
A yad
The Hebrew word means 'hand', and the rod usually ends in a tiny hand with a pointing index finger; silver is common.
Q 20Why is a pointer used rather than a finger during Torah reading?
So the parchment is not touched
Contact with skin would damage the parchment and ink over time.
From its first distinctive Hebrew word or two
So the cycle begins with Bereshit and ends with V'Zot HaBerachah, read on Simchat Torah.
Q 25What is the reading from the Prophets that follows the Torah portion on Sabbath mornings called?
The haftarah
It is usually chosen to echo the theme of that week's portion.
Q 26On which days of the week, besides the Sabbath, is the Torah read publicly in synagogue?
Monday and Thursday
The tradition is linked to the ancient market days, when people gathered in towns.
Q 27On what date of the Hebrew month of Tishrei is Simchat Torah celebrated in Israel?
The 22nd
Outside Israel it falls on the 23rd; the name means 'Rejoicing with the Torah' and the holiday is not mentioned in the Torah itself.
Q 28How many hakafot, or circuits, are the Torah scrolls carried around the synagogue on Simchat Torah?
Seven
The dancing that follows often spills out into the street.
Q 29On Simchat Torah, the honour of reading the year's final portion is called Hatan Torah. What does Hatan mean?
Groom
The Hatan Bereshit, the 'Genesis groom', then starts the whole cycle again with the creation story.
Q 30In which two places do the Ten Commandments appear in the Torah?
Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5
The second version sits inside Moses's second speech, delivered on the Plains of Moab.