Year 6 RE: Judaism

Torah The holy book of the Jewish people is called the Torah (Hebrew: תּוֹרָה). The word ‘torah’ means ‘teaching’. It is also sometimes called the Pentateuch.

The Torah is central to the Jewish way of life The Torah is central to the Jewish way of life. It describes the early history of the Jewish people from the beginning of the World. Jewish people believe that on the 50th day after the Israelites escaped from Egypt, G-d dictated the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.. The Torah is thousands of years old. The Torah also includes 613 Mitzvot, which are the rules by which Jewish people live. The ten best known of these are called the Ten Commandments. Traditionally, the words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe, or sofer on parchment in Hebrew. It takes many years to learn to be a sofer. The slightest mistake can mean the whole scroll has to be started again. When the scroll is completed following Jewish law, if is called a ‘Sefer Torah’. The Sefer Torah is stored in an Ark in the synagogue. A synagogue may have more than one Sefer Torah. Jewish people complete the whole Torah every year. The Torah is divided into portions (sedrah). Readings take place three times a week in synagogue. The text is actually sung using an ancient tune The Torah is made up of five separate books. These books have Hebrew names and names which they are given in the Christian Old Testament, Bereishit Genesis Shmot Exodus Vayikra Leviticus Bamidbah Numbers Dvarim Deuteronomy

The Torah scrolls are entirely handwritten in Hebrew by a sofer (scribe) on parchment from a kosher animal. This is usually a cow. It can take up to 18 months to complete the whole process from the complex preparation of the animal skins to the writing of the final words. Great accuracy is needed when the sofer writes the scroll. If he makes any mistakes it can make the whole scroll posul (invalid). The completed scroll is known as a Sefer Torah from sefer which is the Hebrew for book. A Sefer Torah is so sacred to Jews it is said that if one is accidentally dropped in the synagogue the whole congregation must fast for a whole day. When Jewish communities have suffered persecution, great efforts would be made to preserve these scrolls. This demonstrates just how symbolically and physically important the Torah is to Jews. T