NV:,

V:N

•

•

l

• vs y%

‘‘,.

„ • poop
pooh„ o4eloisuoil 'uouclapuoosjw Joindod at AJOIRJOD
'ssaupupj Jo A4p0lp jo Po4oei6 o
seop „ilonztjw„ pom
eci peepuj LIDO Lionzflw D °rim ,,luewpuowwoD„ uemsuv

.•

,
•••,

„.

••aiNM:la

• ••;.N. . ;

irst, a little law and order.
We hear the word
"Torah" all the time. In fact,
on Shavuot, which begins this
Thursday, June 8, at sundown and
lasts -two days (in some Reform
congregations, one day), we
commemorate the giving of the
Torah.at Mt. Sinai. Although for
many the word "Torah" may
evoke the image-of a parchment
scroll in a synagogue, Torah, both

1 tion of "Torah" `is "teaching."
A related word familiar to many
is the Hebrew for teacher: moreh
(masculine) or morah (feminine).
And what, exactly, is being
taught?
That can be the start of many
discussions. But at its root, the
Torah teaches us what it means to
be a Jew.
In its basic sense, Torah signifies
the first five books of the Jewish
Bible, known as the Pentateuch or

What is the Oral Law and the
Written Law, and what do the
have to do with Mt. Sinai?

S
Of The Lel

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

as a concept and in the practical
sense, is far more complex. - -
Let's start with the word itself.
Look in any number of books on
basic Judaism, and more often
than not the definition for Torah is
"law." That explanation is erro-
neous. It's based on a mistake
made about 2,000 years ago
when the Torah was first translated
into Greek, a version that came to
be known as the Septuagint. The
mistake became widespread after
Christian scholars used the Septu-
agint as the basis for their transla-
tions of the Torah.
The actual and correct transla-

Related editorial: page 25
Related story: page 12

v as}

•

.

the Five Books of Moses. In
Hebrew and English these are:
Bereshit/Genesis, Shemot/Exa-
dus, VaYikra/Leviticus, BaMid-
i
bar/Numbers and
Dvarim/Deuteronomy.
The Torah has been transmitted
from generation to generation in
.
the form of a parchment scroll,
handwritten in ink. Such a scroll is
known in Hebi-ew as a sefer
Torah, and Jewish law prescribes
the use of a sefer Torah in public
prayer and ritual. Thus, every syn-
agogue and temple in the world
owns or make use of at least one
sefer Torah.
• The contents of the Torah corn-
; prise a variety of subjects.

ewis hn ew

••••
••

• 4s,

4

•

;00.

V.

\

*N\

•

•••

s

• •

li!■`

•

4:1
NAW

Aaron Buxbaum,. 9, works a puzzle at "From Pesach to Shavuot:
Countdown to Receiving the Torah" on May 25 at the Jewish Corn-
muniiy Center in Oak Park.

Wiz.

••,,, •

•

6/2

2000

109