Jewish Texts

The laws and principles of Judaism are described in sacred texts, or writings.

What is The Torah?• Most sacred text in Judaism• Made up of 5 books• Jews believed The Torah was shown to Moses by

God• Includes a history of Jews until death of Moses

This is a Torah.You are not supposed to touch it, so you use a pointer with a finger on the end, called a yad, to touch it.

How is the Torah Studied?

• Read and used in religious ceremonies as synagogues (Jewish house of worship)

• Every synagogue has a Torah

What is the Hebrew Bible?• Also called the Tanach

• Has 3 parts to it

T h e To rah M e ssa ge s o f the P ro ph e ts8 B oo ks

P o e try, S o n gs , S to riesL e sso n s, H is to ry

1 1 B o o ks

T h e H e b re w B ib le

Prophets are people who are said to receive messages from God to be taught to others.

What are some things in the 3rd Book?

• Book of Daniel: tells story of prophet Daniel

• He lived during Babylonian Captivity

• Angered the King and was thrown into lion’s den

• Daniel’s faith in God kept the lions from killing him

What does the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den teach?

What Are The Proverbs?• Also in 3rd book• Short expressions of Hebrew

wisdom• Usually attributed to Hebrew

leaders, especially King Solomon

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches”

What does this mean?

What are the Psalms?

• Also in 3rd book, called Book of Psalms

• Poems or songs

of praise to God

• Many attributed

to King David

23rd Psalm:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteouness for

His name’s sake.”

When might a person read this Psalm? What does

It mean?

What is the Talmud?• A set of commentaries,

stories, and folklore• Written between AD

200 and 600• Scholars studied the

Torah and Jewish laws;

some laws are hard to understand, so they wrote commentaries and explanations about them

What are the Dead Sea scrolls?

• Written by Jews who lived 2,000 years ago

• Not discovered until 1947

• Two boys were searching for a lost goat near the Dead Sea and stumbled upon a cave that had old jars filled with moldy scrolls inside of them: The Dead Sea Scrolls!

The dead sea

What did the scrolls reveal?• They were written

between 100 BC and

AD 50• Included prayers,

commentaries, letters, and passages from the Hebrew Bible

• Helped historians and archaeologists learn about Jewish life thousands of years ago