{"id":345,"date":"2024-10-31T18:25:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T22:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thewonderingjew\/?p=345"},"modified":"2024-11-04T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:40:15","slug":"understanding-torah-structure-informs-spiritual-meaning-fe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thewonderingjew\/2024\/10\/understanding-torah-structure-informs-spiritual-meaning-fe\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Torah: Structure Informs Spiritual Meaning fe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n
\"Structure
Torah forms the foundation for any discussion of Jewish practice, belief, custom, or history. \/ AI image created by author.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/blockquote>\n

Finding Structure in Torah and Our Lives<\/p>\n

Louis Sullivan, the American architect, famously remarked that \u201cform follows function<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 While his idiom has been applied primarily to architecture, it also opens insights into Torah and life as well. Torah forms the foundation for any discussion of Jewish practice, belief, custom, or history.\u00a0 How it appears, even physically, gives us an understanding of how it can and has been utilized. \u00a0\u00a0If we\u2019re going to spend time discussing Torah, let\u2019s make certain that we understand and agree on the basics.\u00a0 To start, the word Torah comes from the Hebrew root \u05d9\u05e8\u05d4, meaning teaching or instruction.\u00a0 At its core, Torah is about instruction, not law, and that meaning pervades all the uses of Torah.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Torah in the narrow sense<\/h2>\n

In its narrowest sense, Torah refers to the Five Books of Moses.\u00a0 The English names, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy refer to themes of each of these books.\u00a0 Genesis is the beginnings of the universe and the Jewish people; Exodus, the journey out of Egypt; Leviticus, priestly material; Numbers, censuses in the wilderness; and Deuteronomy, a repetition of the material previously covered in Exodus through Numbers.\u00a0 The Hebrew names for each book come from the first significant word in the book: Bereishit (in the beginning), Sh\u2019mot (These are the names), Vayikra (And He called), B\u2019midbar (in the wilderness), and D\u2019varim (These are the words).\u00a0 The names Pentateuch (Five Books) and Chumash (Five) are synonyms for Torah.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Torah in a broader sense<\/h2>\n

Many people use the words Torah and Tanakh interchangeably.\u00a0 Tanakh is an acronym for T<\/u>orah, N<\/u>evi\u2019im (Prophets) and K<\/u>\u2019tuvim (Writings), the three sections of the Hebrew Bible.\u00a0 Torah is also often used to refer to both the written Torah (Torah shebikhtav) <\/em>and the oral Torah (Torah sheba\u2019al peh<\/em>).\u00a0 The oral tradition was eventually written down and eventually became the Mishnah, codified around 200 C.E and its continued discussion, the Gemara, which is finalized in the 6th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 The Mishnah and Gemara form the Talmud.\u00a0 The broadest \u00a0use of Torah is to refer to all of traditional Jewish literature, every commentary, extension, and inspiration from these earlier periods.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How did we end up with the Torah (5 Books of Moses) we have today?<\/h2>\n

If anyone has looked at a Torah scroll (sefer Torah)<\/em>, you\u2019ll immediately notice that there is no punctuation and no vocalization or vowels, much less any notations of chapter and verse.\u00a0 It is handwritten on parchment or vellum and the sections of skin are then sewn together and attached to rollers.\u00a0 It is clearly not designed for quickly comparing related passages, but for reading from start to finish, as is done in synagogue from week to week.<\/p>\n

The form of the scroll lends itself to synagogue use, but an unvocalized, unpunctuated text lends itself quite easily to variant readings and interpretation. It makes it very difficult to have a commonly agreed upon meaning.\u00a0 If you want an actual community, not just a random collection of individuals, you need a text or belief or something that everyone can agree upon.\u00a0 Enter the MasoretesMasoretes<\/a> to save the day.<\/p>\n

The Masoretes<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Masoretes are the neglected and often forgotten heroes of Judaism.\u00a0 Working in the 5th<\/sup> through the 10th<\/sup> centuries, primarily in Tiberius and Jerusalem, the Masoretes added\u00a0niqqud<\/em>, diacritical marks or vowels, as well as the ta\u2019amei hamikra, <\/em>the cantillation marks for chanting, which function as punctuation, dividing the text into phrases and sentences.\u00a0 Prior to that, in the written text there were merely spaces to mark beginnings and endings of passages, which were preserved by the Masoretes in book form by marking a \u05e4 (petuchah \u2013 <\/em>open) for a space at the end of a line and a \u05e1 (stumah<\/em> \u2013 closed) for a space in the middle of a line.<\/p>\n

The Masoretes maintained the scribal traditions of the scroll, but placed them in book form, enabling in-depth study and the ability of an individual to read it at any time, not just hearing the text at a public reading of the Torah at worship services.\u00a0 Still, the only divisions were the 54 parashiyot <\/em>\u00a0or sidrot<\/em>, the weekly Torah readings (50 for a standard lunar year, 54 for a leap year, with some passages combined on non-leap years).<\/p>\n

Chapter and Verse<\/h2>\n

The introduction of chapter and verse<\/a> comes from the Vulgate, Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible, done primarily by Jerome in the 4th<\/sup> century and revised in the 16th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Many believe that the introduction of chapter and verse in the Jewish versions came as a result of medieval disputations, public theological debates, so that the Jewish disputant could quickly understand exactly where his opponent was quoting and respond.<\/p>\n

The first printed Hebrew Bible with commentary or Mikraot G\u2019dolot<\/em>, was published by Daniel Bomberg in Venice with chapter and verse in 1517 and Jewish versions ever since have utilized chapter and verse, even when they don\u2019t fit the structure of the Hebrew.\u00a0 One example is the beginning of Chapter 2 of Genesis, which contains the end of the creation of day 7, the Sabbath.\u00a0 It clearly belongs to the previous passage.\u00a0 Verse 4 begins the next passage with the story of the Garden of Eden.<\/p>\n

The system isn\u2019t perfect, but the form enables every individual to engage in their own study and arrive at their own opinions.\u00a0 It makes possible discussions between people with divergent backgrounds and opinions because there is a shared common text.\u00a0 You might disagree with someone\u2019s analysis, but you can at least see the source and witness the process.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A Structural Model?<\/h2>\n

Our personal lives mirror some of these same factors.\u00a0 Our personalities, practices, and beliefs are pulled from a variety of sources.\u00a0 Some of those are from our family and background.\u00a0 Some come from broader society.\u00a0 Others come from our own reactions to our families and societal trends and influences.\u00a0 The reality of\u00a0 living in a diverse, multi-cultural society impacts not just how we see the Torah on a page or how we understand its meaning, but how we understand, appreciate, and apply Judaism and Jewish teachings.\u00a0 The nature of contemporary society influences the function of Jewish life and study and, in turn, serves to shape the form of Jewish community.\u00a0 Let us choose wisely the wisdom we integrate into our lives.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding Structure in Torah and Our Lives Louis Sullivan, the American architect, famously remarked that \u201cform follows function\u201d.\u00a0 While his idiom has been applied primarily to architecture, it also opens insights into Torah and life as well. Torah forms the foundation for any discussion of Jewish practice, belief, custom, or history.\u00a0 How it appears, even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5567,"featured_media":348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[132,126,129,138,114,135],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chapter","tag-form","tag-function","tag-structure","tag-torah","tag-verse"],"yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding Torah: Structure Informs Spiritual Meaning fe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Torah forms the foundation for any discussion of Jewish practice, belief, custom, or history.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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