Sinaite Notes on The TORAH – 1

A Sinaite’s Notes/Sinai6000.net

[First posted June 5, 2012; the Sinaite’s early notes on a book we had not yet determined at the time, would be what we would later decide as the true Word of YHWH.—Admin1]

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The word “TORAH” has been bandied about all over this website.  We have endeavored to explain what we mean by it in our articles.  What we have accepted as “TORAH” comes out of our collective understanding from extensive individual study and group research.  Our main source of information comes from the chosen people of YHWH to whom was given this special divine revelation to record for posterity, to live out and to pass on to generations of Israelites/Jews, but also to the whole world of non-Israelites, to us gentiles.

The “notes” we share here come from different books and Jewish websites; hopefully our visitors, new and regular, will benefit from these notes.  They are not organized in a systematic manner; they’re what you might read if you happen to read a student’s notebook, scribblings of information that are useful/helpful in understanding this collection of five books attributed to the main recipient of the revelation—Moses.

But first,  a blessing for the Torah, just as the Rabbis pray:

Blessed are you

YHWH our God,

King of the universe,

who gives us the Torah of truth

so that we may study, live, learn,

and be changed by it,

so that we may have righteous judgment and your spirit of love,

so that we may keep your commandments,

do them, and live in them, and teach them

to our children and our children’s children forever.  Amain!

“Torah” — the word is said to come from the same root as hora’ah, the Hebrew word for “instruction” or “teaching.”  

Such instruction has been given by YHWH Himself so that all of mankind could find and follow this path leading toward God. Without God Himself revealing this path, man could only guess or determine their own ideas of how to find God [religion].  

The Jewish sages teach that studying Torah is not simply studying the word of God; Torah study is in effect an actual or authentic encounter with God HImself.  The sages promote the belief that on Mount Sinai, Moses actually received two Torahs—a written Torah and an oral Torah.  For Jews, or the Jewish religion — Judaism — the written and oral make up their Torah. They explain that the written gives general principles while the oral expands on these basics so that they could be applied to new and current situations through the centuries.  

There are sects [Karaites] that deviate from that belief and are more fundamentalist, accepting only the written Torah.  Understandably so . . . because when one starts reading the oral Torah, some writings appear to spin off from the text.  We Sinaites do bother to read the oral Torah to understand Jewish thinking but in the end, accept only the Written Torah as YHWH’s revelation. 

Image from amazon.com

One of the most helpful books for clueless gentiles like us is the series of “how to” books  “for Dummies.”  There is actually “The Torah for Dummies.”  The author Arthur Kurzweil simplifies what appears like a formidable task of navigating through writings that most people can barely relate to.

Here are a few tips that he gives:

• The Torah, also known as the Five Books of Moses, is the most sacred object and the most important text of the Jewish people.  As a sacred scroll found in every synagogue throughout the world, it’s referred to as a sefer Torah (Torah scroll); as a bound book, it’s referred to as a chumash (five).
• The Torah is more than a text, though; it’s also the spiritual tradition of the Jewish people, communicated by God (the Creator and Master of the universe) to Moses (The greatest prophet of the Jewish people) on Mount Sinai in 1280 BCE and handed down from generation to generation.
• You can understand the word “Torah” in a third way as well.  Torah is the vast and constantly growing body of teachings and wisdom of Judaism, and in this sense it even includes what a qualified teacher will teach tomorrow.  The “study of Torah” is not necessarily the same as the “study of the Torah.”  “The Torah” usually means the Written Torah, the Five Books of Moses, whereas “Torah” is Torah studies in the more general sense.
• Even though the Torah is mainly about God, it’s also important to remember that the Torah’s author is God.  Although the first line of the Torah says, “In the beginning of God’s creation of heaven and earth . . .,” it’s God who is speaking. 
• God chose Moses to receive and write down a divine message; which is why the Torah is also known as the Five Books of Moses, but the Torah emanates from God.  God reaches into the human world with the Torah.
• God didn’t create the world out of nothing.  God’s creation is an emanation of divine light that God sculpted into all that exists.  God is not just “in” everything.  Rather, everything is God. . . on the deepest level everything is God.
• The Torah is mainly God’s communication to people about how to behave.  Most of the Torah is directed toward the Jewish people, although it also contains instructions for all other peoples of the world.  But for reasons that only God knows, the Jewish people are given extra burdens and responsibilities.  God chose the Jewish people, but in no way does this status of being chosen by God imply superiority. 
• People have responsibilities to God and to each other, and the Torah is filled with instructions about how to fulfill both.