Question: Is the Torah the first five books in the Old Testament of the bible or is there more?

Answer: The word Torah shares the same grammatical root as the word “morah”, which is an instructor or a teacher. Therefore, Torah is a set of instructions or teachings. Oftentimes, we refer to the Torah as “Toras Chayim”—the Torah of life. In fact, these are instructions for life.

The traditional usage of the term Torah is multifaceted. In its narrowest sense, it refers to the five books of Moses. Our tradition has it that those five books were actually given over to Moses word for word by God, and contain within them the entire spectrum of Jewish Biblical Law and the blueprint by which the Oral Law that was also given to Moses and transmitted to the Jewish People On Sinai over 3500 years ago can be derived.

The Written Law and Oral Law together form what has traditionally been termed as the Torah law by God. Torah Shebeksav – written law. Torah SheBaal Peh - Oral Law. Both Divine and both eternal.

In addition to that there is the works of the prophets (Neviim) and Scriptures (Kesuvim). The words of the prophets contain not only the history of our people in post biblical times until the destruction of the first temple, but also contain many laws and prophecies that have eternal significance. These works were not Divinely narrated (as the five books of Moses were) although they were written by various prophets under Divine inspiration. Together the Written Torah, the Prophets and the Scriptures form what is known as Tanakh which is an acronym of Torah Neviim and Kesuvim and form the entire corpus of Divinely written or inspired Jewish works.

Yet, Torah encompasses much more than that. The oral tradition was recorded and put into shorthand notes called the Mishna in the 1st and 2nd century. That was later elaborated upon and expanded to encompass the sources for the laws the rabbinical traditions and teachings as well as anecdotes and lessons in the work known as the Talmud which was completed and sealed in the early 7th century.

All Jewish teachings since that time focus on the understanding and elaboration of these works, and it is what we refer to today as “the study of Torah.” The study and knowledge of Torah is one of our primary Commandments. Even more so it is the heartblood of our people. “Our nation is only a nation through Torah” is a famous quote of the Rabbi Sadyah Gaon in the 8th century.

Welcome to its study!

Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz