Top 10 Misconceptions About the Jewish Torah
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Around 1450 BCE, at Mount Sinai, the history of humankind radically changed. Here, the prophet Moses shared the divine revelations that God gave him to share with Israel. These teachings are the inspiration for the Jewish Torah. In fact, millions of followers from different regions, ethnicity and languages still use it today. The Torah (also known as the Pentateuch) typically consists of five books of the 24 books of the “Tanakh” (or in other words, the complete Jewish Bible). Jews usually store it on handwritten parchment scrolls. The Torah mostly contains the Jewish Laws, customs, and ceremonies. This knowledge also became the roots of other religions (such as Islam and Christianity) which share its monotheistic beliefs.
Before starting, keep in mind the following suggestions to help you enjoy the contents of this article to their fullest. First, leave your bias behind. This article is a tool to enrich your knowledge about this religion.
Second, while the Jewish Religion is generally refereed to a a single entity. However, like any other religion, many “branches” (Orthodox or Reconstructionist for example) divide Judaism. They usually don’t share the same rigor when it comes to following the rules (or adding new ones) present in the complete Jewish Bible or about being a “true” believer. Check out below for the Top 10 Misconceptions about the Jewish Torah.
#10: There are 613 Commandments in the Torah
Most people know about the 10 Commandments. However, there’s a lot more than just that in the Jewish Bible than those carved in stone for the 10 Commandments. These Commandments include 365 negative commands (corresponding to the number of solar days in a year) and 248 positive commands (corresponding to the number of bones covered with flesh) by its precepts (Like “Thou shalt not” for negatives).[1]Ask Dr. Brown – Are There Really 613 Commandments in the Torah? In the Jewish Torah, there is a passage that refers to this number by Rabbi Smlai (third century A.D.). “Six hundred and thirteen precepts were communicated to Moses, three hundred and sixty-five negative precepts, …and two hundred and forty-eight positive precepts…” (b. Makkot 23b-24a). But, because of the destruction of the “Temple”, there are fewer commandments in the Torah.
This leaves some differences in opinion between the Jewish leaders, who added or reduced commandments according to their beliefs. When you take this numbers into consideration, there’s no doubt in feeling overwhelmed by that many rules to follow. Another thing to consider is what happens if you do something “terrible”? Is there a chance to break 10 commands at once, or even worse, 20 commands with just one action alone? To answer this complication, some of the Talmudic rabbis expressed some kind of resolution by quoting a favorite text of Paul, “The just shall live by faith”. Practically reducing the Commandments to one.[2]The Times of Israel – There Are Not 613 Biblical Commands
#9: The Torah is the only sacred book for the Jews
The Complete Jewish Bible contains the Torah. However, it has three main sections. The nickname for them is “Tanakh” (an acronym of the three sets of books: the Pentateuch or “Torah”, the Prophets or “Nevi’im”, and the Writings or “Ketuvim”). [3]Israel – Jewish Sacred Texts These books although present in the Old Testament of the Protestant Bible, differ in order.[4]OUPblog – Seven common misconceptions about the Hebrew Bible According to custom, each generation passed on these books. In fact, this custom continues to this day. They contain the instructions, teachings, and laws that God inspired through the prophets by divine revelations and constitute the roots of the Judaism.
#8: It is not possible to change the interpretations of the laws in the Torah
Many may see it as “blasphemy” to just share the idea of changing the writings within the scrolls of the complete Jewish Bible. Such holy words present in the Jewish Torah are a divine revelation sent from God to his people. One that has been shared through generations. The problem though is that each generation that gets the knowledge of the Jewish Torah commonly tend to differently interpret some of the verses that are present in the holy books. As the time goes by, and humankind changes their ideology, so does the interpretation of the Jewish Torah.[5]Chabad.org – Torah Eternal
#7: The Torah and the Oral Torah are different names for the same books
Many people misconstrue the Torah and the Oral Torah. They think that the only crucial difference is that one book is written and the other “book” is just the spoken words. The difference though is far larger than that. The Jewish Torah, after being written down, had some vague information between its verses. The the only way to clarify any misconception was to ask a rabbi to give the full context of any particular verse. Initially, the Oral Torah were these “clarifications”. As time passed, people passed on the oral tradition. However, as time passed and the need to contain this knowledge arose, Jews decided to write down and store these crucial instructions for future generations.[6]torah.org – Oral Torah vs. Written Torah
#6: Women can not learn the Torah
In order to maintain the happiness and comfort of all its followers, any religion needs to understand its follower’s needs and keep a close relationship with them. The Jewish religion takes this into consideration. Throughout history, it has adapted itself to the culture around it. At the same time, it still maintains the strong rules and commandments that categorize its beliefs. Keeping this in mind, the difference between the rights and laws of men and women begin to blur. As does the teachings in the Torah about this. Currently, women have the right to study the complete Jewish Bible[7]Chabad.org – Transforming Women’s Torah Learning if she desires to. However, previously, there were prohibitions that prevented this.
#5: The Torah disproves most things related to science
The conflict between religion and science has always been a big one. Today, we must ask ourselves if we should we take into consideration everything that the Jewish Torah explains about science and ignore newly discoveries that contradict the holy book; or should we try to change the original Torah to “update” its teachings about science and the breakthroughs that been discovered since? The answer here, can’t be either “a” or “b”. Religion and science are like “water and oil”. If you try to mix them, you’ll probably end up having problems with both. However, it comes without saying that they are both a necessity. We require the knowledge they both provide for better understanding of our everyday lives.[8]VBM – Torah and Science
#4: Moses wrote the Torah
Moses “technically” didn’t write the Jewish Torah. At least not all of it. Discoveries from different scholars have concluded that different people (besides Moses) wrote verses for the Pentateuch. It appears that Moses was just one of several authors. However, the Jewish Torah represents all of the teachings, and beliefs from Moses. Although he didn’t actually write them down, the Torah is the essence of Moses’ teachings. Therefore, he is credited for the Pentateuch.[9]The Torah – Who Wrote the Torah According to the Torah?
#3: The Torah contains coded hidden messages between the verses
If you have seen the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, you may be familiar with the kinds of procedures to “find” hidden codes in any printed text. If not, the process is similar, you take a “key” number (sometimes this particular number shares a meaning with the Kabbalah) and highlight different letters contained in the Jewish Torah to obtain other phrases with “hidden” information between the lines.[10]JW.org – What Is the Torah? It has been proven many times that these hidden messages are not important for the study of the Torah and that everything written between the verses don’t need a special key to understand the holy message.
#2: The Torah is historically literal account
Many think that the Torah and science do not mix. However, it is important to understand the literary context that the original writers were using. In fact, the events presented in the Jewish Torah were taken as “literal” for the Jewish practitioners.[11]Reform Judaism – Torah Is Not History For example, between the pages of the Torah, it is explained that the World and humankind were created within 7 days. However, the word “days” has a different meaning. It can also mean a prolonged time in this context. Because as science has proven, the formation of the World took centuries to complete.
#1: The teachings in the Kabbalah and the Jewish Torah can not go together
Sometimes reason has no proper way to explain the different events described in the Torah (like the example about the Creation). In these situations, Jews use the Kabbalah to obtain further explanations about their holy book. This means that they both complement each other to understand the divine revelations for its believers.[12]The Kingdom Within – Top 3 Myths About Kabbalah
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