| The Torah |
| What is it? |
| Why is it so important to the |
| Jewish people? |
|
|
| Introduction |
| The Torah is the |
| sacred text of the |
| Jewish people. |
| Traditional Jewish |
| people believe that |
| God told Moses all of |
| the Torah on Mount |
| Sinai, and that Moses |
| wrote down his exact |
| words. |
|
|
| Introduction |
| Less traditional Jewish |
| people believe that |
| people inspired by |
| God wrote the Torah. |
| Almost all Jewish |
| people believe that |
| God gave Moses the |
| ten commandments. |
| Can you name any? |
|
|
| What’s in the Torah? |
| The word Torah actually means ‘teaching’. |
| The Torah is made up of five books, also |
| known as the five books of Moses. |
| These books are called: Genesis, Exodus, |
| Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. |
| When Jewish people talk about the Torah, |
| they sometimes include other important |
| books written by people to help explain the |
| Jewish laws. |
|
|
| What’s in the Torah? |
| The Torah is a mixture |
| of stories and |
| teachings. |
| One famous story is |
| about how God |
| created the first human |
| beings. Can you |
| remember what this |
| story is called? |
|
|
| Book of rules |
| The Torah contains |
| lots of instructions |
| about how Jewish |
| people should live. |
| Altogether, there are |
| 613 commandments |
| like this. |
|
|
| What do you think “Kosher” Means? |
|
|
| They tell Jewish people how to pray, what to eat |
| and which festivals to celebrate. |
|
|
| The Torah Scroll |
| The Torah that is read |
| in the Synagogue is |
| written on a scroll. |
| They are made by |
| specially trained |
| people, written on |
| parchment. |
| They are not allowed |
| to leave in any |
| mistakes! |
|
|
| When they are |
| finished, the scrolls a |
| decorated as |
| beautifully as possible. |
|
|
| The decorated Torah |
|
|
| What does the Torah teach? |
| In the Torah, rules for everyday life are only |
| talked about very briefly. |
| Over thousands of years, Rabbis have |
| talked about what the Torah meant and |
| came up with details of how Jewish people |
| should live their lives. |
| Lots of these ideas can be seen on the next |
| page. |
|
|
| Conclusion |
| The Torah is the “instruction manual” for |
| being Jewish. Not every Jewish person |
| follows all the rules, but all Jews see the |
| Torah as being sacred and special. |
| It has lots of stories in it that make up the |
| ‘Old Testament’ for Christians and Muslims |
| too. |
| What do you think about the Torah? |
|
|
| |
