INTRO TO TORAH
In This Section:
Intro to the basics of Torah and a look at the road map for applying God's commands to our lives as outlined in the Bible. It explores the timeline and covenants of the biblical text and discusses how Torah Observance is relevant to the life of every believer today.
Terms and Word Definitions:
Shalom: A salutation or greeting which means "Peace!"
Torah: The first 5 books of the bible, or in a looser sense, the biblical teachings and "instruction" overall which are explored throughout the books.
Covenant: An agreement or contract. Specifically in the bible it refers mostly to certain contracts established between God and his creation or people.
Mitzvah: A Hebrew word which means commandment usually referring to a specific commandment given in the Torah.
Sin: Breaking any of God's Commands.
Divisions of the Bible:
The Old Testament: Written almost entirely in Hebrew except for a tiny amount of Aramaic. It is made up of 3 types of books:
Torah: The first 5 books of the bible which contain much of the early history of the world and Israel as well as God's instructions to them. It is also sometimes called "The Law".
Nevi'im: A Hebrew word meaning "prophets", it refers to numerous works of prophecy by several different authors.
Ketuvim: A Hebrew word meaning "Writings", it refers to those books not found in the Law or the Prophets, comprising mostly works of wisdom and poetry.
The first letter of these three book types, T and N, and K, form a Hebrew term for the old testament called the Tanakh, or the Jewish Bible.
The New Testament: It is written in Greek and contains the four Gospels which reveal the life of Jesus and his teachings, The book of Acts which outlines early church history after Jesus, and the Epistles, a series of letters and teachings written by the followers of Jesus. The last book of the bible as we mentioned is a book of Prophecy called "Revelation".
The Mitzvahs (Commandments of God)
There have been several methods in history for trying to list all the specific commands found in the bible, or more specifically the part of the bible known as the Torah. These are usually categorized today in a list known as the 613 Commandments.
Most of theese 613 commandments (or Mitzvahs as they are called in Hebrew) can not be done today becacuse they require a rebuilt temple to perform them. However a good number of them can still be done still, and it is the keeping of these commands that form the basis for Torah Observance for those believers who make it a practice of their faith to keep the Mitzvah's given by God.
This site is designed as an introduction to this practice.
LIGHTING THE WAY...
[Psa 119:105 KJV] 105 NUN.
"Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
Shalom! Every Journey begins with a step. We recognize that the bible can feel overwhelming and daunting given all the knowledge and instructions contained in it, and it's easy to be overcome with a sense of information overload. The goal of this website is not to add to that feeling, but rather to help ease the learning curve by oversimplifying concepts and bringing things down to some bare bones basics. Is this a replacement for the in depth teachings of the text? God forbid! It's merely a starting point. that should help you gain some sense of direction and launch you into further study. We are simply trying to shine a little light on the path ahead and hopefully make things easier and more understandable.
Let's Start with an "Extremely" Oversimplified Look at the Bible...
The bible is a collection of books, some as small as only a single chapter long. It was written by about 40 different authors over roughly 1,500 years on 3 different continents in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Greek, and a tiny bit of Aramaic). It is divided into 2 parts: The Old Testament and the New Testament. But behind all these books, the one true author is God, who inspired these men to write his words down for us into his book called; "The Bible."
This is an extremely basic outline of the text:
God creates the world in 6 days including the first man and woman whom he placed in a Garden.
God Commanded them not to eat of a certain tree, but a serpent (Satan) tricked them into disobeying God, so God cast them out.
Years Later as humanity became wicked, God sent a flood to destroy the corrupted earth, but saved one family on an Boat, and afterword humanity grew again.
After the flood, God told humanity to spread out over the planet, but they again rebelled and built a city and a tower instead, therefore God divided them into different nations and languages.
God called a man named Abraham to go to a certain land that he would give to him and his descendants, and God promised to make a special nation of them. This Nation would later become known as "Israel".
God makes a type of agreement with Abraham known as a "Covenant" to confirm his promises to him.
As the family tree of Abraham grew, they committed some sins that eventually brought them into a position of slavery in Egypt.
God sent a man named Moses to set them free from thier slavery. Later, the nation of Israel made another covenant with God to obey his commandments (known as Mitzvahs). Here they are given the Torah. This took place at a mountain called "Sinai".
God caused Israel to conquer the land which he had originally promised to Abraham and overthrow the peoples living there who by then had become very wicked.
Later, God allowed Israel to have a King, and to build a temple in the capitol of Jerusalem to serve God at.
Israel had a civil war not long after this, and divided into two kingdoms; north and south. The northern Kingdom was conquered by a people called the Assyrians and taken away.
The Southern kingdom called Judea (from where we get the word "Jews") was later conquered by a nation called the Babylonians and was taken captive for 70 years but later freed. They returned and rebuilt their temple which the Babylonians had destroyed.
Centuries later, God sent his son Jesus to be born as a Jew in the land of Israel. He would later die for our sins on a cross, but resurrect after 3 days and later ascend into heaven. He will one day return soon as King of the whole Earth. Whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
The followers of Jesus spread his message. known as "The Gospel" to the whole world. A man named Paul is specially chosen by God to deliver the Gospel to the Non-Jewish peoples.
One of Jesus' followers, named John, writes a book about his fututre return and the end of the world. This book called "Revelation" becomes the last book of the bible.
Some post-biblical events:
About 40 years after the ministry of Jesus, the Roman Empire had a great war with Israel and destroyed the temple they had rebuilt. They took the Jewish people into captivity and Israel would not become a Nation-State again until 1948, a few short years after the end of World War II. Although many of the Jewish people have returned to their ancestral homeland, they have not yet rebuilt their temple because there are great tensions about this with the Islamic world which also claims the location of the site as a holy to Islam. Meanwhile, Christians wait in great anticipation of the soon return of Jesus to the place he left nearly 2,000 years ago: the holy city of Jerusalem.
These three faiths, known as the Abrahamic religions, make up almost 60% of the world's population today, making the city of Jerusalem, the location of the temple site, a major focal point on the world stage for the entire planet.
Read John 14:15
Jesus said"If you love me, Keep my Commandments".