Questions tagged [pentateuch-chumash]
Questions pertaining to the Five Books of Moses (Chumash)
201
questions
2
votes
2answers
266 views
How do we get Parshot and Sefarim within the Chumash?
Aside from the numbered chapters introduced by Christianity, what is the source for dividing the Torah into parshot (weekly Torah reading) and the 5 volumes (Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bamidbar and ...
5
votes
2answers
683 views
Is the Hebrew Biur of Moses Mendelssohn Available Online
Inspired by this question, I was wondering whether the Hebrew Biur of Moses Mendelssohn is available online.
Update: I found D'varim here, so I am looking for the first 4 books.
5
votes
1answer
179 views
Why are Masekhtot referred to by content while Humashim by their first word(s)?
Hamishah Humshe'i Torah (i.e. The Five Books of Moses) are most commonly referred to by the first word(s) in each (e.g. "Bereshit bara", "We'eleh HaDevarim"), though I'm aware of commentators (e.g. ...
10
votes
1answer
404 views
Who translated the original version of the Torah into each of the 70 languages?
In Devarim 27:8, the Torah says to "write all the words of the Torah explained well" (- "Ba'aer Hetev".
Rash"i, citing Sotah 35b, says that this was translated into 70 languages. Sifsei Chachamim ...
3
votes
3answers
317 views
Torah and the Holy Bible
Why doesn't the Holy Bible contain only the original First five books of the Bible and nothing else? As I understand the Bible to state that nothing shall be removed and nothing was to be added.
3
votes
1answer
156 views
Rav Hirsch and zachor
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch says that the word zachor (in Exodus 20:7), meaning remember, is the statement telling us "to keep the Shabbos in our minds and hearts, and give verbal expression to its ...
5
votes
2answers
156 views
Recommendation for a digital Torah codex for software developers
Could someone recommend a source for a machine-readable Hebrew with English Torah codex that may be used in software development projects?
By "machine readable," I mean of a format that may be ...
-2
votes
4answers
507 views
What does Mot Yumat mean?
In the chumash, any sources. What is the literal translation and does it mean, mot = this world, yumat = the next world?
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there any Mikras Gedolos in English?
Is there any Mikras Gedolos in English? I am interested in learning Meforshim on Chumash, and I wanted to know if there were any online or in a store.
8
votes
3answers
729 views
Is there a mention of the Oral Torah in the Written Torah?
Is there an explicit mention mention of the Oral Torah in the Chumash? If not, why not?
11
votes
1answer
540 views
Why don't we name children Yitro?
Yitro appears to be an overall positive character in the Torah. At least as much as Noah or Saul, yet I do not know of contemporary (or even ancient) Jews named Yitro. Why is that?
11
votes
3answers
152 views
What is the difference between curses that would require changing lashon?
In parshat Lech Lecha, (Bereishit 12:3) Hashem promises Avram that וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ, אָאֹר, And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.
Why ...
10
votes
5answers
370 views
Onkelos, Anthropomorphism, and The Exodus
Onkelos the Convert is said by the Talmud to be the author of the official aramaic translation of the Pentateuch. Rashi and Maimonides understand Onkelos as having a tendency to interpret physical ...
3
votes
1answer
75 views
Are we precise in which name of God we use outside of Chumash?
In the chumash, there is a distinction between the use of Elokim (midat hadin, the characteristic of justice/law) and the four letter name (midat harachamim, the attribute of mercy).
Rashi on 1:1 ...
7
votes
2answers
288 views
Metzudat Tzion on the Torah
Was there a Metzudat Tzion written on the Torah? If so, does anyone know if it is available online or for sale?
I always loved this commentary as it explained the hard words on the Nach.
8
votes
1answer
156 views
How come Metzudat Tzion never did a perush of difficult words in the chumash?
Why did the author of Metzudat Tzion never write an explanation of difficult words in the chumash, as he did for most of the Nach? There are hard words in the chumash that require explanation even for ...
4
votes
2answers
195 views
Machine-Readable Torah
Is there a machine-readable Sefer Torah or Chumash? Machine-readable meaning formatted as to be understood by a computer program. Despite the phrase, this is different from a Torah simply stored in ...
6
votes
0answers
88 views
Verses indicating that each person has an equal entitlement to a land-plot
In Numbers 26:53–54 (JPS), the Israelites are commanded:
Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. To the more thou shalt give the more ...
2
votes
0answers
127 views
What exactly did Yaakov learn at Yeshivat Shem v'Ever? [duplicate]
The Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 84:8) says
ר' נחמיה אמר שכל הלכות שמסרו שם ועבר ליעקב מסרן לו
All the laws that Yaakov learned by Shem and Ever, he taught to Yosef (his son).
What exactly did ...
6
votes
3answers
372 views
Why aren't Job or Psalms 90 in the Pentateuch?
In the Tanakh, the Jewish Biblical Canon, there are three categories of works: the Torah of Moses, and what are know as the 'Prophets' and 'Writings'. This categorization is outlined and mentioned in ...
1
vote
1answer
261 views
Why is the mitzvah to love the convert the one that is most often repeated in the Torah?
While I have no exact count, I read somewhere (don't recall if it was Ramba"m or similar source) that loving the convert is the one mitzvah that is repeated most often in the Torah. If this is true, ...
1
vote
0answers
101 views
the measurements of Noah's arc and the arc of the covenent
The volume of Noah's Ark is 450,000 cubic cubits. The volume of the Ark of the Covenant is 5.625. Noah's Ark was thus exactly 80,000 times larger than the Ark of the Covenant. Is it significant that ...
0
votes
1answer
66 views
The Book of Numbers and Passover
Why is LORD'S passover (Numbers 28:16) on the fourteenth day of the first month?
1
vote
1answer
349 views
What scriptures did Josiah discover in Kings II?
There is a story that Josiah discovers scriptures. What scriptures did he discover?
Was it a Torah scroll?
Which book of Torah was it, or was it all of them?
Was it the last copy?
If it wasn't the ...
1
vote
3answers
202 views
Why wasn't the Torah given to klal Yisroel as a DVD?
The obvious answer is that they didn't have DVDs back in Moshe Rabeinu's time. But still, Hashem could have created them back then.
My question, "Why wasn't the Torah given as a DVD?", is really ...
6
votes
4answers
339 views
Are any of the pesukim in the Torah not meant to be understood derech p'shat?
There is a concept that pesukim can be understood derech p'shat, remez, drush and sod. I'm not sure if that means that EVERY pasuk contains this 4 ways but I was wondering if any pasuk does not ...
3
votes
1answer
589 views
Three letters at the end of the parasha
What are the three letters either samechs or pe's which are at the end of the parasha in the Chumash?
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Why 1,000 generations of ungiven Torah, not X years?
The Mainz Anonymous reads, in part (in my own translation):
He created the Torah 974 generations before the world was created, then twenty-six generations [passed] from the creation of the world ...
0
votes
0answers
126 views
Why is Midrash not in the Torah
If midrashim are so important and add crucial historical/sociological details and ethical teachings and enrich our understanding of Hashem's wisdom, why are they not included in the Torah?
2
votes
0answers
213 views
When was the modern manuscript for the Torah agreed upon?
(This question is also asked here on history.SE for a different perspective.)
Considering that variations have occurred in the Torah's text over time (I think the Gemara may mention events where a ...
3
votes
2answers
294 views
Why is the name 'Yerushalayim' absent from the Torah?
Bereishit Rabbah (56:10) tells us that Yerushalayim was named as a unification of Avraham's "Yireh" after the akeidah and Malkhitzedek (who was really Shem) who greeted Avraham after saving Lot who ...
1
vote
0answers
508 views
Good place to start kli yakar
I've heard many great divrei torah from kli yakar, so I want to start learning kli yakar. I'm improving on my Hebrew skills, so I'd like to use a dictionary. What's a good parsha/perek of Chumash to ...
0
votes
1answer
73 views
What was the name of the wife of Elozor HaCohen?
What was the name of the wife of Elozor HaCohen? (Assuming she was the sister of tzipporah and daughter of Yisro)
2
votes
1answer
50 views
Shnayim mikrah v'echad targum - why twice? [duplicate]
There is a mitzvah to read the parsha of the week in preparation for every Shabbat - the Hebrew of each verse twice, and a translation or commentary of that verse once. I understand that the ...
-5
votes
1answer
181 views
Which part of Tanach did Moses give the people in Dt. 31?
I read in the below verses that Moses himself wrote the Torah and gave it to his people with the ark. The book given by Moses seemed to be very important since he propheisized that people would ...
2
votes
0answers
602 views
Chumash with Rashi and Siftei Chachamim
Does anyone know of a Chumash (not Mikraot Gedolot) with Rashi and Siftei Chachamim
Most Chumashim come with Ikar Siftei Chachamim, but that's not the same thing.
4
votes
2answers
207 views
Why does Rashi say that a hey at the end = a lamed at the beginning so many times?
Over and over again, Rashi on Chumash points out that a hey at the end of the word means the same as a lamed at the beginning. He doesn't just clarify that that is the usage, he states the rule itself ...
2
votes
1answer
192 views
Why does Rashi comment on some verb-לו phrases and not others?
A feature of lashon hakodesh (Biblical Hebrew) is that a verb is sometimes followed by "לו", inflected for the person, number, and gender of the subject, without the "לו" ...
16
votes
2answers
2k views
Which mitzvah is repeated the most times in the Chumash?
I have learned that not mixing milk and meat is mentioned 3 times in the chumash, and because of this we learn 3 different laws.
I also found out today that the law "not to follow the ways of the ...
9
votes
1answer
698 views
What are the rules for ain mukdam umeuchar?
Sometimes we say that things in the Torah are not in chronological order. What are the parameters for this? do you need to have a mesorah (particular tradition) for this? Is there a list of all '...
5
votes
1answer
315 views
Does p'shat explain everything?
Ways of reading Chumash are commonly divided into four headings: p'shat, simple readings; d'rash, exegeses; remez, hints; and sod, secrets. The g'mara and midr'she halacha are full of d'rash: they ...
3
votes
2answers
494 views
Biblical evidence for not eating bread on passover?
Can someone cite lines from the Torah that specify what Jews should eat during Passover? I'm aware that Jews don't eat leavened bread during Passover. Where does this rule come from?
6
votes
2answers
752 views
Siddur & chumash — which gets stacked on top?
I've seen this one asked over and over again, and always heard different things.
Do you stack a chumash on top of a siddur, or the other way around?
11
votes
2answers
546 views
Moshe Rabbeinu's knowledge of future events
If Moshe Rabbeinu was taught the entire Torah on Mt. Sinai (Rashi on Vayikra 25:1, Rambam), how do we explain events such as the incident involving the Bnos Tzelafchad (Bamidbar 27:1-11), or the tamei ...
10
votes
2answers
731 views
What were the Nephilim?
Inspired by this question on Biblical Hermeneutics.
What were the Nephilim mentioned in Bereishis and in Bamidbar?
Bereishis 6:1-4
The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after ...
5
votes
1answer
361 views
Haman in the Torah
Similar to Alex's question,
Why did the Gemara say "From where is the source of Homon in the Torah? Homin Hoetz." when it could have used "Vechaltem es Homon"?
Anyways, what is the purpose of ...
4
votes
1answer
142 views
Where does Rashi say “Complaint” in his commentary on the Torah?
When I was in 4th grade, my rebbi taught us a Rashi in which he explains a Pasuk by simply saying "Complaint" (קומפליינט or some similar transliteration), meaning the voice in the Pasuk was ...
9
votes
1answer
255 views
Who invented the Mikraot Gedolot?
Whose idea was the Mikraot Gedolot and when was it first published? Mikraot Gedolot is a Humash with a collection of commentaries very popular in Jewish circles today.
4
votes
2answers
117 views
How many factors did Esav need to prompt him to marry Machalas?
At the end of parashas Toldos (28:6-8), the pesukim indicate factors in Esav's decision to add Machalas, who was not a Canaanite, as a spouse:
א וַיִּקְרָא יִצְחָק אֶל-יַעֲקֹב, וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתוֹ; ...
14
votes
2answers
45k views
Difference between Torah and the first five books in Christian bible [closed]
I know that basically, the first 6 5 books in Christian's Bible forms the Torah. However are there any subtle difference between torah and those books?
