As a Jew, my first loyalty, interest, goal, way of life, and priority of importance is living by the commandments** of God revealed in The Torah. That is why, although this website is probably going to be mostly used for listing my experience and schooling for future employers to look at, I must start out the site with The Torah. What follows is a brief explanation of what The Torah is. If you are at the site for professional reasons, see the section labeled “Science.”
The Torah (the 1st
five books of the bible) is the revealed word of God*. It was transmitted
through the unsurpassed prophecy of Moses, and entirely written down by him
(with the possible exception of the last few verses, which some say were
written by Joshua).
The Torah, along with the rest of the Hebrew Bible (Tanach), is collectively known as the “Written Torah.” The other books of the Bible were written by prophets through visions and dreams (Naviim), and through other authors through Divine inspiration (Kesuvim).
Along with The Torah, God also gave to Moses the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah (forbidden to be written down until around 150 C.E.) was the definitive explanation of the Written Torah – explaining how to read it and the details of its laws. Included in the Oral Torah were 13 methods of extracting laws and ideas out of The Torah, later used throughout the generations by sages until around 500 C.E. when the correct way and skill to use the processes were lost. At this time, the Oral Torah up to that point was written in a terse form in what is called Talmud (There is a Babylonian Talmud, and a Yerushalmi Talmud), with the way to read it being passed down from teacher to student. The Talmud also contains additional teachings and Rabbinic enactments designed to help people steer clear of violating Torah law. Some parts of the Oral Torah were written down outside the Talmud in the Midrashim, Toseftas, Michiltas, and Beraisos.
However, even
after the Talmud was codified, the Oral Torah continued to grow, and does so to
this day, by means of applying the principles laid out in the Talmud to current
Halachic (Jewish law) questions.
Also, more and more ways of explaining, and extracting insights out of The Written Torah and the Talmud are being produced, which also adds to the collective “Oral Torah.”
*Evidence of the validity of the divine origin of The Torah and the Oral Torah given along side it can be found in many publications and lectures. The links to some are listed on the Torah Links page.
**These commandments, or which there are 613 categories of, are obligatory for every Jew to live by. In The Torah, God also sets down 7 categories of laws which all the people of the world are obligated to keep. If they do so, they receive a full reward in the afterlife. These 7 categories, as well as other information can be found here. Although Judaism does not seek converts, non-Jews who wish to get even closer to God than the 7 categories can take them, and are willing to take on the responsibility of observing all 613 mitzvos, can convert. Afterwards, they are accepted into the Jewish fold as full-fledged members.
Here is a quick description of each Torah sub-page:
Book List This page provides a listing of
some essential and interesting books on Torah.
Each book is described/reviewed, and a link to where to buy it is provided
where possible.
Links Here, I have listed numerous
sites related to Torah. They cover a large range, including
evidence for the divine origin of the Torah, Torah-related blogs, places to
download lectures, useful tools for religious Jews, etc.
Kahuna I am a Kohen. That means that I am a
direct paternal descendant of Moses’s brother Aaron,
who was the first Kohen. This page describes what that means, and provides
information and links about it.
Thoughts Here is where I will post my own
thoughts on Torah.
So far I have none, but hopefully I eventually will know enough to start
writing some thoughts.
