The word תּורָה – Torah most often refers to the Five Books of Moses.
Although the Torah contains many stories, such as those of Cain and Abel, the Exodus from Egypt, as well as the story of Abraham’s life, it also contains various laws, statutes and commandments.
Many have gone to great lengths to count how many various commandments there are in the Torah and the general consensus is that there are 613 commandments and prohibitions. The Torah can therefore be understood as a mix of stories and laws that lay the foundation for Israel as God’s covenantal people.
But what does the word Torah actually mean in Hebrew?
Simply put, the word תּורָה – Torah, means teaching, instruction and even direction. The root of the word comes from the verb יָרָה – yarah/לִירות – Lirot, which illustrates the idea of hitting a target while throwing/shooting something.
Like an arrow aimed at its mark, the תּורָה Torah is dedicated to teaching people about God – His magnificent being, His holy character and His faithful and providential acts in His world. To explore more click HERE.
I have always struggled with how much of Torah instructions I, as a follower of Yeshua the Messiah / Jesus Christ, am responsible for keeping. Isra’el is the tribe He claims as His heritage. I ask myself, if He has done this then do I? Perhaps a question all of us are asking in our various ways.
Torah (/ˈtɔːrə/; Hebrew: תּוֹרָה, “Instruction”, “Teaching”) is a central concept in the Jewish tradition. It has a range of meanings: it can most specifically mean the first five books of the Tanakh, it can mean this plus the rabbinic commentaries on it, it can mean the continued narrative from Genesis to the end of the Tanakh, it can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching and practice.[1] Common to all these meanings, Torah consists of the foundational narrative of the Jewish people: their call into being by God, their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with their God, which involves following a way of life embodied in a set of religious obligations and civil laws (halakha).