Torah is a Hebrew word that means “instructions”. It is also known as the Chumash or Five Books of Moses. Torah can also refer to the Tanakh or all Jewish learning in general.
Usually when people say “Torah”, they are talking about the Chumash.
Jewish tradition says that these five books were revealed to Moses by G-d on Mount Sinai (along with the Oral Torah). The five books are called: Bereishit (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), Bamidbar (Numbers), and Devarim (Deuteronomy).
Readings from the Torah are divided into 54 sections (parashah, meaning portion). Each Shabbat morning, one or two sections are read. Over one year, the entire Torah is read. Simchat Torah celebrates the end of this cycle and the beginning of a new one.
For many Jews across history and different places, the Torah is the center of Jewish life.
Text adapted from Simple English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
