What are examples of jewish literature?

Answer 1

Jewish Literature can mean two distinct things: there is Holy and Religious Literature on the one-hand and Secular Literature Written by Jews on Jewish themes.

Holy and Religious Literature

The writings of Judaism may be divided into several categories. These include: the Tanakh, the Talmud, the other works of our early sages, and the works of later Rabbis.

The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is also called "the Written Torah," in contrast to the Oral Torah, which is the body of tradition that was handed down orally for some 1500 years, and only after that put in writing, so as not to be forgotten in times of exile. The Oral Torah is contained in the Talmud, which is a multi-volume compendium of Jewish traditions, law, history, and sayings of the early Jewish Sages.

The other works of the early sages include the midrashim (expounding upon the Tanakh), and the Zohar (a mystical commentary on the Torah). The works of later Rabbis include books on Jewish outlook and belief, such as the Emunot VeDeot (8th century CE) and the Kuzari (11th century); books on halakhah (Jewish law), such as the Yad Hachazakah (12th century) and the Shulchan Arukh (16th century); books on piety, such as the Noam Elimelekh and the Mesillat Yesharim (18th century); books on ethics, such as the Maalot Hamidot and the Hafetz Chaim (19th century), and much more.

Contents of the Written Torah:

The Jewish holy book is the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), containing the Torah and the prophetic books.

Tanakh is a Hebrew acronym of T, N, K which stands for the three parts of the Tanakh: Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).

1) The Torah (תורה), also called the Pentateuch, is the primary Jewish holy book. It is comprised of the 5 Books of Moses (also called the Books of the Law). The Torah was given by God to Moses (Exodus 24:12), who transmitted it to the people and wrote it (Deuteronomy 31:24).

1-5: The Torah (the Five Books of Moses):

• Bereshit (Genesis)

• Shemot (Exodus)

• VaYikra (Leviticus)

• BaMidbar (Numbers)

• Devarim (Deuteronomy)

2) Nevi'im (נביאים), The Prophets. The Jews see the book of Prophets as the Divinely-inspired story of their past and the relationship between God and Israel. Jewish tradition (Talmud, Bava Batra 14b) states that the prophetic books were written by the authors whose names they bear: Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, etc. Judges is credited to Samuel, Kings was written by Jeremiah. The Prophets is comprised of a total of 8 books according to the Jewish count.

6-9: The Nevi'im Rishonim (the Early Prophets):

• Yehoshua (Joshua)

• Shoftim (Judges)

• Shmuel (Samuel I and II)

• Melachim (Kings I and II)

10-13: The Nevi'im Acharonim (the Later Prophets):

• Yeshayahu (Isaiah)

• Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah)

• Yechezkel (Ezekiel)

• Trei Asar ("The Twelve Prophets" or Minor Prophets)

Books and Prophets within Trei Asar:

• Hoshea (Hosea)

• Yoel (Joel)

• Amos

• Ovadiah (Obadiah)

• Yonah (Jonah)

• Michah (Micah)

• Nahum

• Havakkuk (Habakkuk)

• Zephaniah

• Haggai

• Zechariah

• Malachi

3) Ketuvim (כתובים), Writings. The Ketuvim contains the remaining History Books: Daniel, Lamentations, and others. Jewish tradition (Talmud, Bava Batra 14b) states that the prophetic books were written by the authors whose names they bear: Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, etc. Ruth was written by Samuel; Lamentations was written by Jeremiah; Psalms was set in writing by King David; Chronicles was written by Ezra; Proverbs, Song of Songs and Kohellet (Ecclesiastes) were written by King Solomon; and Esther was written by Mordecai and Esther. Concerning Job, the Talmud states more than one opinion as to when it was written. The Writings consists of 11 books by the Jewish count:

14-16: The "Sifrei Emet"

• Tehilim (Psalms)

• Mishlei (Proverbs)

• Iyov (Job)

17-21: The "Five Megilot" (Five Scrolls)

• Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs)

• Ruth

• Eichah (Lamentations)

• Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)

• Esther

22-24: The rest of the Writings:

• Daniel

• Ezra-Nehemiah

• Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles I and II)

Further information:

The term "Torah" can refer loosely to the entire Jewish Bible.

Tradition places the sealing of the Tanakh's canon around 340 BCE.

Secular Jewish Literature

In the modern world, many Jews have written about Jewish experiences in a commentary on the problems in the Jewish World, such as Chaim Potok in "The Chosen" or about the ostracism Jews feel in other societies. A lot of Secular Jewish Literature is now written in the USA and Israel, but there are historical collections in Germany and the Yiddish-speaking communities of Eastern Europe.

For more on Jewish Literature, please see the Related Link below.