Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Tanakh

 
Dictionary: Ta·nakh or Ta·nach (tä-näKH') pronunciation
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
n.

The sacred book of Judaism, consisting of the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings; the Hebrew Scriptures.

[Acronym from the initial letters of the Hebrew names for the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings : t(ôrâ), n(ədî'îm), k(ətûbôt).]


Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

The Religion Book: Tanakh
Top
Home > Library > Religion & Spirituality > Religion

The Hebrew scriptures are called Tanakh. This is an acronym based on the three sections comprising the whole. Each section contains books written by many different authors over many centuries. So the Tanakh can probably best be thought of as a library or collection, rather than a single volume. But it tells a unified story, a history of the Jewish people from the beginning of creation until about 400 bce.

The first part is called Torah and consists of five books. These are called the Pentateuch (from penta for "five") or the Books of Moses (because they were purportedly given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai). Torah relates the history of the Hebrew people from Creation ("In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth": Genesis 1:1) until the death of Moses ("Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face … For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel": Deuteronomy 34:10, 12).

The second part is called the Prophets (Nev-im). These books are said to be the work of men who were called by God over a period of centuries to speak the divine truth boldly and without equivocation. The prophets called for a return to the commandments through social change. They prophesied dire calamities, many of which later came to pass, if the people turned away from the guidelines set forth on Mount Sinai when Moses delivered the law. Many of them, Isaiah being the most prominent, foresaw the coming of a Messiah who would free the people from tyranny and usher in a day of peace and prosperity for the whole earth.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him … The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them … They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:1-9)

The third part is called the Writings (Kethuvim). It consists of a very diverse selection of "wisdom literature" ranging from the poetry of the Psalms to the tragic drama of Job.

Much of the material comprising Tanakh consists of oral tradition, eventually written and edited by many hands during the centuries before 400 bce. The documents were finally standardized in written form and translated into Greek in a volume called the Septuagint (the "work of the seventy scholars") in 250 bce. Finally, in the years between 90 and 98 ce, rabbis meeting in the town of Jamania established the criteria that became the standard against which the various books were to be judged. The "final cut" depended on whether or not each individual book met three obligations:

1. Antiquity (written before 400 bce)

2. Language (Hebrew, except for a few that were written in Aramaic)

3. Moral Integrity

The books that were rejected were Baruch, Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), 1 and 2 Macabees, Wisdom of Solomon, and additions to Daniel and Esther (See Apocrypha). The books that were accepted now make up the Hebrew scriptures, called Tanakh by Jews and Old Testament by Christians.

As the centuries passed, rabbis and scholars produced an immense library of interpretations and commentaries. These came to be known as Midrash. The earliest Midrash text is probably a version of the Haggadah, a ritual used at every Passover meal (See Passover). One of the most quoted concerns an incident involving the famous Rabbi Hillel, as related in Nahum Glatzer's Hammer on the Rock:

Once a heathen came before Shammai. He said to him: I will be converted, if you can teach me all the Torah while I stand on one leg. Shammai pushed him away with the builder's measure he had in his hand. The man came before Hillel. He converted him. He said to him: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is all the Torah. The rest is commentary-go and study."

The oral laws and rituals of Judaism, based on Tanakh, were eventually codified and became known as Mishna. These, too, developed their own commentaries, called Gemara. Together they comprise the great body of Jewish literature known as Talmud.

Some conclude that Tanakh, Midrash, and Talmud tie Judaism down to an ancient, out-of-date past; that they all seem to point to an old wisdom, out of touch with present-day reality. But Hebrew scripture takes the position that truth is an eternal reality. Michael Lerner, a philosopher and psychologist, is known as an advocate of Jewish liberation theology (See Liberation Theology). He writes eloquently of a reform movement within Judaism that is rooted in Torah. His language is modern and his ideas very contemporary. In his book Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation, he comes to this conclusion:

If ever there was a category that seemed scary, it's this one: getting real. The more asleep people are, the more they feel threatened by the concept, dismiss it as New Age or flakey or contentless. The more awake you are, the more you've had experiences in which you've moved from being more unconscious to more conscious, and hence the more you understand what is being talked about.

Rabbi Hillel wouldn't have put it that way. But he would have understood.

(See also Bible; Judaism, Development of)

Sources: Bridger, David, ed. The New Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Behrman House, 1962. Fisher, Mary Pat and Lee W. Bailey. An Anthology of Living Religions. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2000. Glatzer, Nahum, ed. Hammer on the Rock, New York: Schoken, 1962. Goldin, Judah, ed. and trans. The Living Talmud, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957. Lerner, Michael. Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994.

Wikipedia: Tanakh
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For the musical collective, see Tanakh (band).
See also: Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, and Peshitta
Part of a series of articles on
Jews and Judaism
Star of David Menorah
Who is a Jew? · Etymology · Culture
Texts
Tanakh
(Torah · Nevi'im · Ketuvim)
Targum
Talmud (Mishnah · Gemara)
Rabbinic (Midrash · Tosefta)
Mishneh Torah · Tur
Shulchan Aruch
Zohar · Tanya
v • d • e

The Tanakh (Hebrew: תַּנַ"ךְ‎, pronounced [taˈnax] or [təˈnax]; also Tenakh or Tenak) is a name for the Bible used in Judaism, also known as the Masoretic Text. The name "Tanakh" is a Hebrew acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings")—hence TaNaKh. The elements of the Tanakh are incorporated in various forms in Christian Bibles, in which, with some variations, it is called the "Old Testament". The Old Testament does not use the traditional Hebrew subdivisions, though the distinction "Law and the Prophets" is used several times in the New Testament.[1]

According to the Talmud,[2] much of the contents of the Tanakh were compiled by the "Men of the Great Assembly" by 450 BCE, and have since remained unchanged. Modern scholars are less certain, but some believe that the process of canonization of the Tanakh became finalized between 200 BCE and 200 CE, see Development of the Jewish canon for details.

The Hebrew text was originally an abjad: consonants written with some applied vowel letters ("matres lectionis"). During the early Middle Ages scholars known as the Masoretes created a single formalized system of vocalization. This was chiefly done by the Family Ben Asher, in the Tiberius school, based on the oral tradition for reading the Tanakh. It also included some of Ben Naftali and Babylonian innovations.[3] Despite the comparatively late process of codification, some traditional sources and some Orthodox Jews believe the pronunciation and cantillation derive from the revelation at Sinai, since it is impossible to read the original text without pronunciations and cantillation pauses. The combination of a text (מקרא "mikra"), pronunciation (ניקוד "niqqud") and cantillation (טעמים "te`amim") enable the reader to understand both the simple meaning, as well as the nuances in sentence flow of the text.

Contents

Terminology

The Tanakh is also called Mikra (מקרא, meaning "reading" or "that which is read"). The three-part division reflected in the acronym "Tanakh" is well attested to in documents from the Second Temple period and in Rabbinic literature.[4] During that period, however, "Tanakh" was not used as a word or term. Instead, the proper title was Mikra, because the biblical texts were read publicly. "Mikra" is thus analogous to the Latin term Scriptus, meaning "that which is written" (as in "Scripture" or "The Holy Scriptures"). Mikra continues to be used in Hebrew to this day alongside Tanakh to refer to the Hebrew scriptures. In modern spoken Hebrew both are used interchangeably.[5]

Codification of the books of Tanakh

Main article: Development of the Jewish Bible canon

According to the Talmud (Bava Basra 14b-15a, Rashi to Megillah 3a, 14a), much of the contents of the Tanakh were compiled by the Men of the Great Assembly ("Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah") a task completed in 450 BCE, and have remained unchanged since that date. Evidence suggests that the "process of canonization" occurred between 200 BCE and 200 CE. A popular position is that the Torah was canonized circa 400 BCE, the Prophets circa 200 BCE, and the Writings circa 100 CE[6] perhaps at a hypothetical Council of Jamnia — this position, however, is increasingly criticised by modern scholars. Some scholars argue that the Jewish canon was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty (140-37 BCE).[7] Today, there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Jewish canon was set.

Formal closure of the canon has often been ascribed to Rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Heinrich Graetz proposed in 1871 that it was concluded at a Council of Jamnia (or Yavne in Hebrew), some time in the period 70–90 CE. However, Rabbinical writings seem to indicate that certain books were disputed as accepted canon (such as Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Esther, see also Antilegomena), it may not necessarily be the case. The implication of the Talmud indicates that the books themselves were already accepted canon, but may have been misunderstood on philosophical or ecclesiastical grounds. The Talmud eliminates this misunderstanding.

The twenty-four books are also mentioned in the Midrash Koheleth 12:12.[8] A slightly different accounting can be found in the book Against Apion, by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus, who describes 22 sacred books.[9] Some scholars have suggested that he considered Ruth part of Judges, and Lamentations part of Jeremiah; as the Christian translator Jerome recorded in the 4th century CE.[10] Other scholars suggest that at the time Josephus wrote, such books as Esther and Ecclesiastes were not yet considered canonical.[citation needed]

Books of the Tanakh

Page of 11th century Tanakh with Targum

The Tanakh is an acronym of the initial Hebrew letters of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim. According to Jewish tradition, the Tanakh consists of twenty-four books.

The Tanakh counts as one book what are sometimes counted as two in Christian Bibles (e.g. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and so forth), and counts Trei Asar (תרי עשר, the Twelve Prophets; though literally, "twelve") as a single book.

Torah

Torah (תורה, literally "teaching") consists of five books, commonly referred to as the "Five Books of Moses." Printed versions of the Torah are often called Chamishei Chumshei Torah (חמישי חומשי תורה, literally the "five fifths of the Torah"), and informally "a Chumash."

In Hebrew, the books of the Torah do not have names. They are identified by the first prominent word in each book. The English names are derived from the Greek names given to the books in the Septuagint, which are based on the thematic content of each of the books, as follows:

1. Genesis - Bereshith
2. Exodus - Shemot
3. Leviticus - Vayikra
4. Numbers - Bamidbar
5. Deuteronomy - Devarim

Nevi'im

Nevi'im (נביאים, "Prophets") consists of eight books. This division includes the books which, as a whole, cover the chronological era from the entrance of the Israelites into the Land until the Babylonian captivity of Judah (the "period of prophecy"). However, they exclude Chronicles, which covers the same period. The Nevi'im are often divided into the Earlier Prophets (נביאים ראשונים), which are generally historical in nature, and the Later Prophets (נביאים אחרונים), which contain more exhortational prophecies.

Although most versions of the Old Testament count the number of books as totalling 21, counting the books of Samuel and Kings as two books each, and the "Twelve Prophets" (or the minor prophets) as 12 books, Jewish tradition does not:

6. Joshua (יהושע / Y'hoshua)
7. Judges (שופטים / Shophtim)
8. Samuel (I & II) (שמואל / Sh'muel)
9. Kings (I & II) (מלכים / M'lakhim)
10. Isaiah (ישעיה / Y'shayahu)
11. Jeremiah (ירמיה / Yir'mi'yahu)
12. Ezekiel (יחזקאל / Y'khezqel)
13. The Twelve Prophets (תרי עשר)
a. Hosea (הושע / Hoshea)
b. Joel (יואל / Yo'el)
c. Amos (עמוס / Amos)
d. Obadiah (עובדיה / Ovadyah)
e. Jonah (יונה / Yonah)
f. Micah (מיכה / Mikhah)
g. Nahum (נחום / Nakhum)
h. Habakkuk (חבקוק /Havakuk)
i. Zephaniah (צפניה / Ts'phanyah)
j. Haggai (חגי / Khagai)
k. Zechariah (זכריה / Z'kharyah)
l. Malachi (מלאכי / Mal'akhi)

Ketuvim

Ketuvim (כתובים, "Writings") or "scriptures", are sometimes also known by the Greek title "Hagiographa" and consists of 11 books. These encompass all the remaining books, and include the Five Scrolls. They are sometimes also divided into such categories as Sifrei Emet (ספרי אמת, literally "Books of Truth") of Psalms, Proverbs and Job (the Hebrew names of these three books form the Hebrew word for "truth" as an acrostic, and all three books have unique cantillation marks), the "wisdom books" of Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs, the "poetry books" of Psalms, Lamentations and Song of Solomon, and the "historical books" of Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. In the Jewish version, Ketuvim consists of 11 books, counting Ezra and Nehemiah as one book and I and II Chronicles as a single book.

The "Sifrei Emet," "Books of Truth":
14. Psalms [תהלים / Tehilim]
15. Proverbs [משלי / Mishlei]
16. Job [איוב / Iyov]
The "Five Megilot" or "Five Scrolls":
17. Song of Songs [שיר השירים / Shir Hashirim]
18. Ruth [רות / Rut]
19. Lamentations [איכה / Eikhah]
20. Ecclesiastes [קהלת / Kohelet]
21. Esther [אסתר / Esther]
The rest of the "Writings":
22. Daniel [דניאל / Dani'el]
23. Ezra-Nehemiah [עזרא ונחמיה / Ezra v'Nekhemia]
24. Chronicles (I & II) [דברי הימים / Divrei Hayamim]

Chapters and verse numbers, book divisions

The chapter divisions and verse numbers have no significance in the Jewish tradition. Nevertheless, they are noted in all modern editions of the Tanakh so that verses may be located and cited. The division of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles into parts I and II is also indicated on each page of those books in order to prevent confusion about whether a chapter number is from part I or II, since the chapter numbering for these books follows their partition in the Christian textual tradition.

The adoption of the Christian chapter divisions by Jews began in the late Middle Ages in Spain, partially in the context of forced clerical debates which took place against a background of harsh persecution and of the Spanish Inquisition (the debates required a common system for citing biblical texts). From the standpoint of the Jewish textual tradition, the chapter divisions are not only a foreign feature with no basis in the mesorah, but are also open to severe criticism of three kinds:

  • The chapter divisions often reflect Christian exegesis of the Bible.
  • Even when they do not imply Christian exegesis, the chapters often divide the biblical text at numerous points that may be deemed inappropriate for literary or other reasons.
  • They ignore the accepted closed and open space division which are based on the mesorah

Nevertheless, because they proved useful for citations, they are often included in most Hebrew editions of the biblical books. For more information on the origin of these divisions, see chapters and verses of the Bible. Jews don't necessarily reference the specific verse in a chapter (older editions of the Talmud cite only chapter numbers), and some works cite the sectional divisions in the Torah.

The chapter and verse numbers were often indicated very prominently in older editions, to the extent that they overshadowed the traditional Jewish masoretic divisions. However, in many Jewish editions of the Tanakh published over the past forty years, there has been a major trend towards minimizing the impact and prominence of the chapter and verse numbers on the printed page. Most editions accomplish this by removing them from the text itself and relegating them to the margins of the page. The main text in these editions is unbroken and uninterrupted at the beginning of chapters (which are noted only in the margin). The lack of chapter breaks within the text in these editions also serves to reinforce the visual impact created by the spaces and "paragraph" breaks on the page, which indicate the traditional Jewish parashah divisions. Some versions have even introduced a new chapter system[citation needed].

These modern Jewish editions present Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles (as well as Ezra) as single books in their title pages, and make no indication inside the main text of their division into two parts (though it is noted in the upper and side margins). In such editions, the second books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles follow the respective first books on the very same page, with no special break at all in the flow of the text. In the case of Kings, in which no parashah division appears at this point, the text of II Kings continues that of I Kings on the very same line of text.

Jewish (Hebrew) editions have a different pattern regarding Chronicles (I Chronicles) chapters 5 and 6. In I Chronicles (in Christian sources) chapter 5 ends at verse 41. Chronicles (Jewish editions of Chronicles) 5:27-41 is equivalent to First Chronicles 6: 1-15 in most English translations. In Jewish (Hebrew) editions 6:1 is equivalent to 6:16 and therefore the chapter ends at Chronicles 6:66 instead of the First Chronicles 6:81 (English translations) and at 7:1 both Hebrew and English versions set off from the same starting point once more. This difference offsets other more contextual differences. The Jewish Tanakh is based on an accepted traditional understanding of the text [11]. For example, Christians translate the word almah (עלמה)as "virgin," while the translation in the Tanakh is "young maiden".[12] This Christian view is based on a different understanding of the Septuagint translation, Greek: παρθενος which according to New Testament Scholars[13], can mean "a marriageable maiden" or "virgin."

Editions

A modern, printed Tanakh.


The Leningrad Codex also served as the basis for two important Jewish editions of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh):

    • Aharon Dotan's edition, which was reprinted with a concise commentary and distributed to soldiers in mass quantities as the official Tanakh of the Israel Defense Forces throughout the 1990s. This has recently been updated as the Codex Leningradensis.
  • The Koren Tanakh (Bible) was the first edition in nearly 500 years to be designed, edited, printed, and bound by Jews. It was published by Koren Publishers Jerusalem, under the direction of renowned typographer Eliyahu Koren, using his specially-designed Koren Bible Type, (Jerusalem, 1962).
  • Mesorah Publications מקראות גדלות, (Jerusalem, 1996)
  • The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (Philadelphia, 1999)
  • The Aleppo Codex was edited by Mordechai Breuer in 1977-1982, the first edition to include a reconstruction of the letters, vowels, and cantillation marks in the missing parts of the Aleppo Codex, in 1996-8 re-edited with inclusion of new information on the parashah divisions.
  • Jerusalem Crown: The Bible of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2000. Edited according to the method of Mordechai Breuer under the supervision of Yosef Ofer, with additional proofreading and refinements since the Horev edition.
  • Jerusalem Simanim Institute, Feldheim Publishers, 2004 (published in one-volume and three-volume editions).
  • Hebrew University Bible Project (so far on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) includes four apparatuses, as well as the masoretic notes of the Aleppo Codex.
  • Mikraot Gedolot Haketer, Bar-Ilan University (1992-present). A multi-volume critical edition of the Mikraot Gedolot, ten volumes published to date including Genesis (2 vols.), Exodus (one of a two vols so far), Joshua & Judges (1 vol.), Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Psalms (2 vols.). Includes the masoretic notes of the Aleppo Codex and a new commentary on them. Differs from the Breuer reconstruction and presentation for some masoretic details.

Translations

Further information: Jewish English Bible translations, Septuagint, Targum, Old Testament, and Bible translations

Jewish commentaries on the Bible

There are two major approaches towards study of, and commentary on, the Tanakh. In the Jewish community, the classical approach is religious study of the Bible, where it is assumed that the Bible has a divine origin. Another approach is to study the Bible as a human creation; in this approach, Biblical studies can be considered as a sub-field of religious studies.

Secular practitioners of Biblical Studies do not necessarily have a faith commitment to the texts they study. In fact, Biblical criticism seems to contradict commitment to the idea that the Bible was written by prophets inspired by God. Indeed, this practice, when applied to the Torah, is generally considered heresy by the entire Orthodox Jewish community. As such, much modern day Bible commentary written by non-Orthodox authors is considered trief (forbidden) by rabbis teaching in Orthodox yeshivas.

Some classical rabbinic commentators, such as Abraham Ibn Ezra, Gersonides and Maimonides, used many elements of modern day biblical criticism, including their then-current knowledge of history, science and philology. Their use of historical and scientific analysis of the Bible was considered kosher by historic Judaism due to the author's faith commitment to the idea that God revealed the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The Modern Orthodox Jewish community allows for a wider array of biblical criticism to be used for biblical books outside of the Torah, and a few Orthodox commentaries now incorporate many of the techniques previously found in the academic world, e.g. the Da'at Miqra series.

Non-Orthodox Jews, including those affiliated with Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism, accept the validity of both traditional and secular approaches to Bible studies. See the article on Revelation for details of how members of these groups understand this concept.

The article on Jewish commentaries on the Bible discusses Jewish Tanakh commentaries from the Targums to classical rabbinic literature, the midrash literature, the classical medieval commentators, and modern day commentaries.

See also

Judaism portal

References

  1. ^ For example, "the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" in Luke 24:44–45
  2. ^ Bava Basra 14b-15a, Rashi to Megillah 3a, 14a
  3. ^ The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, (ISBN 0-8028-4363-8, p. 20)
  4. ^ http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudMap/MG.html#MG Mikra'ot Gedolot
  5. ^ BIBLICAL STUDIES Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation. Norton Irish Theological Quarterly.2007; 72: 305-306
  6. ^ The Canon Debate, McDonald & Sanders, page 4
  7. ^ Philip R. Davies in The Canon Debate, page 50: "With many other scholars, I conclude that the fixing of a canonical list was almost certainly the achievement of the Hasmonean dynasty."
  8. ^ "Whoever brings together in his house more than twenty four books brings confusion." (Midrash Qoheleth 12:12)
  9. ^ (Josephus, Against Apion, 8)
  10. ^ Jerome, Prologus Galeatus (English translation)
  11. ^ see Introduction to the Stone Tanakh, by Artscroll/Mesorah
  12. ^ Compare the New King James and New International Versions with New Revised Standard Version and the footnotes therein on Isaiah 7:14
  13. ^ Thayer and Smith. "Greek Lexicon entry for Parthenos". "The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon"

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tanakh
Search Wikisource Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Search Wikisource Hebrew Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  • iTanakh.org An extensive list of links and resources pertaining to the study of the Tanakh

Online texts

The link to the parallel Hebrew and English version is http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm

  • This is a site where you can copy and paste Hebrew words from the above site and get short definitions. It’s a modern Hebrew dictionary, but many of the biblical words are still translatable. http://milon.morfix.co.il/Default.aspx
  • Tanach on Demand - Custom PDF versions of any section of the Bible in Hebrew.

Reading guides

v • d • e
Jews and Judaism
Denominations
Philosophy
Religious texts
Jewish leadership
Life and culture
Roles and places
Religious articles
Interactions with
other religions
Languages
History
Politics
Antisemitism

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
The Religion Book. The Religion Book. 2004 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tanakh".  Read more