How does the Torah help to shape judaism?

Answer 1

It contains laws, such as eating kosher, as well as the history of the Jewish people. Also, Jews read passages from The Torah every week. It is a key part of the religion. Without Torah, the Jews would be just another people. It is the symbol and source of our culture, teachings, and traditions. Torah literally means "instruction".

Answer 2

The Torah is the main holy scripture in Judaism. It is a Hebrew word meaning "teaching" or "instruction". It is divided into 5 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These 5 books are part of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The Torah includes allegories, historical narrative, poetry, genealogy, and the exposition of various types of law, along with many commandments that give the Jews instruction for how to live life.

Traditionally, it is believed that the Torah was written by Moses as it was given to him by Divine inspiration on Mt. Sinai, in 1312 BCE. Contemporary secular scholars date it to around 539 to 334 BCE.

Answer 3

The Torah is the basis of Judaism. Our tradition is that the Torah is from God (Exodus 24:12), given to us to provide knowledge, guidance, inspiration, awe and reverence, advice, law, comfort, history and more.

The Torah is a source of national pride for us (see Deuteronomy 4:6-8).

It increases our reverence towards God; crystallizes, strengthens and codifies our beliefs; insures our awareness and knowledge of our history; and provides powerful impetus to be ethical.

It makes us stand in awe of God, while also providing optimism and comfort through the prophecies of redemption. It inspires us to strive for holiness and informs us how to pray and to approach God's presence.

It gives us a great deal of general information, guidance and advice.

And it sets detailed laws, practices and traditions for us.

The laws themselves have various reasons. Some (such as the Passover) serve to reenact or remember events of our history.

Some (such as saying the Shema prayer) serve to reiterate our belief in God.

Some of the laws (such as those of ritual purity and kosher food) serve to sanctify us.

Some (such as the laws of torts) serve to maintain an orderly society.

Some (such as the law against breaking a vow) serve to prevent bad character traits.

Some (such as the command to offer help) serve to engender good character traits.

And all of the commands serve to subjugate us to God's will (especially those commands for which no explanation is easily apparent).

Answer 4

The Torah played a vast role in the development of Judaism, because it isJudaism. Judaism entails living according to it. The Torah reiterated the teachings of Abraham (Talmud, Yoma 28b) and codified their exact details; and at Mount Sinai, the Hebrews (the Israelites) accepted as obligatory what had until then been national custom. The Torah has shaped our ways of thinking and provided a national legal code:
Practicing kindness and avoiding dishonesty became obligatory instead of merely proper.
Agriculture in the Holy Land included tithes to be given to the Levites and Kohens, thus providing for a scholarly class of people. One of the tithes was given to the poor, thus obviating the existence of starvation.
Immorality and incest were legislated against in detail. Instead of instinct or "crimes against nature," they were subsumed into religious law.

The roles of king, prophet, Kohen, Levite, officers and judges were all provided for in the Torah, thus defining the shape of the society and its institutions and providing certain balances.

The Israelite year was filled out with the Sabbaths and national festivals; and they were imbued with the function of worshiping God instead of being secular celebrations.

The judges were commanded to fear God, instead of relying on their skills of jurisprudence alone.

The laws of the Tabernacle (and later the Holy Temple), and commands to love God and fulfill all of the commandments, were written in the Torah together with (and mixed among) the seemingly mundane laws of testimony and witnesses (etc.), in order to convey the message that for us it is all part of religion. Secular life was a foreign concept. For example, a shopkeeper would be constantly aware of the religious laws of maintaining honest scales, giving a tithe to the poor (maaser kesafim), not overcharging, returning lost objects left behind, etc.; and he would set aside times for the daily prayers.
The above are just a few examples.

Hebrew (Israelite) society wasn't perfect. We are human; and as seen in the Prophets, there were times of backsliding and various pitfalls. But to the extent that the people kept their national laws and tradition, the society was exemplary and created a model which has influenced the Western world down to today.

See also:

How do our Jewish beliefs affect us?

More about the Hebrew Bible

Jewish history timeline

Answer 5

The Torah influenced Judaism by giving the 10 Commandments as the Jews' main rules. In total, there are 613 commandments in the Torah, which shape the life of most Jewish people.

Answer 6

The Torah is the central text of Judaism. The question is like asking how the skeleton helps to shape the body.

Answer 7

It is the basis of the religion and teaches us the 613 basic laws.

Answer 8

That's like asking how numbers help to shape mathematics. The Torah is the foundation of Jewish belief and practice.

Answer 9

The Torah is the foundation on which observant Jews live their lives. The Torah is to Judaism, much like the U.S. Constitution is to life in the United States. It is the foundation on which a huge body of law and commentary rests. Nothing in the constitution says you have to stop when you come to a stop sign, but the constitution creates the foundation for a legal system that enacts that law. Nothing in the Torah speaks about whether organ transplants are ethically permitted, but Jewish law, as worked out through centuries of rabbinic argument, concludes that they are.

Answer 10

Prior to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai (or if you wish, the evolution of the Torah), the Israelites had a tradition of some kind of monotheism, but code of law and no unified liturgical calendar (although there were almost certainly traditions of harvest festivals). They almost certainly had folk tales about the Patriarchs and earlier history. The Torah unifies all of this and creates a structure for what became the organized religion we now call Judaism, with its deep interest in textual study and its many layers of commentary.