How many sacred texts are there for judaism?

Answer 1

Judaism has one sacred text: the Jewish Bible (Tanakh). However, the Pentateuch (Torah), which is a part of the Jewish Bible, is considered more central in Judaism, but it is merely one part of the larger text.

Answer 2

Judaism ranks texts in something of a hierarchy. Tradition views the Torah as the literal word of God, taken down by Moses at Mount Sinai. (Even some medieval Jews pointed out that there are hints in the text that contradict this). The Torah is considered the most sacred. Public readings from the Torah are done from scrolls handwritten on parchment, the scrolls are dressed and crowned as befitting royalty, and considerable ritual surrounds their handling.

The Torah, plus the books of the other prophets, plus the inspired writings are, taken together, called the Hebrew Bible. The same texts, ordered differently, make up what Protestants call the Old Testament. Catholics have an Apocrapha made up of books that the Jewish community never considered part of the canon. All the books of the Jewish canon are considered sufficiently sacred that, if handwritten on parchment, they contaminate the fingers that touch them (yes, this is a bit of a paradox).

The Talmud and other commentaries on The Bible are sacred to a lesser degree. Before studying any biblical text or commentary, there is a ritual blessing, and if a minyan (quorum) is present, the kaddish after study is said afterwards. It is traditional to kiss any such book before pitting it away.

Any book or scroll containing the four-letter sacred name of God, the tetragrammaton, must not be irreverently disposed of. It must be put in a geniza, a storage place for old sacred texts. The geniza may be buried in a cemetery, perhaps by opening a grave just for sacred texts, or by burying such books in the same grave as someone who died.