What do Jews read from?

Answer 1

The Jewish "Bible" is the "Tanach" Composed of the Torah (First Five Books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Liviticus, Numbers and Deureronomy.) Then the books of the prophets, Joshua, Judges, and others, followed by the writings, Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Lamentations, Esther and others.) Everything in there can be found in what Christians call the "Old Testament" although translations, and the order of the books differ.

Answer 2

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, whose chief purpose is to clarify the laws of the Torah, and which is a multi-volume compendium of Jewish traditions, law, history, and sayings of the early Jewish Sages.

• Other works of the early sages include the midrashim, and the Zohar (a mystical commentary on the Torah). The purpose of the midrashim is to expand upon the brief narrative-portions of 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 listing the Jewish laws, 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 (Hebrew 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). In total, the Tanakh has 24 books.

• A) The Torah, also called the Pentateuch, is the primary Jewish holy book. It contains the Five Books of Moses (also called the Books of the Law). It was given by God to Moses (Exodus 24:12), who transmitted it to the people and wrote it (Deuteronomy 31:24). Its chief purpose is to teach the laws of Judaism; and it also teaches us historical highlights, attitudes, guidance, beliefs and more.

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

1. Bereisheet (Genesis)
   
2. Shemot (Exodus)
   
3. Vayikra (Leviticus)
   
4. Bamidbar (Numbers)
   
5. Devarim (Deuteronomy)

• B) Nevi'im, the Prophets. The books of the Hebrew Prophets are the Divinely-inspired narrative of Israelite history and the relationship between God and Israel. The prophets were called upon by God to guide the people and to guide the king. While the king had authority in national matters of state, and the Sanhedrin (Sages) had say in Torah-rulings and halakha (law), the prophets spoke in matters of ethics, of belief, of loyalty to God, and behavior. They rebuked the people at God's command, they predicted events which God revealed to them, they taught through Divine inspiration, and they provided optimism and hope with the prophecies of eventual Redemption.

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, Obadiah, Jonah, etc. Judges was written by Samuel, and Kings was written by Jeremiah. The prophetic books were written in the time of the prophets, from the 1200s BCE (Joshua) to the mid-300s BCE (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).
Books 6-9 of the Hebrew Bible: The Nevi'im Rishonim (the Early Prophets):
6) Yehoshua (Joshua)
7) Shoftim (Judges)
8) Shemuel (Samuel I and II)
9) Melachim (Kings I and II)
Books 10-13 of the Hebrew Bible: The Nevi'im Acharonim (the Later Prophets):
10) Yeshayahu (Isaiah)
11) Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah)
12) Yechezkel (Ezekiel)
13) Trei Asar ("The Twelve" or "The Minor Prophets")
Hoshea (Hosea)
Yoel (Joel)
Amos
Ovadiah (Obadiah)
Yonah (Jonah)
Michah (Micah)
Nahum
Havakkuk (Habakkuk)
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

• C) Ketuvim, the Writings. The Ketuvim (also called Hagiographa) contains the remaining History Books: Daniel, Chronicles, Ezra, and others. Some of these narrate Israelite history and past events, some predict events, some serve to comfort the nation, some speak of prayer and love of God, and some speak of life, experience and wisdom.
  

Jewish tradition (Talmud, Bava Batra 14b) states that the Writings were written by the authors whose names they bear: Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Ruth was written by Samuel; Lamentations was written by Jeremiah; Psalms was set in writing byKing 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. The Writings were written between 900 BCE (Ruth) to the mid-300s BCE (Esther, Daniel, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah).
14) Tehillim (Psalms)
15) Mishlei (Proverbs)
16) Iyov (Job)
17) Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)
18) Ruth
19) Eichah (Lamentations)
20) Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)
21) Esther
22) Daniel
23) Ezra-Nehemiah
24) 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.

Answer 3

During synagogue services, each congregant reads (prays) with a siddur, which is the Hebrew prayerbook. Link: More about the Jewish prayerbook.Between the prayers, a Torah-scroll is read from several times each week.

At other times, Jews study the various religious Jewish texts such as the Talmud and Hebrew Bible.

Link: Torah-scrolls

Link: More about the Hebrew Bible

Link: More about the Talmud

Answer 4

The Torah, the Talmud, the Code of Jewish Law and the commentaries.
Other early works include the midrashim, and the Zohar (a mystical commentary on the Torah). The purpose of the midrashim is to expand upon the brief narrative-portions of 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 listing the Jewish laws, 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.

Link: The history of the Hebrew Bible

Link: The purpose of the Torah

Link: More about Moses

Link: The function of the Prophets