The Jewish Bookshelf
What is the Jewish Bookshelf?
The "Jewish Bookshelf" is information about some different Jewish texts and a timeline of when they were written/codified.
Scroll through to learn more about these different works!
Torah
The Torah is Judaism's foundational text, and tells the story of the world up until the Jewish people's entrance to the land of Israel. By its own claim, it was divinely given in 1500 BCE.
The Torah is made up of the five books of Moses-
בְּרֵאשִׁית - Bereishit/Genesis
שְׁמֹות - Shemot/Exodus
וַיִּקְרָא - Vayikra/Leviticus
בְּמִדְבַּר - Bamidbar/Numbers
דְּבָרִים - Devarim/Deuteronomy
It is historically likely that the Torah was written between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE.
Nevi'im & Khetuvim
Neveim (Prophets) tells the story of the Jewish People from the entrance of the Israelites into the Land of Israel until the Babylonian captivity of Judah, while Khetuvim (Writings) is the third and final section of the TaNaKh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah and Neveim.
There is no scholarly consensus as to when the Hebrew Bible canon was fixed: some scholars argue that it was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty, while others argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later.
Mishnah
The Mishnah
(Hebrew: מִשְׁנָה, "study by
repetition") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of rabbinic literature. The Mishnah was written beginning when the second Temple in Jerusalem fell, and redacted by Judah ha-Nasi probably between the ending of the second century and the beginning of the 3rd century CE . Most of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, but some parts are in Aramaic.
For more, check out Rabbi Benay Lappe's Ted Talk on Crash Theory.
Gemara
The Gemara is the next part of the Talmud, comprising a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah. The word comes from the root ג-מ-ר (gamar), which means "to complete". Initially, the Gemara was the orally taught commentary from many rabbis, which was eventually written down. The Gemara, when combined with the Mishnah, forms the full Talmud.
There are two versions of the Gemara: the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud, compiled by scholars in Babylonia around 500-700 CE is the more commonly cited version when referring to the "Gemara" or "Talmud."
The Jerusalem Talmud, also known as the Palestinian Talmud, was compiled by Jewish scholars in the Land of Israel around 350–400 CE.
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki (רבי שלמה יצחקי, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), generally known by the acronym Rashi, was a medieval French rabbi, the author of comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible.
Tens of thousands of Jews study "Chumash with Rashi" each week. Since its publication, Rashi's commentary on the Torah is standard in almost all Chumashim produced within the Orthodox Jewish community.
Rashi's commentary on the Talmud continues to be a key basis for contemporary rabbinic scholarship and interpretation. Without Rashi's commentary, the Talmud would have remained a closed . In general, Rashi's commentary provides the peshat or literal meaning of the Talmud.
Maimonides
Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam (Hebrew: רמב״ם)was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.
With Mishneh Torah, he composed a code of Jewish law with the widest-possible scope and depth. The work gathers all the binding laws from the Talmud, and incorporates the positions of the Geonim (post-Talmudic early Medieval scholars). The Mishneh Torah made following Jewish law easier for the Jews of his time, who were struggling to understand the complex nature of Jewish rules and regulations as they had adapted over the years.
Shulchan Aruch
The Shulchan Aruch (שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך) is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Israel) by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later. Together with its commentaries, it is the most widely accepted compilation of halakha or Jewish law ever written.
The halachic rulings in the Shulchan Aruch generally follow Sephardic law and customs, whereas Ashkenazi Jews generally follow the halachic rulings of Moses Isserles, whose glosses to the note where the Sephardic and Ashkenazi customs differ.
Due to the increased availability of the printing press, the 16th century was an era of legal codification in Poland, the Ottoman Empire and other countries. Previously unwritten laws and customs were being compiled and recorded; the Shulchan Aruch was one of these. In the century after it was published by Karo it became the code of law for Ashkenazim, together with the later commentaries of Moses Isserles and the 17th century Polish rabbis