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Midrash Tanchuma
Midrash Tanhuma ( he, מִדְרָשׁ תַּנְחוּמָא) is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch aggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of R. Tanḥuma, must not be regarded as having been written or edited by him. They were so named merely because they consist partly of homilies originating with him (this being indicated by the introductory formula "Thus began R. Tanḥuma" or "Thus preached R. Tanḥuma") and partly of homilies by aggadic teachers who followed the style of R. Tanḥuma. It is possible that R. Tanḥuma himself preserved his homilies, and that his collection was used by the editors of the midrash. The three collections were edited at different times; they will, therefore, be treated in chronological order. According to Samuel Berman's most recent research and translation on Midrash-Tanhuma, the "earliest manuscript of this text was compiled in late 8th or 9 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentateuch
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the same as Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. It is also known in the Jewish tradition as the Written Torah (, ). If meant for liturgic purposes, it takes the form of a Torah scroll ('' Sefer Torah''). If in bound book form, it is called ''Chumash'', and is usually printed with the rabbinic commentaries (). At times, however, the word ''Torah'' can also be used as a synonym for the whole of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, in which sense it includes not only the first five, but all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. Finally, Torah can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching, culture, and practice, whether derived from biblical texts or later rabbinic writings. The latter is often known as the Oral Torah. Representing the core of the Jewish spi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baraita
''Baraita'' ( Aramaic: "external" or "outside"; pl. ''Barayata'' or ''Baraitot''; also Baraitha, Beraita; Ashkenazi: Beraisa) designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah. ''Baraita'' thus refers to teachings "outside" of the six orders of the Mishnah. Originally, "Baraita" probably referred to teachings from schools outside the main Mishnaic-era academies – although in later collections, individual ''Baraitot'' are often authored by sages of the Mishna (''Tannaim''). According to Maimonides (''Introduction to Mishneh Torah''), the baraitot were compiled by Rabbi Hoshaya and Bar Kappara, although no compilation was passed down to us as the Tosefta was. Because the Mishnah encapsulates the entire Oral Law in a purposely compact form (designed to both facilitate ''and'' necessitate oral transmission), many variant versions, additional explanations, clarifications and rulings were not included in the Mishnah. These were later compiled in wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vayikra (parsha)
Parashat Vayikra, VaYikra, Va-yikra, Wayyiqra, or Wayyiqro (—Hebrew for "and He called," the first word in the parashah) is the 24th weekly Torah portion (, ''parashah'') in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah lays out the laws of sacrifices (, ''korbanot''). It constitutes . The parashah has the most letters and words of any of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Leviticus (although not the most verses). It is made up of 6,222 Hebrew letters, 1,673 Hebrew words, 111 verses, and 215 lines in a Torah scroll (, '' Sefer Torah''). (Parashat Emor has the most verses of any Torah portion in Leviticus.) Jews read it the 23rd or 24th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in March or early April. Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , '' aliyot''. First reading—Leviticus 1:1–13 In the first reading, God called to Moses from the Tabernacle and told him t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vayishlach
Vayishlach or Vayishlah ( — Hebrew for "and he sent," the first word of the parashah) is the eighth weekly Torah portion (, ) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. In the parashah, Jacob reconciles with Esau after wrestling with a "man." The prince Shechem rapes Dinah, whose brothers sack the city of Shechem in revenge. In the family's subsequent flight, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth. The parashah constitutes . The parashah has the most verses of any weekly Torah portion in the Book of Genesis (Parashat Miketz has the most letters, Parashat Vayeira has the most words, and Parashat Noach has an equal number of verses as Parashat Vayishlach). It is made up of 7,458 Hebrew letters, 1,976 Hebrew words, 153 verses, and 237 lines in a Torah Scroll ('' Sefer Torah''). Jews read it the eighth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in November or December. Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , '' al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gematria
Gematria (; he, גמטריא or gimatria , plural or , ''gimatriot'') is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to an alphanumerical cipher. A single word can yield several values depending on the cipher which is used. Hebrew alphanumeric ciphers were probably used in biblical times, and were later adopted by other cultures. Gematria is still widely used in Jewish culture. Similar systems have been used in other languages and cultures: the Greeks isopsephy, and later, derived from or inspired by Hebrew gematria, Arabic abjad numerals, and English gematria. Although a type of gematria system ('Aru') was employed by the ancient Babylonian culture, their writing script was logographic, and the numerical assignations they made were to whole words. The value of these words were assigned in an entirely arbitrary manner and correspondences were made through tables, and so cannot be considered a true form of gematria. Aru was very different fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noṭariḳon
Notarikon ( he, נוטריקון ''Noṭriqōn'') is a Talmudic and Kabbalistic method of deriving a word, by using each of its initial (Hebrew: ) or final letters () to stand for another, to form a sentence or idea out of the words. Another variation uses the first ''and'' last letters, or the two middle letters of a word, in order to form another word. The word "notarikon" is borrowed from the Greek language (νοταρικόν), and was derived from the Latin word "notarius" meaning "shorthand writer." Notarikon is one of the three ancient methods used by the Kabbalists (the other two are gematria and temurah) to rearrange words and sentences. These methods were used in order to derive the esoteric substratum and deeper spiritual meaning of the words in the Bible. Notarikon was also used in alchemy. The term is mostly used in the context of Kabbalah. Common Hebrew abbreviations are described by ordinary linguistic terms. Usage in the Talmud Until the end of the Talmudic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plene
In orthography, a ''plene scriptum'' (; Latin language, Latin , "fully" and ''scriptum'', plural ''scripta'', "[something] written") is a word containing an additional letter, usually one which is superfluous, not normally written in such words, nor needed for the proper comprehension of the word. Today, the term applies mostly to sacred scripture. Examples of ''plene scripta'' appear frequently in classical Hebrew texts, and copyists are obliged to copy them unchanged, to ensure that biblical or other sacred texts are written with universal conformity. The expression ''plene scriptum'' ( ''yater'', "excess"), sometimes simply described in Hebrew as מלא (''malé'', "full"), is often used in contrast with ''defective scriptum'' ( ''ḥaser'', deficient), the latter implying a word in which a letter that is normally present has been omitted. Together, ''plene'' and ''defective scripta'' are sometimes described using the Hebrew phrase "yeter vehaser" (). Implications In the Heb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Heretics
Jewish heresy refers to those beliefs which contradict the traditional doctrines of Rabbinic Judaism, including theological beliefs and opinions about the practice of ''halakha'' (Jewish religious law). Jewish tradition contains a range of statements about heretics, including laws for how to deal with them in a communal context, and statements about the divine punishment they are expected to receive. Rabbinic definition of heresy Talmudic era The Greek term for heresy, αἵρεσις, originally denoted "division," "sect," "religious" or "philosophical party," is applied by Josephus to the three Jewish sects—Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes. In the sense of a schism to be deprecated, the word occurs in , , and particularly in ; hence αἱρετικὸς ("heretic") in the sense of "factious" (). The specific rabbinical term for heresies, or religious divisions due to an unlawful spirit, is ''minim'' (lit. "kinds f belief; the singular ''min'', for "heretic" or "Gnostic," ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanakh
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" '' Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tānāḵh''), also known in Hebrew as Miqra (; Hebrew: ''Mīqrā''), is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, including the Torah, the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baraita
''Baraita'' ( Aramaic: "external" or "outside"; pl. ''Barayata'' or ''Baraitot''; also Baraitha, Beraita; Ashkenazi: Beraisa) designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah. ''Baraita'' thus refers to teachings "outside" of the six orders of the Mishnah. Originally, "Baraita" probably referred to teachings from schools outside the main Mishnaic-era academies – although in later collections, individual ''Baraitot'' are often authored by sages of the Mishna (''Tannaim''). According to Maimonides (''Introduction to Mishneh Torah''), the baraitot were compiled by Rabbi Hoshaya and Bar Kappara, although no compilation was passed down to us as the Tosefta was. Because the Mishnah encapsulates the entire Oral Law in a purposely compact form (designed to both facilitate ''and'' necessitate oral transmission), many variant versions, additional explanations, clarifications and rulings were not included in the Mishnah. These were later compiled in wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of rabbinic literature. The Mishnah was redacted by Judah ha-Nasi probably in Beit Shearim or Sepphoris at the beginning of the 3rd century CE in a time when, according to the Talmud, the persecution of the Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten. Most of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, but some parts are in Aramaic. The Mishnah consists of six orders (', singular ' ), each containing 7–12 tractates (', singular ' ; lit. "web"), 63 in total, and further subdivided into chapters and paragraphs. The word ''Mishnah'' can also indicate a single paragrap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aggadic Midrash
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine. Etymology The Hebrew word ''haggadah'' (הַגָּדָה) is derived from the Hebrew root נגד, meaning "declare, make known, expound", also known from the common Hebrew verb להגיד.Berachyahu Lifshitz, "Aggadah Versus Haggadah : Towards a More Precise Understanding of the Distinction", ''Diné Yisrael'' 24 (2007): page 23 (English section). The majority scholarly opinion is that the Hebrew word ''aggadah'' (אַגָּדָה) and corresponding Aramaic ''aggadta'' (אַגָּדְתָא) are variants of ''h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
