Torah

Torah (Hebrew, “law” or “doctrine”), in Judaism, the Pentateuch, especially when in the form of a parchment scroll for reading in the synagogue. The Torah is the cornerstone of Jewish religion and law. The scrolls are considered most holy and are beloved by the pious; every synagogue maintains several scrolls, each of which may be protected by a covering of rich fabric and decorated with silver ornaments. A special holiday in honor of the Torah, known as Simhath Torah (Hebrew, “rejoicing in the Law”), is celebrated in the synagogue by singing, and marching and dancing with the scrolls. See Sukkot.

The term Torah also is used to refer to the entire corpus of the Scriptures of the Jews together with the commentaries on them. The commentaries, which arose through the centuries out of learned discussion, are called oral Torah to distinguish them from the Pentateuch itself, the written Torah.