Torah is one word with many meanings. Depending on the person using it, they may be referring to the first five books of the Bible, also called the Pentateuch. Or they may mean a leather scroll kept in an Ark in a synagogue on which is written the first five books of the Bible (a Sefer Torah, pronounced SAY-fehr toe-RAH). Or they could mean the the whole living tradition of Judaism, since “Torah” is often used by Jewish speakers as a comprehensive term for Jewish teaching about life, faith, and God. The essential meaning of the word, actually, is “teaching.”
Two things about Torah in Judaism are of equal importance: the act of studying it and the act of living according to its teachings. Engaging in Jewish style Torah study is about the experience, not about finding answers or discovering something inspiring. Even discussing mundane matters of Torah can lead a person to experience God during the active process of reading, discussing, and considering. Living the principles of Torah includes such things as g’milut chasidim (act of lovingkindness), tzedakah (giving to charities), hospitality, visiting the sick, guarding your speech, mussar (forming traits of goodness through spiritual exercise), and z’manim (keeping holy times and seasons).
It is easy to see, if you are around Judaism for long, that keeping Torah is about more than just the words in a book. At Sinai people witnessed the Presence of God on the mountain. Studying and living Torah are the way people now experience the same God.
Not only that, but Torah commands many things without giving the specifics of how to do them. Therefore, many common Jewish practices, such as lighting candles on Friday nights, are not found in written Torah. Instead the written Torah simply commands such things as “keep my Shabbats” and “sanctify it.” Lighting candles and saying a blessing is part of the way Jewish people have agreed to “keep” and “sanctify.” This is an example of oral Torah, which means unwritten definitions and teachings about how to fulfill commandments found in written Torah.
Another example of something stated in written Torah but not defined is the term totafot (sometimes rendered “frontlets”) in Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18. The original audience of Torah knew what the word meant. Jews today accept the definition of the rabbis and regard tefillin (leather boxes with scripture inside to be worn as a headband, also called phylacteries) as the fulfillment of the command. It is impossible for the Jewish community to keep Torah without at least some oral Torah to define and regulate it. The most authoritative books explaining oral Torah are the Mishnah (c. 200 CE), the Jerusalem Talmud (the Yerushalmi, c. 400 CE) and Babylonian Talmud (Bavli, c. 500 CE).
To explore the topic of “Torah and Messiah” means thinking about two difficult questions.
You can get a daily dose of Torah and Messiah with the Daily D’var email, readings from the Torah and Gospels with commentary sent to you each morning. Sign up here.
First, what did Yeshua teach regarding people living by the Torah? Many suspect that Yeshua came to overrule Torah and to set up a new “religion.” Even many Messianic Jews have subscribed to the common notion that believing in Yeshua makes living some parts of the Torah obsolete. Some Messianic Jewish congregations disregard basic Shabbat laws and dietary laws. The majority of Christian teaching throughout history has included the idea that no one, Jew or non-Jew, is bound by certain portions of the Torah. Is this what Yeshua would have wanted? How do his teachings impact Torah living for Jews?
Second, how would Yeshua, the meaning of his identity and accomplishments, be perceived in relationship to the things taught in Torah? Two thousand years of accumulated misunderstanding leave people thinking of Yeshua and Judaism as oil and water. Glaringly erroneous examples of finding “Jesus in the Old Testament” have demoralized people who might want to find a real connection. This is a disgrace needing to be put right, a travesty seeking an authentic interpretation. When Yeshua told some disciples about the words in the Torah and prophets that referred to him, he meant the core ideas of Torah which were signposts of his mission and identity.