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177-535: The names used in the Torah are "Festival of Ingathering" (or "Harvest Festival", Hebrew : חַג הָאָסִיף , romanized :  ḥag hāʾāsif ) and "Festival of Booths" ( Hebrew : חג הסכות , romanized :  Ḥag hasSukkōṯ ). This corresponds to the double significance of Sukkot. The one mentioned in the Book of Exodus is agricultural in nature—"Festival of Ingathering at the year's end" ( Exodus 34:22 )—and marks

354-567: A miracle , and Aaron throws down Moses' staff , which turns into a tannin (sea monster or snake) (Exodus 7:8-13); however, Pharaoh's magicians are also able to do this, though Moses' serpent devours the others. Pharaoh refuses to let the Israelites go. After this, Yahweh inflicts a series of Plagues on the Egyptians each time Moses repeats his demand and Pharaoh refuses to release the Israelites. Pharaoh's magicians are able to match

531-467: A quill (or other permitted writing utensil) dipped in ink. Written entirely in Hebrew , a sefer Torah contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trained sofer ("scribe"), an effort that may take as long as approximately one and a half years. Most modern Sifrei Torah are written with forty-two lines of text per column ( Yemenite Jews use fifty), and very strict rules about

708-485: A background to the Exodus myth include the documented movements of small groups of Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples into and out of Egypt during the 18th and 19th dynasties, some elements of Egyptian folklore and culture mentioned in the Exodus narrative, and the names Moses, Aaron and Phinehas, which seem to have an Egyptian origin. Scholarly estimates for how many could have been involved in such an exodus range from

885-498: A binding covenant with God, who chooses Israel, and the establishment of the life of the community and the guidelines for sustaining it. The Book of Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle , which they had just built (Leviticus 1–10). This is followed by rules of clean and unclean (Leviticus 11–15), which includes the laws of slaughter and animals permissible to eat (see also: Kashrut ),

1062-589: A broad consensus of modern scholars see its origin in traditions from Israel (the northern kingdom) brought south to the Kingdom of Judah in the wake of the Assyrian conquest of Aram (8th century BCE) and then adapted to a program of nationalist reform in the time of Josiah (late 7th century BCE), with the final form of the modern book emerging in the milieu of the return from the Babylonian captivity during

1239-452: A central Jerusalem square. Wellhausen believed that this narrative should be accepted as historical because it sounds plausible, noting: "The credibility of the narrative appears on the face of it." Following Wellhausen, most scholars throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries have accepted that widespread Torah observance began sometime around the middle of the 5th century BCE. More recently, Yonatan Adler has argued that in fact there

1416-469: A few hundred to a few thousand people. Joel S. Baden noted the presence of Semitic-speaking slaves in Egypt who sometimes escaped in small numbers as potential inspirations for the Exodus. It is also possible that oppressive Egyptian rule of Canaan during the late second millennium BCE, during the 19th and especially the 20th dynasty, may have disposed some native Canaanites to adopt into their own mythology

1593-412: A frame during the exile (the speeches and descriptions at the front and back of the code) to identify it as the words of Moses. However, since the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah's reforms (including his court's production of a law-code) have become heavily debated among academics. Most scholars also agree that some form of Priestly source existed, although its extent, especially its end-point,

1770-466: A genuine Exodus tradition from the Northern Kingdom, but in a Judahite recension. Russell and Frank Moore Cross argue that the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom may have believed that the calves at Bethel and Dan were made by Aaron. Russell suggests that the connection to Jeroboam may have been later, possibly coming from a Judahite redactor. Pauline Viviano, however, concludes that neither

1947-665: A great number of tannaim , the oral tradition was written down around 200 CE by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi , who took up the compilation of a nominally written version of the Oral Law, the Mishnah ( משנה ). Other oral traditions from the same time period not entered into the Mishnah were recorded as Baraitot (external teaching), and the Tosefta . Other traditions were written down as Midrashim . After continued persecution more of

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2124-483: A group of foreigners from Egypt comprised early Israel. Despite the absence of any archaeological evidence, most scholars nonetheless hold that the Exodus probably has some sort of historical basis, with Kenton Sparks referring to it as "mythologized history". Scholars posit that a small group of Egyptian origin may have joined the early Israelites, and contributed their own Egyptian Exodus story to all of Israel. William G. Dever cautiously identifies this group with

2301-460: A high official in the court of the Egyptian pharaoh . Exodus begins with the death of Joseph and the ascension of a new pharaoh "who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). The pharaoh becomes concerned by the number and strength of the Israelites in Egypt and enslaves them, commanding them to build at two "supply" or "store cities" called Pithom and Rameses (Exodus 1:11). The pharaoh also orders

2478-610: A historical Egyptian as a prototype for Moses has found wide acceptance, and no period in Egyptian history matches the biblical accounts of the Exodus. Some elements of the story are miraculous and defy rational explanation, such as the Plagues of Egypt and the Crossing of the Red Sea . The Bible does not mention the names of any of the pharaohs involved, further obscuring comparison of archaeologically recovered Egyptian history with

2655-682: A new covenant (Mark 14:24) in the same way that Moses' sacrifice of bulls had created a covenant (Exodus 24:5). In the Gospel of Matthew , Jesus reverses the direction of the Exodus by escaping from the Massacre of the Innocents committed by Herod the Great before himself returning from Egypt (Matt 2:13-15). Other parallels in Matthew include that he is baptized by water (Matt 3:13-17), and tested in

2832-603: A new exodus. American "founding fathers" Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin recommended for the Great Seal of the United States to depict Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea. African Americans suffering under slavery and racial oppression interpreted their situation in terms of the Exodus, making it a catalyst for social change. South American Liberation theology also takes much inspiration from

3009-647: A new one ascends the throne. According to Ezekiel 20:8-9, the enslaved Israelites also practised "abominations" and worshiped the gods of Egypt. This provoked Yahweh to destroy them but he relented to avoid his name being "profaned". Meanwhile, Moses goes to Mount Horeb , where Yahweh appears in a burning bush and commands him to go to Egypt to free the Hebrew slaves and bring them to the Promised Land in Canaan. Yahweh also speaks to Moses's brother Aaron , and

3186-518: A physical reminder of the obligation to observe the laws given at the climax of Exodus: "Look at it and recall all the commandments of the Lord" (Numbers). The festivals associated with the Exodus began as agricultural and seasonal feasts but became completely subsumed into the Exodus narrative of Israel's deliverance from oppression at the hands of God. For Jews, the Passover celebrates the freedom of

3363-561: A pivotal role in its promulgation. Many theories have been advanced to explain the composition of the first five books of the Bible, but two have been especially influential. The first of these, Persian Imperial authorisation, advanced by Peter Frei in 1985, is that the Persian authorities required the Jews of Jerusalem to present a single body of law as the price of local autonomy. Frei's theory

3540-525: A polemical Egyptian response to the Exodus narrative. Egyptologist Jan Assmann proposed that the story comes from oral sources that "must [...] predate the first possible acquaintance of an Egyptian writer with the Hebrew Bible ." Assmann suggested that the story has no single origin but rather combines numerous historical experiences, notably the Amarna and Hyksos periods, into a folk memory. There

3717-425: A potential historical parallel or origin for the story. Many other scholars reject this view, and instead see the biblical exodus traditions as the invention of the exilic and post-exilic Jewish community, with little to no historical basis. Lester Grabbe , for instance, argues that "[t]here is no compelling reason that the exodus has to be rooted in history", and that the details of the story more closely fit

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3894-620: A smaller scale. During the intermediate days of Sukkot, gatherings of music and dance, known as Simchat Beit HaShoeivah (Celebration of the Place of Water-Drawing), take place. This commemorates the celebration that accompanied the drawing of the water for the water-libation on the Altar, an offering unique to Sukkot, when water was carried up the Jerusalem pilgrim road from the Pool of Siloam to

4071-483: A story of the enslavement of the Israelites, the Plagues of Egypt , the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, the revelations at Mount Sinai , and the Israelite wanderings in the wilderness up to the borders of Canaan . Its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by Yahweh their god, and therefore belong to him by covenant . The story of the Exodus is told in the first half of Exodus, with

4248-484: Is Targum . The Encyclopaedia Judaica has: At an early period, it was customary to translate the Hebrew text into the vernacular at the time of the reading (e.g., in Palestine and Babylon the translation was into Aramaic). The targum ("translation") was done by a special synagogue official, called the meturgeman ... Eventually, the practice of translating into the vernacular was discontinued. However, there

4425-500: Is a seven-day festival. Inside the Land of Israel , the first day is celebrated as a full festival with special prayer services and holiday meals. Outside the Land of Israel, the first two days are celebrated as full festivals. The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah ("Great Hoshana", referring to the tradition that worshippers in the synagogue walk around the perimeter of

4602-536: Is a walled structure covered with s'chach (plant material, such as overgrowth or palm leaves). A sukkah is the name of the temporary dwelling in which farmers would live during harvesting, reinforcing agricultural significance of the holiday introduced in the Book of Exodus. As stated in Leviticus , it is also reminiscent of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelled during their 40 years of travel in

4779-409: Is associated with the Israelites living in booths after they left their previous homes in Egypt. It celebrates how God provided for the Israelites while they wandered in the desert without food or shelter. It is celebrated by building a sukkah , a temporary shelter also called a booth or tabernacle, in which the rituals of Sukkot are performed, recalling the impermanence of the Israelites' homes during

4956-590: Is called a Sefer Torah ("Book [of] Torah"). They are written using a painstakingly careful method by highly qualified scribes . It is believed that every word, or marking, has divine meaning and that not one part may be inadvertently changed lest it lead to error. The fidelity of the Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered paramount, down to the last letter: translations or transcriptions are frowned upon for formal service use, and transcribing

5133-698: Is celebrated according to its Hebrew calendar dates. The first mention of observing the holiday by Christian groups dates to the 17th century, among the sect of the Subbotniks in Russia . De Moor has suggested that there are links between Sukkot and the Ugaritic New Year festival, in particular the Ugaritic custom of erecting two rows of huts built of branches on the temple roof as temporary dwelling houses for their gods. Some have pointed out that

5310-514: Is done with painstaking care. An error of a single letter, ornamentation, or symbol of the 304,805 stylized letters that make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use, hence a special skill is required and a scroll takes considerable time to write and check. According to Jewish law, a sefer Torah (plural: Sifrei Torah ) is a copy of the formal Hebrew text handwritten on gevil or klaf (forms of parchment ) by using

5487-413: Is general agreement that the stories originally had nothing to do with the Jews. Erich S. Gruen suggested that it may have been the Jews themselves that inserted themselves into Manetho's narrative, in which various negative actions from the point of view of the Egyptians, such as desecrating temples, are interpreted positively. Commemoration of the Exodus is central to Judaism, and Jewish culture . In

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5664-472: Is generally dated to the 7th century BCE. The contents of the books of Leviticus and Numbers are late additions to the narrative by priestly sources. Scholars broadly agree that the publication of the Torah (or of a proto-Pentateuch) took place in the mid-Persian period (the 5th century BCE), echoing a traditional Jewish view which gives Ezra , the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon,

5841-456: Is little of historical fact in it. The other position, often associated with the school of Biblical minimalism , is that the biblical exodus traditions are the invention of the exilic and post-exilic Jewish community, with little to no historical basis. The biblical Exodus narrative is best understood as a founding myth of the Jewish people, providing an ideological foundation for their culture and institutions, not an accurate depiction of

6018-544: Is no suggestion that these translations had been written down as early as this. There are suggestions that the Targum was written down at an early date, although for private use only. The official recognition of a written Targum and the final redaction of its text, however, belong to the post-Talmudic period, thus not earlier than the fifth century C.E. The Exodus The Exodus ( Hebrew : יציאת מצרים, Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm : lit.   ' Departure from Egypt ' )

6195-553: Is no surviving evidence to support the notion that the Torah was widely known, regarded as authoritative, and put into practice prior to the middle of the 2nd century BCE. Adler explored the likelihhood that Judaism, as the widespread practice of Torah law by Jewish society at large, first emerged in Judea during the reign of the Hasmonean dynasty , centuries after the putative time of Ezra. By contrast, John J. Collins has argued that

6372-660: Is read every Monday morning and Thursday morning at a shul (synagogue) but only if there are ten males above the age of thirteen. Reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases of Jewish communal life. The Torah is also considered a sacred book outside Judaism; in Samaritanism , the Samaritan Pentateuch is a text of the Torah written in the Samaritan script and used as sacred scripture by the Samaritans ;

6549-452: Is regardless of whether that yod appears in the phrase "I am the LORD thy God" ( אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ , Exodus 20:2) or whether it appears in "And God spoke unto Moses saying" ( וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֲנִי יְהוָה. Exodus 6:2). In a similar vein, Rabbi Akiva ( c.  50  – c.  135 CE ), is said to have learned a new law from every et ( את ) in

6726-584: Is that the Pentateuch does not give an accurate account of the origins of the Israelites, who appear instead to have formed as an entity in the central highlands of Canaan in the late second millennium BCE (around the time of the Late Bronze Age collapse ) from the indigenous Canaanite culture. Most modern scholars believe that some elements in the story of the Exodus might have some historical basis, but that any such basis has little resemblance to

6903-562: Is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Pentateuch (specifically, Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers , and Deuteronomy ). The narrative of the Exodus describes a history of Egyptian bondage of the Israelites followed by their exodus from Egypt through a passage in the Red Sea , in pursuit of the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses . The consensus of modern scholars

7080-509: Is the culmination of the story of Israel's exodus from oppression in Egypt and their journey to take possession of the land God promised their fathers . As such it draws to a conclusion the themes introduced in Genesis and played out in Exodus and Leviticus: God has promised the Israelites that they shall become a great (i.e. numerous) nation, that they will have a special relationship with Yahweh their god, and that they shall take possession of

7257-466: Is the second book of the Torah, immediately following Genesis. The book tells how the ancient Israelites leave slavery in Egypt through the strength of Yahweh , the God who has chosen Israel as his people. Yahweh inflicts horrific harm on their captors via the legendary Plagues of Egypt . With the prophet Moses as their leader, they journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai , where Yahweh promises them

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7434-471: Is to recite the ushpizin prayer to "invite" one of seven "exalted guests" into the sukkah. These ushpizin ( Aramaic אושפיזין 'guests'), represent the "seven shepherds of Israel": Abraham , Isaac , Jacob , Moses , Aaron , Joseph and David , each of whom correlate with one of the seven lower Sephirot (this is why Joseph, associated with Yesod , follows Moses and Aaron, associated with Netzach and Hod respectively, even though he precedes them in

7611-512: Is uncertain. The remainder is called collectively non-Priestly, a grouping which includes both pre-Priestly and post-Priestly material. The final Torah is widely seen as a product of the Persian period (539–332 BCE, probably 450–350 BCE). This consensus echoes a traditional Jewish view which gives Ezra , the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation. Many theories have been advanced to explain

7788-536: Is usually viewed as a separate holiday. In the Diaspora a second additional holiday, Simchat Torah ("Joy of the Torah"), is celebrated. In the Land of Israel, Simchat Torah is celebrated on Shemini Atzeret. On Shemini Atzeret people leave their sukkah and eat their meals inside the house. Outside the Land of Israel, many eat in the sukkah without making the blessing. The sukkah is not used on Simchat Torah. According to 1 Kings 12:32–33 , King Jeroboam , first king of

7965-536: Is vanity...") echoes the theme of the sukkah, while its emphasis on death reflects the time of year in which Sukkot occurs (the "autumn" of life). The penultimate verse reinforces the message that adherence to God and His Torah is the only worthwhile pursuit. (Cf. Ecclesiastes 12:13,14 .) In the days of the Temple in Jerusalem , all Israelite, and later Jewish men, women, and children on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for

8142-507: The parashot for the Torah on the Aleppo Codex . Conservative and Reform synagogues may read parashot on a triennial rather than annual schedule, On Saturday afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following Saturday's portion is read. On Jewish holidays , the beginnings of each month, and fast days , special sections connected to the day are read. Jews observe an annual holiday, Simchat Torah , to celebrate

8319-627: The hif'il conjugation means 'to guide' or 'to teach'. The meaning of the word is therefore "teaching", "doctrine", or "instruction"; the commonly accepted "law" gives a wrong impression. The Alexandrian Jews who translated the Septuagint used the Greek word nomos , meaning norm, standard, doctrine, and later "law". Greek and Latin Bibles then began the custom of calling the Pentateuch (five books of Moses) The Law. Other translational contexts in

8496-455: The Ancestral history (chapters 12–50). The primeval history sets out the author's (or authors') concepts of the nature of the deity and of humankind's relationship with its maker: God creates a world which is good and fit for mankind, but when man corrupts it with sin God decides to destroy his creation, using the flood, saving only the righteous Noah and his immediate family to reestablish

8673-537: The Children of Israel . The Torah starts with God creating the world , then describes the beginnings of the people of Israel , their descent into Egypt, and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai . It ends with the death of Moses , just before the people of Israel cross to the Promised Land of Canaan . Interspersed in the narrative are the specific teachings (religious obligations and civil laws) given explicitly (i.e. Ten Commandments ) or implicitly embedded in

8850-571: The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), and various moral and ritual laws sometimes called the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17–26). Leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following God's commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Leviticus 17 establishes sacrifices at the Tabernacle as an everlasting ordinance, but this ordinance is altered in later books with

9027-684: The Jerusalem Talmud . Since the greater number of rabbis lived in Babylon, the Babylonian Talmud has precedence should the two be in conflict. Orthodox and Conservative branches of Judaism accept these texts as the basis for all subsequent halakha and codes of Jewish law, which are held to be normative. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism deny that these texts, or the Torah itself for that matter, may be used for determining normative law (laws accepted as binding) but accept them as

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9204-525: The L ORD our God, the L ORD is one." Verses 6:4–5 were also quoted by Jesus in Mark 12:28–34 as part of the Great Commandment . The Talmud states that the Torah was written by Moses, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy, describing his death and burial, being written by Joshua . According to the Mishnah one of the essential tenets of Judaism is that God transmitted

9381-525: The Qur'an , in which Moses is one of the most prominent prophets and messengers . He is the mentioned 136 times, the most of any individual in the Qur'an , with and his life being narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet . A number of historical events and situations have been compared to the Exodus. Many early American settlers interpreted their flight from Europe to a new life in America as

9558-580: The Second Intermediate Period ("Hyksos period") and most are extremely anti-Jewish . The earliest non-biblical account is that of Hecataeus of Abdera ( c.  320 BCE ) as preserved in the first century CE Jewish historian Josephus in Against Apion and in a variant version by the first-century BCE Greek historian Diodorus . Hecataeus tells how the Egyptians blamed a plague on foreigners and expelled them from

9735-540: The Shabbat which falls during the week of Sukkot (or in the event when the first day of Sukkot is on Shabbat in the Land of Israel), the Book of Ecclesiastes is read during morning synagogue services in Ashkenazic communities. (Diaspora Ashkenazic communities read it the second Shabbat {eighth day} when the first day of sukkot is on Shabbat.) This Book's emphasis on the ephemeralness of life ("Vanity of vanities, all

9912-518: The Talmud and Midrash . Rabbinic tradition's understanding is that all of the teachings found in the Torah (both written and oral) were given by God through the prophet Moses , some at Mount Sinai and others at the Tabernacle , and all the teachings were written down by Moses , which resulted in the Torah that exists today. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of

10089-461: The Temple in Jerusalem . The seventh day of Sukkot is known as Hoshana Rabbah (Great Supplication). This day is marked by a special synagogue service in which seven circuits are made by worshippers holding their Four Species, reciting additional prayers. In addition, a bundle of five willow branches is beaten on the ground. The holiday immediately following Sukkot is known as Shemini Atzeret ( lit. "Eighth [Day] of Assembly"). Shemini Atzeret

10266-458: The Tribe of Joseph , while Richard Elliott Friedman identifies it with the Tribe of Levi . Most scholars who accept a historical core of the exodus date this possible exodus group to the thirteenth century BCE at the time of Ramses II ( 19th dynasty ), with some instead dating it to the twelfth century BCE under Ramses III ( 20th dynasty ). Evidence in favor of historical traditions forming

10443-545: The Tribe of Manasseh there. Moses then addresses the Israelites for a final time on the banks of the Jordan River , reviewing their travels and giving them further laws. Yahweh tells Moses to summon Joshua to lead the conquest of Canaan . Yahweh tells Moses to ascend Mount Nebo , from where he sees the Promised Land, and dies. The climax of the Exodus is the covenant (binding legal agreement) between God and

10620-480: The children of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, and God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus . The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God , successively narrowing in scope from all mankind (the covenant with Noah ) to a special relationship with one people alone (Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob). The Book of Exodus

10797-582: The four species ). The fragile shelter, the 'now-three-item' lulav, the etrog, the revived Simchat Beit HaShoeivah celebration's focus on water and rainfall and the holiday's harvest festival roots draw attention to people's dependence on the natural environment. Sukkot shares similarities with older Canaanite new-year/harvest festivals, which included a seven-day celebration with sacrifices reminiscent of those in Num. 29:13–38 and "dwellings of branches," as well as processions with branches. The earliest references in

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10974-471: The rabbinic commentaries ( perushim ). In rabbinic literature , the word Torah denotes both the five books ( תורה שבכתב "Torah that is written") and the Oral Torah ( תורה שבעל פה , "Torah that is spoken"). It has also been used, however, to designate the entire Hebrew Bible . The Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in

11151-511: The seudat mitzvah (obligatory festive meal) is served in the sukkah. Similarly, the father of a newborn boy greets guests to his Friday-night Shalom Zachar in the sukkah. Males sleep in the sukkah, provided the weather is tolerable. If it rains, the requirement of eating and sleeping in the sukkah is waived, except for eating there on the first night where every effort needs to be made to at least say kiddush (the sanctification prayer on wine) and eat an egg-sized piece of bread before going inside

11328-439: The synagogue in the Ark known as the "Holy Ark" ( אֲרוֹן הקֹדשׁ aron hakodesh in Hebrew.) Aron in Hebrew means "cupboard" or "closet", and kodesh is derived from "kadosh", or "holy". The Book of Ezra refers to translations and commentaries of the Hebrew text into Aramaic , the more commonly understood language of the time. These translations would seem to date to the 6th century BCE. The Aramaic term for translation

11505-423: The 'Pentateuch' ( / ˈ p ɛ n . t ə ˌ t juː k / , PEN -tə-tewk ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : πεντάτευχος , pentáteukhos , 'five scrolls'), a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria . The " Tawrat " (also Tawrah or Taurat; Arabic : توراة‎ ) is the Arabic name for the Torah, which Muslims believe is an Islamic holy book given by God to the prophets and messengers amongst

11682-406: The 19th and 20th centuries CE, new movements such as Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading has usually remained the same: As a part of the morning prayer services on certain days of the week, fast days, and holidays, as well as part of the afternoon prayer services of Shabbat, Yom Kippur, a section of

11859-400: The 2666th year after creation (Exodus 12:40-41), the construction of the tabernacle to year 2667 (Exodus 40:1-2, 17), stating that the Israelites dwelled in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41), and specifying place names such as Goshen (Gen. 46:28), Pithom , and Ramesses (Exod. 1:11), as well as the count of 600,000 Israelite men (Exodus 12:37). The Book of Numbers further states that

12036-412: The Bible ( Ex. 23:16 & Ex. 34:22 ) make no mention of Sukkot, instead referring to it as "the festival of ingathering (hag ha'asif) at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field," suggesting an agricultural origin. (The Hebrew term asif is also mentioned in the Gezer calendar as a two-month period in the autumn.) The booths aspect of the festival may come from

12213-423: The Bible, the Exodus is frequently mentioned as the event that created the Israelite people and forged their bond with God, being described as such by the prophets Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel . The Exodus is invoked daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated each year during the Jewish holidays of Passover , Shavuot , and Sukkot . The fringes worn at the corners of traditional Jewish prayer shawls are described as

12390-465: The English language include custom , theory , guidance , or system . The term "Torah" is used in the general sense to include both Rabbinic Judaism 's written and oral law , serving to encompass the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history, including the Oral Torah which comprises the Mishnah , the Talmud , the Midrash and more. The inaccurate rendering of "Torah" as "Law" may be an obstacle to understanding

12567-475: The Exodus as a typological prefiguration of resurrection and salvation by Jesus . The Exodus is also recounted in the Qur'an as part of the extensive referencing of the life of Moses , a major prophet in Islam. The narrative has also resonated with various groups in more recent centuries, such as among the early American settlers fleeing religious persecution in Europe, and among African Americans striving for freedom and civil rights . The Exodus tells

12744-401: The Exodus events from comprehensive histories of Israel. Most mainstream scholars do not accept the biblical Exodus account as history for a number of reasons. Most agree that the Exodus stories were written centuries after the apparent setting of the stories. Scholars argue that the Book of Exodus itself attempts to ground the event firmly in history, reconstructing a date for the exodus as

12921-474: The Exodus story served as an "identity card" defining who belonged to this community (i.e., to Israel), thus reinforcing Israel's unity through its new institutions. Writers in Greek and Latin during the Ptolemaic Kingdom (late 4th century BCE–late 1st century BCE) record several Egyptian tales of the expulsion of a group of foreigners connected to the Exodus. These tales often include elements of

13098-538: The Exodus. The story may, therefore, have originated a few centuries earlier, perhaps in the 10th or 9th century BCE, and there are signs that it took different forms in Israel, in the Transjordan region , and in the southern Kingdom of Judah before being unified in the Persian era. The Exodus narrative was most likely further altered and expanded under the influence of the return from the Babylonian captivity in

13275-451: The Israelites can enter the promised land. The Israelites will have to remain in the wilderness for forty years, and Yahweh kills the spies through a plague except for the righteous Joshua and Caleb , who will be allowed to enter the promised land (Numbers 13:36-38). A group of Israelites led by Korah , son of Izhar, rebels against Moses, but Yahweh opens the earth and sends them living to Sheol (Numbers 16:1-33). The Israelites come to

13452-578: The Israelites complain about lack of bread and water, so Yahweh sends a plague of poisonous snakes to afflict them (Numbers 21:4-7). After Moses prays for deliverance, Yahweh has him create a brazen serpent , and the Israelites who look at it are cured (Numbers 21:8-9). The Israelites are soon in conflict with various other kingdoms, and king Balak of Moab asks the seer Balaam to curse the Israelites, but Balaam blesses them instead. Some Israelites begin having sexual relations with Moabite women and worshipping Moabite gods , so Yahweh orders Moses to impale

13629-515: The Israelites from captivity in Egypt, the settling of Canaan by the Israelites, and the "passing over" of the angel of death during the death of the first-born . Passover involves a ritual meal called a Seder during which parts of the exodus narrative are retold. In the Hagaddah of the Seder it is written that every generation is obliged to remind and identify itself in terms of the Exodus. Thus

13806-495: The Israelites have received their laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary . The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land. The people are counted and preparations are made for resuming their march. The Israelites begin the journey, but they "murmur" at the hardships along the way, and about the authority of Moses and Aaron . For these acts, God destroys approximately 15,000 of them through various means. They arrive at

13983-512: The Israelites mediated by Moses at Sinai: Yahweh will protect the Israelites as his chosen people for all time, and the Israelites will keep Yahweh's laws and worship only him. The covenant is described in stages: at Exodus 24:3–8 the Israelites agree to abide by the "book of the covenant" that Moses has just read to them; shortly afterwards God writes the "words of the covenant" – the Ten Commandments – on stone tablets; and finally, as

14160-457: The Israelites sin against Yahweh by creating the idol of a golden calf . As punishment Yahweh has the Levites kill three thousand of the Israelites (Exodus 32:28), and Yahweh sends a plague on them. The Israelites now accept the covenant, which is reestablished; they build a tabernacle for Yahweh, and receive their laws. Yahweh commands Moses to take a census of the Israelites and establishes

14337-399: The Israelites to commemorate this event in "a perpetual ordinance" (Exodus 12:14). Pharaoh finally casts the Israelites out of Egypt after his firstborn son is killed. Yahweh leads the Israelites in the form of a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night. However, once the Israelites have left, Yahweh "hardens" Pharaoh's heart to change his mind and pursue the Israelites to

14514-412: The Israelites to take a lamb on the 10th day, and on the 14th day to slaughter it and daub its blood on their doorposts and lintels , and to observe the Passover meal that night, the night of the full moon . In the final plague , Yahweh sends an angel to each house to kill the firstborn son and firstborn cattle, but the houses of the Israelites are spared by the blood on their doorposts. Yahweh commands

14691-505: The Land of Israel) are called Chol HaMoed ( חול המועד – lit. "festival weekdays"). These days are considered by halakha to be more than regular weekdays but less than festival days. In practice, this means that all activities that are needed for the holiday—such as buying and preparing food, cleaning the house in honor of the holiday, or traveling to visit other people's sukkot or on family outings—are permitted by Jewish law. Activities that will interfere with relaxation and enjoyment of

14868-609: The Oral Law was committed to writing. A great many more lessons, lectures and traditions only alluded to in the few hundred pages of Mishnah, became the thousands of pages now called the Gemara . Gemara is written in Aramaic (specifically Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ), having been compiled in Babylon. The Mishnah and Gemara together are called the Talmud. The rabbis in the Land of Israel also collected their traditions and compiled them into

15045-511: The Oral and the written Torah were transmitted in parallel with each other. Where the Torah leaves words and concepts undefined, and mentions procedures without explanation or instructions, the reader is required to seek out the missing details from supplemental sources known as the Oral Law or Oral Torah. Some of the Torah's most prominent commandments needing further explanation are: According to classical rabbinic texts this parallel set of material

15222-551: The Pentateuch is read from a Torah scroll. On Shabbat (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section (" parashah ") is read, selected so that the entire Pentateuch is read consecutively each year. The division of parashot found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities (Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite) is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah , Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls , chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of

15399-448: The Promised Land. The first sermon recounts the forty years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings), later referred to as the Law of Moses ; the second reminds the Israelites of the need to follow Yahweh and the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends; and the third offers

15576-504: The Talmud, because they brought it with them from Assyria. Maharsha says that Ezra made no changes to the actual text of the Torah based on the Torah's prohibition of making any additions or deletions to the Torah in Deuteronomy 12:32 . By contrast, the modern scholarly consensus rejects Mosaic authorship, and affirms that the Torah has multiple authors and that its composition took place over centuries. The precise process by which

15753-496: The Temple being the only place in which sacrifices are allowed. The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Torah. The book has a long and complex history, but its final form is probably due to a Priestly redaction (i.e., editing) of a Yahwistic source made some time in the early Persian period (5th century BCE). The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites. Numbers begins at Mount Sinai , where

15930-485: The Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); the particle et is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark the direct object . In other words, the Orthodox belief is that even apparently contextual text such as "And God spoke unto Moses saying ..." is no less holy and sacred than the actual statement. Manuscript Torah scrolls are still scribed and used for ritual purposes (i.e., religious services ); this

16107-639: The Torah is also common among all the different versions of the Christian Old Testament ; in Islam , the Tawrat ( Arabic : توراة‎ ) is the Arabic name for the Torah within its context as an Islamic holy book believed by Muslims to have been given by God to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel . The word "Torah" in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה , which in

16284-540: The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch ( / ˈ p ɛ n t ə tj uː k / ) or the Five Books of Moses . In Rabbinical Jewish tradition it is also known as the Written Torah ( תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב , Tōrā šebbīḵṯāv ). If meant for liturgic purposes, it takes the form of a Torah scroll ( Hebrew : ספר תורה Sefer Torah ). If in bound book form , it is called Chumash , and is usually printed with

16461-702: The Torah was composed, the number of authors involved, and the date of each author are hotly contested. Throughout most of the 20th century, there was a scholarly consensus surrounding the documentary hypothesis , which posits four independent sources, which were later compiled together by a redactor: J, the Jahwist source, E, the Elohist source, P, the Priestly source , and D, the Deuteronomist source. The earliest of these sources, J, would have been composed in

16638-471: The Torah was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity ( c.  537 BCE ), as described in the Book of Nehemiah . In the modern era, adherents of Orthodox Judaism practice Torah-reading according to a set procedure they believe has remained unchanged in the two thousand years since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). In

16815-400: The Torah") is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll . The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll (or scrolls) from the ark , chanting the appropriate excerpt with traditional cantillation , and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is distinct from academic Torah study . Regular public reading of

16992-458: The Torah, should be the source for Jewish behavior and ethics. Kabbalists hold that not only do the words of Torah give a divine message, but they also indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Thus they hold that even as small a mark as a kotso shel yod ( קוצו של יוד ), the serif of the Hebrew letter yod (י), the smallest letter, or decorative markings, or repeated words, were put there by God to teach scores of lessons. This

17169-579: The Written Torah was recorded during the following forty years, though many non-Orthodox Jewish scholars affirm the modern scholarly consensus that the Written Torah has multiple authors and was written over centuries. All classical rabbinic views hold that the Torah was entirely Mosaic and of divine origin. Present-day Reform and Liberal Jewish movements all reject Mosaic authorship, as do most shades of Conservative Judaism . Torah reading ( Hebrew : קריאת התורה , K'riat HaTorah , "Reading [of]

17346-412: The authentic and only Jewish version for understanding the Torah and its development throughout history. Humanistic Judaism holds that the Torah is a historical, political, and sociological text, but does not believe that every word of the Torah is true, or even morally correct. Humanistic Judaism is willing to question the Torah and to disagree with it, believing that the entire Jewish experience, not just

17523-421: The basis of the Pentateuch lay in short, independent narratives, gradually formed into larger units and brought together in two editorial phases, the first Deuteronomic, the second Priestly. By contrast, John Van Seters advocates a supplementary hypothesis , which posits that the Torah was derived from a series of direct additions to an existing corpus of work. A "neo-documentarian" hypothesis, which responds to

17700-713: The biblical narrative. While ancient Egyptian texts from the New Kingdom mention "Asiatics" living in Egypt as slaves and workers, these people cannot be securely connected to the Israelites, and no contemporary Egyptian text mentions a large-scale exodus of slaves like that described in the Bible. The earliest surviving historical mention of the Israelites, the Egyptian Merneptah Stele ( c.  1207 BCE ), appears to place them in or around Canaan and gives no indication of any exodus. Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein argues from his analysis of

17877-416: The book as initially a product of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), from earlier written and oral traditions, with final revisions in the Persian post-exilic period (5th century BCE). Carol Meyers , in her commentary on Exodus suggests that it is arguably the most important book in the Bible, as it presents the defining features of Israel's identity: memories of a past marked by hardship and escape,

18054-522: The borders of Syria , where Osarseph gives the lepers a law code and changes his name to Moses. The identification of Osarseph with Moses in Manetho's account may be an interpolation or may come from Manetho. Other versions of the story are recorded by the first-century BCE Egyptian grammarian Lysimachus of Alexandria , who set the story in the time of Pharaoh Bakenranef (Bocchoris), the first-century CE Egyptian historian Chaeremon of Alexandria , and

18231-414: The borders of Canaan and send spies into the land. Upon hearing the spies' fearful report concerning the conditions in Canaan, the Israelites refuse to take possession of it. God condemns them to death in the wilderness until a new generation can grow up and carry out the task. The book ends with the new generation of Israelites in the " plains of Moab " ready for the crossing of the Jordan River . Numbers

18408-614: The brazen serpent had been made by Moses and was worshiped in the temple in Jerusalem until the time of king Hezekiah of Judah, who destroyed it as part of a religious reform, possibly c.  727 BCE . In the Pentateuch, Moses creates the brazen serpent in Numbers 21:4-9. Meindert Dijkstra writes that while the historicity of the Mosaic origin of the Nehushtan is unlikely, its association with Moses appears genuine rather than

18585-479: The building of the temple at Jerusalem. Pamela Barmash argues that the psalm is a polemic against the Northern Kingdom; as it fails to mention that kingdom's destruction in 722 BCE, she concludes that it must have been written before then. The psalm's version of the Exodus contains some important differences from what is found in the Pentateuch: there is no mention of Moses, and the manna is described as "food of

18762-412: The celebration. Actual and symbolic "guests" (Aramaic: ushpizin ) are invited to participate by visiting the sukkah. Specifically, seven "forefathers" of the Jewish people are to be welcomed during the seven days of the festival, in this order: Day 1: Abraham; Day 2: Isaac; Day 3: Jacob; Day 4: Moses; Day 5: Aaron; Day 6: Joseph; Day 7: David. The holiday lasts seven days. The first day (and second day in

18939-519: The comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored. The final four chapters (31–34) contain the Song of Moses , the Blessing of Moses , and narratives recounting the passing of the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua and, finally, the death of Moses on Mount Nebo . Presented as the words of Moses delivered before the conquest of Canaan,

19116-431: The completion and new start of the year's cycle of readings. Torah scrolls are often dressed with a sash, a special Torah cover, various ornaments, and a keter (crown), although such customs vary among synagogues. Congregants traditionally stand in respect when the Torah is brought out of the ark to be read, while it is being carried, and lifted, and likewise while it is returned to the ark, although they may sit during

19293-409: The composition of the Torah, but two have been especially influential. The first of these, Persian Imperial authorisation, advanced by Peter Frei in 1985, holds that the Persian authorities required the Jews of Jerusalem to present a single body of law as the price of local autonomy. Frei's theory was, according to Eskenazi, "systematically dismantled" at an interdisciplinary symposium held in 2000, but

19470-527: The country, whereupon Moses, their leader, took them to Canaan. In this version, Moses is portrayed extremely positively. Manetho , also preserved in Josephus's Against Apion , tells how 80,000 lepers and other "impure people", led by a priest named Osarseph , join forces with the former Hyksos, now living in Jerusalem , to take over Egypt. They wreak havoc until the Pharaoh and his son chase them out to

19647-464: The criticism of the original hypothesis and updates the methodology used to determine which text comes from which sources, has been advocated by biblical historian Joel S. Baden, among others. Such a hypothesis continues to have adherents in Israel and North America. The majority of scholars today continue to recognize Deuteronomy as a source, with its origin in the law-code produced at the court of Josiah as described by De Wette, subsequently given

19824-452: The dedication of two golden calves in Bethel and Dan by the Israelite king Jeroboam I , who uses the words "Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 12:28). Scholars relate Jeroboam's calves to the golden calf made by Aaron of Exodus 32. Both include a nearly identical dedication formula ("These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of

20001-417: The desert "[t]he two most significant NT passages touching on the exodus". John also refers to Jesus as manna (John 6:31-5), water flowing from a rock in the desert (John 7:37-9), and as a pillar of fire (John 8:12). Early Christians frequently interpreted actions taken in the Exodus, and sometimes the Exodus as a whole, typologically to prefigure Jesus or actions of Jesus. In Romans 9:17, Paul interprets

20178-462: The desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt . Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and many people sleep there as well. On each day of the holiday it is a mitzvah , or commandment, to 'dwell' in the sukkah and to perform a shaking ceremony with a lulav (a palm frond, then bound with myrtle and willow ), and an etrog (the fruit of a citron tree) (collectively known as

20355-494: The desert wanderings. The Christian ritual of the eucharist and the holiday of Easter draw directly on the imagery of the Passover and the Exodus. In the New Testament , Jesus is frequently associated with motifs of the Exodus. The Gospel of Mark has been suggested to be a midrash on the Exodus, though the scholar Larry J. Perkins thinks this unlikely. Mark suggests that the outpouring of Jesus' blood creates

20532-459: The desert; unlike the Israelites, he is able to resist temptation (Matt. 4.1-3). The Gospel of John repeatedly calls Jesus the Passover lamb (John 1:29, 13:1, 19:36), something also found in 1 Peter (1 Pet 1:18-20), and 1 Corinthians (1 Cor 5:7-8). Michael Graves calls Paul 's discussion of the exodus in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 and his comparison of the early church in Corinth to the Israelites in

20709-455: The diaspora) is a Shabbat -like holiday when work is forbidden. This is followed by intermediate days called Chol HaMoed , during which certain work is permitted. The festival is closed with another Shabbat-like holiday called Shemini Atzeret (one day in the Land of Israel, two days in the diaspora, where the second day is called Simchat Torah ). The Hebrew word sukkoṯ is the plural of sukkah (' booth ' or ' tabernacle ') which

20886-569: The duties of the Levites. Then the Israelites depart from Mount Sinai. Yahweh commands Moses to send twelve spies ahead to Canaan to scout the land. The spies discover that the Canaanites are formidable, and to dissuade the Israelites from invading, the spies falsely report that Canaan is full of giants (Numbers 13:30-33). The Israelites refuse to go to Canaan, and Yahweh declares that the generation that left Egypt will have to pass away before

21063-411: The end of the harvest time and thus of the agricultural year in the Land of Israel . The more elaborate religious significance from the Book of Leviticus is that of commemorating the Exodus and the dependence of the Israelites on the will of God ( Leviticus 23:42–43 ). As an extension of its harvest festival community roots, the idea of welcoming all guests and extending hospitality is intrinsic to

21240-413: The entire corpus (according to academic Bible criticism). In contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were "The Book of Moses" and "The Book of the Torah", which seems to be a contraction of a fuller name, "The Book of the Torah of God". Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as

21417-451: The exodus story of a small group of Egyptian refugees. Nadav Na'aman argues that oppressive Egyptian rule of Canaan may have inspired the Exodus narrative, forming a " collective memory " of Egyptian oppression that was transferred from Canaan to Egypt itself in the popular consciousness. The 17th dynasty expulsion of the Hyksos , a group of Semitic invaders, is also frequently discussed as

21594-477: The festival of Passover . In his seminal Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels , Julius Wellhausen argued that Judaism as a religion based on widespread observance of the Torah and its laws first emerged in 444 BCE when, according to the biblical account provided in the Book of Nehemiah (chapter 8), a priestly scribe named Ezra read a copy of the Mosaic Torah before the populace of Judea assembled in

21771-404: The festival was historicized by symbolic connection with the desert sojourn of exodus ( Lev. 23:42–43 ). The narratives of the exodus trek do not describe the Israelites building booths, but they indicate that most of the trek was spent encamped at oases rather than traveling, and "sukkot" roofed with palm branches were a popular and convenient form of housing at such Sinai desert oases. Sukkot

21948-457: The festival would gather in the Temple courtyard on the first day of Chol HaMoed Sukkot to hear the Jewish king read selections from the Torah . This ceremony, which was mandated in Deuteronomy 31:10–13, was held every seven years, in the year following the Shmita (Sabbatical) year. This ceremony was discontinued after the destruction of the Temple, but it has been revived in Israel since 1952 on

22125-513: The festival, worshippers walk around the synagogue carrying the Four Species while reciting special prayers known as Hoshanot . This takes place either after the morning's Torah reading or at the end of Mussaf. This ceremony commemorates the willow ceremony at the Temple in Jerusalem , in which willow branches were piled beside the altar with worshippers parading around the altar reciting prayers. A custom originating with Lurianic Kabbalah

22302-556: The final formation of the Pentateuch somewhat later, in the Hellenistic (332–164 BCE) or even Hasmonean (140–37 BCE) periods. Russell Gmirkin, for instance, argues for a Hellenistic dating on the basis that the Elephantine papyri , the records of a Jewish colony in Egypt dating from the last quarter of the 5th century BCE, make no reference to a written Torah, the Exodus , or to any other biblical event, though it does mention

22479-452: The first plagues, in which Yahweh turns the Nile to blood and produces a plague of frogs, but they cannot match any plagues starting with the third, the plague of gnats . After each plague, Pharaoh asks the Israelites to worship Yahweh to remove the plague, then still refuses to free them. Moses is commanded to fix the first month of Aviv at the head of the Hebrew calendar . He instructs

22656-526: The first-century BCE Gallo-Roman historian Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus . The first-century CE Roman historian Tacitus included a version of the story that claims that the Hebrews worshipped a donkey as their god to ridicule Egyptian religion, whereas the Roman biographer Plutarch claimed that the Egyptian god Seth was expelled from Egypt and had two sons named Juda and Hierosolyma. The stories may represent

22833-458: The following words from the Pesaḥim (10:5) are recited: "In every generation a person is duty-bound to regard himself as if he personally has gone forth from Egypt." Because the Israelites fled Egypt in haste without time for bread to rise, the unleavened bread matzoh is eaten on Passover, and homes must be cleansed of any items containing leavening agents, known as Chametz . Shavuot celebrates

23010-642: The granting of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai; Jews are called to rededicate themselves to the covenant on this day. Some denominations follow Shavuot with The Three Weeks , during which the "two most heinous sins committed by the Jews in their relationship to God" are mourned: the Golden Calf and the doubting of God's promise by the Twelve Spies . A third Jewish festival, Sukkot , the Festival of Booths,

23187-638: The hardened heart of Pharaoh during the Plagues of Egypt as referring to the hardened hearts of the Jews who rejected Christ. Early Christian authors such as Justin Martyr , Irenaeus , and Augustine all emphasized the supersession of the Old Covenant of Moses by the New Covenant of Christ, which was open to all people rather than limited to the Jews. The story of the Exodus is also recounted in

23364-433: The history of the Israelites. The view that the biblical narrative is essentially correct unless it can explicitly be proved wrong ( Biblical maximalism ) is today held by "few, if any [...] in mainstream scholarship, only on the more fundamentalist fringes." There is no direct evidence for any of the people or events of Exodus in non-biblical ancient texts or in archaeological remains, and this has led most scholars to omit

23541-440: The holiday—such as laundering, mending clothes, engaging in labor-intensive activities—are not permitted. Religious Jews often treat Chol HaMoed as a vacation period, eating nicer than usual meals in their sukkah, entertaining guests, visiting other families in their sukkot, and taking family outings. Many synagogues and Jewish centers also offer events and meals in their sukkot during this time to foster community and goodwill. On

23718-463: The house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah. Sukkot is celebrated by a number of Christian denominations that observe holidays from the Old Testament . These groups base this on the belief that Jesus celebrated Sukkot (see the Gospel of John 7 ). The holiday

23895-722: The house to finish the meal if the rain does not stop. Every day except the Sabbath, a blessing is recited over the Lulav and the Etrog . Keeping of Sukkot is detailed in the Hebrew Bible ( Nehemiah 8:13–18 , Zechariah 14:16–19 and Leviticus 23:34–44 ); the Mishnah (Sukkah 1:1–5:8); the Tosefta (Sukkah 1:1–4:28); and the Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 1a–) and Babylonian Talmud ( Sukkah 2a–56b). The sukkah walls can be constructed of any material that blocks wind (wood, canvas, aluminum siding, sheets). The walls can be free-standing or include

24072-501: The ideal that is summed up in the term talmud torah ( תלמוד תורה , "study of Torah"). The term "Torah" is also used to designate the entire Hebrew Bible . The earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been "The Torah of Moses". This title, however, is found neither in the Torah itself, nor in the works of the pre-Exilic literary prophets . It appears in Joshua and Kings , but it cannot be said to refer there to

24249-512: The idolators and sends another plague. The full extent of Yahweh's wrath is averted when Phinehas impales an Israelite and a Midianite woman having intercourse (Numbers 25:7-9). Yahweh commands the Israelites to destroy the Midianites, and Moses and Phinehas take another census. Then they conquer the lands of Og and Sihon in Transjordan , settling the Gadites , Reubenites , and half

24426-419: The itinerary lists in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy that the biblical account represents a long-term cultural memory, spanning the 16th to 10th centuries BCE, rather than a specific event: "The beginning is vague and now untraceable." Instead, modern archaeology suggests continuity between Canaanite and Israelite settlement, indicating a primarily Canaanite origin for Israel, with no suggestion that

24603-404: The land of Canaan (the " Promised Land ") in return for their faithfulness. Israel enters into a covenant with Yahweh who gives them their laws and instructions to build the Tabernacle , the means by which he will come from heaven and dwell with them and lead them in a holy war to possess the land, and then give them peace. Traditionally ascribed to Moses himself, modern scholarship sees

24780-428: The land of Canaan. Numbers also demonstrates the importance of holiness, faithfulness and trust: despite God's presence and his priests , Israel lacks faith and the possession of the land is left to a new generation. The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab , shortly before they enter

24957-516: The land of Egypt", Exodus 32:8). This episode in Exodus is "widely regarded as a tendentious narrative against the Bethel calves". Egyptologist Jan Assmann suggests that event, which would have taken place c.  931 BCE , may be partially historical due to its association with the historical pharaoh Sheshonq I (the biblical Shishak ). Stephen Russell dates this tradition to "the eighth century BCE or earlier", and argued that it preserves

25134-523: The late 6th century BCE. Many scholars see the book as reflecting the economic needs and social status of the Levite caste, who are believed to have provided its authors; those likely authors are collectively referred to as the Deuteronomist . One of its most significant verses is Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema Yisrael , which has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity : "Hear, O Israel:

25311-470: The late 7th or the 6th century BCE, with the latest source, P, being composed around the 5th century BCE. The consensus around the documentary hypothesis collapsed in the last decades of the 20th century. The groundwork was laid with the investigation of the origins of the written sources in oral compositions, implying that the creators of J and E were collectors and editors and not authors and historians. Rolf Rendtorff , building on this insight, argued that

25488-531: The mighty" rather than as bread in the wilderness. Nadav Na'aman argues for other signs that the Exodus was a tradition in Judah before the destruction of the northern kingdom, including the Song of the Sea and Psalm 114 , as well as the great political importance that the narrative came to assume there. A Judahite cultic object associated with the exodus was the brazen serpent or nehushtan : according to 2 Kings 18:4,

25665-603: The narrative (as in Exodus 12 and 13 laws of the celebration of Passover ). In Hebrew, the five books of the Torah are identified by the incipits in each book; and the common English names for the books are derived from the Greek Septuagint and reflect the essential theme of each book: The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Torah. It is divisible into two parts, the Primeval history (chapters 1–11) and

25842-532: The narrative of Israel's rescue from Egypt there is little hint that they will be brought anywhere other than Canaan – yet they find themselves heading first, unexpectedly, and in no obvious geographical order, to an obscure mountain." In addition, there is widespread agreement that the revelation of the law in Deuteronomy was originally separate from the Exodus: the original version of Deuteronomy

26019-657: The narrative). According to tradition, each night a different guest enters the sukkah followed by the other six. Each of the ushpizin has a unique lesson to teach that parallels the spiritual focus of the day on which they visit, based on the Sephirah associated with that character. Some streams of Reconstructionist Judaism also recognize a set of seven female shepherds of Israel, called variously Ushpizot (using modern Hebrew feminine pluralization), or Ushpizata (in reconstructed Aramaic). Several lists of seven have been proposed. The Ushpizata are sometimes coidentified with

26196-416: The northern prophets Amos and Hosea , both active in the 8th century BCE in northern Israel , but their southern contemporary Isaiah shows no knowledge of an exodus. Micah , who was active in the south around the same time, references the exodus once ( Micah 6:4–5 ), but it is debated whether the passage is an addition by a later editor. Jeremiah , active in the 7th century, mentions both Moses and

26373-462: The number of Israelite males aged 20 years and older in the desert during the wandering was 603,550, which works out to a total population of 2.5-3 million including women and children—far more than could be supported by the Sinai Desert . The geography is vague with regions such as Goshen unidentified, and there are internal problems with dating in the Pentateuch. No modern attempt to identify

26550-509: The oasis of Kadesh Barnea , where Miriam dies and the Israelites remain for nineteen years. To provide water, Yahweh commands Moses to get water from a rock by speaking to it, but Moses instead strikes the rock with his staff, for which Yahweh forbids him from entering the Promised Land . Moses sends a messenger to the king of Edom requesting passage through his land to Canaan, but the king refuses. The Israelites then go to Mount Hor , where Aaron dies. The Israelites try to go around Edom, but

26727-733: The observance of the Torah started in Persian Yehud when the Judeans who returned from exile understood its normativity as the observance of selected, ancestral laws of high symbolic value, while during the Maccabean revolt Jews started a much more detailed observance of its precepts. Rabbinic writings state that the Oral Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai , which, according to the tradition of Orthodox Judaism , occurred in 1312 BCE. The Orthodox rabbinic tradition holds that

26904-412: The original Thanksgiving holiday had many similarities with Sukkot in the Bible. Torah The Torah ( / ˈ t ɔːr ə / or / ˈ t oʊ r ə / ; Biblical Hebrew : תּוֹרָה 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 Christianity ,

27081-459: The people gather in Moab to cross into the promised land of Canaan, Moses reveals Yahweh's new covenant "beside the covenant he made with them at Horeb" (Deuteronomy 29:1). The laws are set out in a number of codes: There are two main positions on the historicity of the Exodus in modern scholarship. The majority position is that the biblical Exodus narrative has some historical basis, although there

27258-544: The position and appearance of the Hebrew letters are observed. See for example the Mishnah Berurah on the subject. Any of several Hebrew scripts may be used, most of which are fairly ornate and exacting. The completion of the Sefer Torah is a cause for great celebration, and it is a mitzvah for every Jew to either write or have written for him a Sefer Torah. Torah scrolls are stored in the holiest part of

27435-409: The reading itself. The Torah contains narratives, statements of law, and statements of ethics. Collectively these laws, usually called biblical law or commandments, are sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses ( Torat Moshɛ תּוֹרַת־מֹשֶׁה ), Mosaic Law , or Sinaitic Law . Rabbinic tradition holds that Moses learned the whole Torah while he lived on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights and both

27612-527: The reading of the Torah every day, reciting the Mussaf (additional) service after morning prayers, reciting Hallel , and adding special additions to the Amidah and Grace after Meals . In addition, the service includes rituals involving the Four Species. The lulav and etrog are not used on the Sabbath. On the Festival days, as well as the Sabbath of Chol Hamoed, some communities recite piyyutim. On each day of

27789-401: The rebellious northern kingdom , instituted a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in imitation of the feast of Sukkot in Judah, and pilgrims went to Bethel instead of Jerusalem to make thanksgiving offerings. Jeroboam feared that continued pilgrimages from the northern kingdom to Jerusalem could lead to pressure for reunion with Judah: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in

27966-557: The references to Jeroboam's calves in Hosea (Hosea 8:6 and 10:5) nor the frequent prohibitions of idol worship in the seventh-century southern prophet Jeremiah show any knowledge of a tradition of a golden calf having been created in Sinai. Some of the earliest evidence for Judahite traditions of the exodus is found in Psalm 78 , which portrays the Exodus as beginning a history culminating in

28143-457: The relationship between man and God. The Ancestral history (chapters 12–50) tells of the prehistory of Israel, God's chosen people. At God's command Noah's descendant Abraham journeys from his home into the God-given land of Canaan , where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob . Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and through the agency of his son Joseph ,

28320-412: The relationship between the Persian authorities and Jerusalem remains a crucial question. The second theory, associated with Joel P. Weinberg and called the "Citizen-Temple Community", proposes that the Exodus story was composed to serve the needs of a post-exilic Jewish community organised around the Temple, which acted in effect as a bank for those who belonged to it. A minority of scholars would place

28497-450: The remainder recounting the 1st year in the wilderness, and followed by a narrative of 39 more years in the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the last four of the first five books of the Bible (also called the Torah or Pentateuch). In the first book of the Pentateuch, the Book of Genesis , the Israelites had come to live in Egypt in the Land of Goshen during a famine, under the protection of an Israelite, Joseph , who had become

28674-429: The sanctuary during morning services) and has a special observance of its own. The intermediate days are known as Chol HaMoed ("festival weekdays"). According to Halakha , some types of work are forbidden during Chol HaMoed . In Israel many businesses are closed during this time. Throughout the week of Sukkot, meals are eaten in the sukkah. If a brit milah (circumcision ceremony) or Bar Mitzvah rises during Sukkot,

28851-509: The seven prophetesses of Judaism : Sarah , Miriam , Deborah , Hannah , Abigail , Hulda , and Esther . Some lists seek to relate each female leader to one of the Sephirot , to parallel their male counterparts of the evening. One such list (in the order they would be invoked, each evening) is: Ruth , Sarah , Rebecca , Miriam , Deborah , Tamar , and Rachel . The second through seventh days of Sukkot (third through seventh days outside

29028-463: The seventh through the fifth centuries BCE than the traditional dating to the second millennium BCE. Philip R. Davies suggests that the story may have been inspired by the return to Israel of Israelites and Judaeans who were placed in Egypt as garrison troops by the Assyrians in the fifth and sixth centuries BCE, during the exile. The earliest traces of the traditions behind the exodus appear in

29205-430: The shelters that were built in the fields by those involved in the harvesting process. Alternatively, it may come from the booths which pilgrims would stay in when they came in for the festivities at the cultic sanctuaries. Finally, Lev. 23:40 talks about the taking of various branches (and a fruit), this too is characteristic of ancient agricultural festivals, which frequently included processions with branches. Later,

29382-504: The shore of the Red Sea . Moses uses his staff to part the Red Sea , and the Israelites cross on dry ground, but the sea closes on the pursuing Egyptians, drowning them all. The Israelites begin to complain, and Yahweh miraculously provides them with water and food, eventually raining manna down for them to eat. The Amalekites attack at Rephidim , but are defeated. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, convinces him to appoint judges for

29559-426: The sides of a building or porch. There must be at least two and a partial wall. The roof must be of organic material, known as s'chach , such as leafy tree overgrowth, schach mats or palm fronds – plant material that is no longer connected with the earth. It is customary to decorate the interior of the sukkah with hanging decorations of the four species as well as with attractive artwork. Prayers during Sukkot include

29736-504: The sixth century BCE. Evidence from the Bible suggests that the Exodus from Egypt formed a "foundational mythology" or "state ideology" for the Northern Kingdom of Israel . The northern psalms 80 and 81 state that God "brought a vine out of Egypt" (Psalm 80:8) and record ritual observances of Israel's deliverance from Egypt as well as a version of part of the Ten Commandments (Psalm 81:10-11). The Books of Kings records

29913-541: The slaughter at birth of all male Hebrew children. One Hebrew child, however, is rescued and abandoned in a floating basket on the Nile . He is found and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter , who names him Moses . Grown to a young man, Moses kills an Egyptian he sees beating a Hebrew slave, and takes refuge in to the land of Midian , where he marries Tzipporah , a daughter of the Midianite priest Jethro . The old pharaoh dies and

30090-483: The story told in the Pentateuch. While the majority of modern scholars date the composition of the Pentateuch to the period of the Achaemenid Empire (5th century BCE), some of the elements of this narrative are older, since allusions to the story are made by 8th-century BCE prophets such as Amos and Hosea . The story of the Exodus is central in Judaism . It is recounted daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated in festivals such as Passover . Early Christians saw

30267-467: The text of the Torah to Moses over the span of the 40 years the Israelites were in the desert and Moses was like a scribe who was dictated to and wrote down all of the events, the stories and the commandments. According to Jewish tradition , the Torah was recompiled by Ezra during Second Temple period . The Talmud says that Ezra changed the script used to write the Torah from the older Hebrew script to Assyrian script, so called according to

30444-443: The tribes of Israel. The Israelites reach the Sinai Desert and Yahweh calls Moses to Mount Sinai , where Yahweh reveals himself to his people and establishes the Ten Commandments and Mosaic covenant : the Israelites are to keep his torah (law, instruction), and Yahweh promises them the land of Canaan. Yahweh establishes the Aaronic priesthood and detailed rules for ritual worship, among other laws. However, in Moses's absence

30621-433: The two assemble the Israelites and perform miraculous signs to rouse their belief in Yahweh's promise. Moses and Aaron then go to Pharaoh and ask him to let the Israelites go into the desert for a religious festival, but he refuses and increases their workload, commanding them to make bricks without straw . Moses and Aaron return to Pharaoh and ask him to free the Israelites and let them depart. Pharaoh demands Moses to perform

30798-448: The work of a later redactor. Mark Walter Bartusch notes that the nehushtan is not mentioned at any prior point in Kings, and suggests that the brazen serpent was brought to Jerusalem from the Northern Kingdom after its destruction in 722 BCE. The revelation of God on Sinai appears to have originally been a tradition unrelated to the Exodus. Joel S. Baden notes that "[t]he seams [between the Exodus and Wilderness traditions] still show: in

30975-441: The world , and was used as the blueprint for Creation. Though hotly debated, the general trend in biblical scholarship is to recognize the final form of the Torah as a literary and ideological unity, based on earlier sources, largely complete by the Persian period , with possibly some later additions during the Hellenistic period. The words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe ( sofer ) in Hebrew. A Torah portion

31152-457: Was demolished at an interdisciplinary symposium held in 2000, but the relationship between the Persian authorities and Jerusalem remains a crucial question. The second theory, associated with Joel P. Weinberg and called the "Citizen-Temple Community", is that the Exodus story was composed to serve the needs of a post-exilic Jewish community organized around the Temple, which acted in effect as a bank for those who belonged to it. The books containing

31329-435: Was originally transmitted to Moses at Sinai, and then from Moses to Israel. At that time it was forbidden to write and publish the oral law, as any writing would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation and abuse. However, after exile, dispersion, and persecution, this tradition was lifted when it became apparent that in writing was the only way to ensure that the Oral Law could be preserved. After many years of effort by

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