Guide
The Torah and Its Transmission
By Carol Bakhos
Related Primary Sources
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Persian Authorization of the Law
“And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of God, appoint judges and justices to judge all those who know the law of your God, throughout all Syria and Phoenicia; and you shall teach it to those who…
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Ezra Reads from the Law of Moses
The priests and the Levites and the Israelites settled in Jerusalem and in the country. On the new moon on the seventh month, when the people of Israel were in their settlements, the whole…
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Hasmonean Champions of Torah
Many of the people, everyone who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; they drove Israel into hiding in every…
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Torah at Qumran
He should not multiply wives to himself (Deuteronomy 17:17). However, David had not read the sealed book of the law which was in the ark, for it had not…
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The Decree of Caesar Augustus to the Jews of Cyrene
Caesar Augustus, high priest and tribune of the people, ordains as follows: Since the nation of the Jews has been found agreeable to the Roman people, not only at this time but also in the past, and…
Primary Source
The Laws of Moses
Now before their first state of mourning had ended, another misfortune struck them as well; for some of those who had raised the previous rebellion, when they were traveling on the public road, about…