The Torah and Its Transmission in Ancient Judaism

The word Torah is a central pillar in the traditions and texts of Judaism, old and new, spanning centuries, languages, and cultures. Its meaning has developed and changed over time in response to different sociohistorical contexts. In its original usage in the Hebrew Bible, the word torah simply means “instruction” or “teaching” and alludes to the process of disseminating oral tradition. It is only in the Second Temple period (c. 518 BCE–72 CE) that Torah comes to refer to a specific collection of authoritative texts, often translated as “the law.” Torah, in this usage, is synonymous with the Greek term pentateuch (“five books”) and refers to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. During this period, the biblical text became a prolific site of interpretation for exegetes and translators, stimulating the production of new texts and new genres at the hands of diverse Jewish communities throughout the land of Israel and beyond.

Alongside this literary proliferation, a variety of texts and collections of texts began to be reified into various “canons” of scripture in the Second Temple period. The term canon, derived from the Greek word kanon, meaning “measuring stick” or “rule,” tends to imply a set of static or fixed texts, but the identification of a particular body of texts as belonging to Jewish scripture was anything but static. The early formation of several authoritative collections among different ancient Jewish communities illuminates how many ways texts could be organized and revered. The extant versions of the texts then in circulation remained in flux. Scribal practices and methods of transmission particular to scroll production also played a role in the fluidity of the canons. A drastic change came with the invention of the codex, or bound book, which eventually largely replaced the scroll, although Jews adopted the codex very late. This technological advance allowed and even encouraged religious groups to bind together the texts they considered “scriptural” and in the process to exclude texts that might previously have been considered authoritative.

Scholars continue to debate which texts were recognized as authoritative at particular times and by whom. Often, different sects would uphold different texts as authoritative. As the Dead Sea Scrolls attest, the notion of a stable set of canonical writings remained elusive as late as the first century CE. However, the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE propelled sectarian discussions and differences toward a unified system because of the pressures of external conflict. Early Christian canonical debates likely also had an impact on Jewish ideas about the boundaries of scripture.

In early rabbinic texts, the idea of Torah expands beyond that of a particular set of physical writings. In the wake of the destruction of the Second Temple and the failed Bar Kokhba revolt, Torah becomes nearly synonymous with Judaism itself. It begins to refer to the revelation at Mount Sinai, articulated as the giving of not one but two Torahs: the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. Although Oral Torah is an extremely rare term in rabbinic literature, used only three times in the Babylonian Talmud (b. Shabbat 31a, b. Yoma 28b, and b. Kiddushin 66a), the innovation laid the foundation for the emergence of what modern scholars call rabbinic Judaism and provided the framework for what most Jewish communities practice today.

How early Jewish communities, some of which are considered sectarian, understood the idea of Torah varied widely. In some texts from this period, Torah is equated with the more general, abstract concept of wisdom, whereas in others it refers specifically to the law of Moses. Torah is sometimes regarded as the blueprint for the creation of the world. It may be oral or written—and it may be written in a variety of scripts and translated into a variety of languages. The rabbis privileged the study of Torah above all else. They transformed its scroll into an icon and attempted to systematize its material preservation—that is, how its scrolls were written and produced—and to create norms for how it was studied.

The term Torah was not relegated to abstractions and traditions of interpretation. It was also highly materialized. The sefer (scroll) Torah could occupy a physical space and be displayed, moved, beautified, stolen, or profaned. Drawing on the scriptural tradition that prescribed the Torah scroll’s prominent placement beside the ark of the covenant (Deuteronomy 31:24–26), the Second Temple period and centuries thereafter saw the further crystallization of the proper ways of producing, displaying, and interacting with the material Torah.

The scribe (Heb., sofer) played an important role in the preservation of the Torah. Before and during the third century BCE, scribes functioned in Judaea as a professional class and were employed in writing texts in both religious and public administrative settings. The level of technical skill required to copy, shape, or compose the final form of a text necessitated extensive training and education, which was often limited to an elite priestly class operating under Seleucid control in and around Palestine. In the Maccabean period, however, the role of scribes was adapted and assimilated into various sectarian groups. Scribes took on a variety of roles that encompassed both the physical act of writing and the metaphysical idea of sacred knowledge. Over the course of the Second Temple period, the role of the scribe in Jewish society eventually transformed into that of the rabbinic sage (ḥakham).

The sages transmitted and preserved the Written Torah but also developed the concept of the Oral Torah. Sages during this period were learned men who, according to sources dating from centuries later, preserved both the scribal and the oral traditions of the Torah given to Moses at Sinai. The oral transmission of Torah from teacher to pupil is described in m. Avot 1:1: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and passed it on to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets passed it on to the men of the Great Assembly.” In early sources, such as the Christian Gospels, an honorary title “rabbi,” meaning “my lord” or “master,” was given to a teacher of oral tradition but does not appear to indicate a group of scholars known collectively as “rabbis.”

Possessing both material and abstract qualities, the concept of Torah has functioned over time both as a physical object and as a living subject. Sometimes it is given a body and a voice, and other times it is immanent and imageless. It has provided the Jewish communities that revere it with a living, enduring identity intertwined with the cultures, religious traditions, and texts of its people.