The Koren Jerusalem Bible
The Koren Jerusalem Bible is a Hebrew/English Tanakh by Koren Publishers Jerusalem. The Koren Bible was the first Bible published in modern Israel, distinguished for its accuracy and beauty, and one of the most widely distributed Hebrew editions ever published. The English translation in The Koren Jerusalem Bible, which is Koren’s Hebrew/English edition, is by Professor Harold Fisch, a Biblical and literary scholar, and is based on Friedländer‘s 1881 Jewish Family Bible, but it has been “thoroughly corrected, modernized, and revised”.
The Koren Jerusalem Bible incorporates some unique features:
- The paragraphing of the English translation parallels the division of the parashot in the Hebrew version on the facing page. Chapter and verse numbers are noted only in the margin .
- The names of people and places in the translation are transliterations of the Hebrew names, as opposed to the Hellenized versions used in most translations. For example, the Hebrew name Moshe is used instead of the more familiar Moses.
- It uses Koren Type, created by typographer Eliyahu Koren specifically for The Koren Bible, and is a most accurate and legible Hebrew type.
The Koren Jerusalem Bible is sometimes referred to as The Jerusalem Bible, Koren Bible, the Koren Tanakh, or Tanakh Yerushalayim .
Jewish English Bible Translations
Jewish English Bible translations are English translations of the Hebrew Bible according to the Masoretic Text, in the traditional division and order of Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim. Most Jewish translations appear in bilingual editions .
Jewish translations often reflect traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible all such translations eschew the Christological interpretations present in many non-Jewish translations. Jewish translations contain neither the books of the apocrypha nor the Christian New Testament.
Assyrian Church Of The East
The , with an unbroken patriarchate established in the 17th century, is an independent denomination which claims continuity from the âin parallel to the Catholic patriarchate established in the 16th century that evolved into the , an church in with the . It is an Eastern Christian that follows the traditional and of the historical Church of the East. Largely and not in with any other church, it belongs to the eastern branch of , and uses the in its .
Its main spoken language is , a dialect of , and the majority of its adherents are ethnic . It is officially headquartered in the city of in northern , and its original area also spreads into south-eastern Turkey and north-western Iran, corresponding to ancient . Its hierarchy is composed of and , while lower clergy consists of and , who serve in dioceses and parishes throughout the Middle East, India, North America, Oceania, and Europe .
The distinguished itself from the in 1964. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical âthe Church of the East, one of the oldest Christian churches in Mesopotamia.
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How Is The Torah Used
The Torah scrolls are taken out from the Ark and portions read in the synagogue three times each week. On Mondays and Thursdays small sections are read. The main reading is on the morning of Shabbat .
Over the course of the year the whole scroll is read in sequence. This begins from the end of Sukkot which is an autumn festival.
The special portions for the readings are called parshioth and are usually three to five chapters in length. The reader has to be very skilled to read from the scroll because the letters are written without corresponding vowels. They have to know the portion very well to avoid making mistakes. The reading is conducted using an ancient tune and is sung rather than spoken.
The scrolls are not directly touched when unfurled on the Bimah . A pointer or Yad is used instead. This is in the shape of a hand with an outstretched finger. The reading or chanting is performed by a person who has been trained in this task. However it may be carried out by the rabbi. It is a very great honour for a congregant to be asked to attend at a reading during a synagogue service. This is called having an Aliyah which is Hebrew for going up.
The weekly portion or Sedrah is followed by the recitation of part of another of the Jewish holy writings.
What Are The Sacred Texts Of The Jewish People
The Tenakh is the ancient collection of writings that are sacred to the Jews. They were written over almost a thousand years from 1000 to 100 BCE. The word Tenakh comes from the three first letters of the three books included in this text: the Torah, plus the Nev’im and the Ki’tuvim .
The Torah is written on scrolls and kept in a special cabinet called the aron hakodish, the holy ark, in synagogues. The Torah is read with a pointer called a yad to keep it from being spoiled. Each week, one section is read until the entire Torah is completed and the reading begins again.
The Talmud is also an important collection of Jewish writings. Written about 2000 years ago, it is a recording of the rabbis’ discussion of the way to follow the Torah at that time. Later texts, the Mishnah Torah and the Shulhan Aruch, are recordings of rabbinic discussions from later periods.
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Why Does This Matter
Why should Christians care about how Jewish readers divide the Old Testament?
First, it allows us to see where we have common ground. If we read similar books, we can have a discussion with readers about what weve discovered in those books and open a dialogue.
Second, we can see where we differ.
Certain Jewish Bibles do not contain sections of books such as Esther and Daniel. We can be aware of those passages when we enter a discussion with someone of the Jewish faith.
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Translations Of Individual Books Of The Bible
Menachem Mendel Kasher
Everett Fox
In addition to his translation of the Torah, Fox has translated the books of Samuel , and subsequently all of the Early Prophets .
Kehot Publication Society
Kehot Publication Society has started a translation of the Torah, and as of March 2007 has completed the books of Shemot and Bamidbar . The volumes, titled Torah Chumash Shemos and Torah Chumash Bemidbar, are bilingual HebrewEnglish translations that include a running commentary based on Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson‘s interpretation of Rashi’s commentary. The project is supervised by editor-in-chief Moshe Wisnefsky.
David Rosenberg
Rosenberg worked on A Literary Bible: An Original Translation, a secular, poetic version of the Jewish scriptures. It has been widely reviewed in literary journals, including The New York Times Book Review by Frank Kermode.
The Bible Unauthorized
In 1942 A. H. Moose published a volume titled The Bible Unauthorized that included a translation of the first few chapters of Bereshit and a “treatise” that “proved” the existence of God, the Biblical account of creation, and other parts of the Bible. Moose claimed that “the real content of the Bible differs greatly from the many erroneous translations” that preceded his, and that his was “likely the first accurate translation”.
According to the correspondence of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn Moose was the pseudonym of Rabbi Aaron Hirsh Levitt, who had worked with Schneersohn.
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The Contents Of The Bible
The Torah, or Five Books of Moses, retells the story of how the family of Abraham and Sarah became the people of Israel, and how they came back from exile in Egypt, under the leadership of Moses, to the border of the land of Israel, on the way stopping at Mount Sinai for the revelation of what are known as the Ten Commandments. The Torah includes both the narrative of the formation of the people of Israel and the laws defining the covenant that binds the people to God.
The Prophets is itself divided into two parts. The former prophets including the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings are narratives that explain the history of Israel from the perspective of Israels fulfillment of Gods covenant. The latter prophets including Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, along with 12 minor prophets report the exhortations of these fiery leaders to return to God and Torah.
The Writings include poetry and wisdom literature , short stories , and histories .
Production And Use Of A Torah Scroll
Manuscript Torah scrolls are still scribed and used for ritual purposes this is called a Sefer 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 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 is a copy of the formal Hebrew text handwritten on gevil or klaf by using a quill 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 , 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 , and very strict rules about 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.
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What Do Jews Believe
- Judaism does not have a formal mandatory beliefs
- The most accepted summary of Jewish beliefs is Rambam’s 13 principles of faith
- Even these basic principles have been debated
- Judaism focuses on the relationships between the Creator, mankind, and the land of Israel
This is a far more difficult question than you might expect. Judaism has no dogma, no formal set of beliefs that one must hold to be a Jew. In Judaism, actions are far more important than beliefs, although there is certainly a place for belief within Judaism.
Who Wrote The Bible
Where did the Bible come from? Traditionally, Jews have claimed that all five books of the Torah were revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. The prophets were the authors of their own books as well as others that are attributed to them , and Kings David and Solomon each wrote several works .
Internal contradictions as well as shifts in language and outlook have convinced many modern scholars that the Torah and later historical narratives, as well as the books of the prophets and some of the writings, had multiple authors or redactors who edited traditional materials together, leaving some of the seams between the sources. Some of the critical theories that break apart the Bible into its various sources were initially suggested by Christian theologians who used their arguments to advance claims that later Judaism was a corruption of early biblical religion. Since that time, however, many Jewish scholars have integrated the insights drawn from a critical approach a Redactor or Redactors may have edited together different sources, but contemporary Jewish scholars may understand R as standing for Rabbenu, our Rabbi and teacher.
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Why Doesnt The Hebrew Bible Contain The New Testament
Jewish tradition does not hold that the New Testament is part of Scriptural canon. Judaism does not see Jesus Christ as divine or the son of God. They are still waiting for the Messiah mentioned in the Old Testament, believing Jesus not to be the person who fulfilled that messianic role.
Because of this, Jewish and Christian perspectives will differ on the purpose of the Old Testament or Tanakh.
Christians see the Old Testament as the beginning of the story, and the New Testament as the completion of it. We see a lost world in need of a Savior, and a Savior enters the world starting in the New Testament.
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit .
Jewish readers may see the Tanakh more as a guide for a way of life, especially in the Torah , instructional living, in essence.
Although, as mentioned in this article, many are still awaiting the Messiah described and foreshadowed in the Old Testament.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord .
How Is The Hebrew Bible Different From The Christian Old Testament
I’ve encountered many Bible believing tourists in my over 17 years living in Israel. This happens often in bookshops.
I once encountered a tourist who wanted to buy a Bible from the Holy Land and after learning I was a believer and had lived here for many years, he began to ask my opinion.
‘Which Bible has a real “holy land” feel?’ he asked.
‘Well, why not a Hebrew Bible, which was the Bible which our Lord Jesus made reference to in Luke 24: 44-45?’ I answered.
‘A Hebrew Bible? What is that?’ he asked.
Then I proceeded to explain that a Hebrew Bible contains the exact equivalent to what Protestant Christians call the ‘Old Testament’. I also explained that this is the Bible that observant Jews accept as the Word of God today. They call it in Hebrew, the TANAK, which is an abbreviation taking the first letter from each of the following words for: Torah , Nevi’im and Ketuvim .
This interested my tourist friend very much. ‘Can you recommend one?’ he asked.
Then, I gave him a very nice edition to look at called The Jerusalem Bible published by Koren Publishers here in Jerusalem.
‘This is a Hebrew Bible, but I do need to point out that while this Bible has the same books that are found in the King James Version and all other Protestant Bible versions, you will note that the design is different,’ I said.
‘Wow. This is different!’ he exclaimed. ‘Yes, it is. But, in fact, this is the Bible that our Lord Jesus referred to in Luke 24:44-45.
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Oral Torah: The Talmud
In addition to the written scriptures we have an “Oral Torah,” a tradition explaining what the above scriptures mean and how to interpret them and apply the Laws. Orthodox Jews believe G-d taught the Oral Torah to Moses, and he taught it to others, down to the present day. This tradition was maintained only in oral form until about the 2d century C.E., when the oral law was compiled and written down in a document called the Mishnah.
Over the next few centuries, additional commentaries elaborating on the Mishnah were written down in Jerusalem and Babylon. These additional commentaries are known as the Gemara. The Gemara and the Mishnah together are known as the Talmud. This was completed in the 5th century C.E.
There are actually two Talmuds: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud is more comprehensive, and is the one most people mean if they just say “the Talmud” without specifying which one.
There have been additional commentaries on the Talmud by such noted Jewish scholars as Rashi and Rambam. Adin Steinsaltz recently completed a new edition of the Talmud, with his own commentary supplementing the Mishnah, Gemara, and Rashi commentaries.
- Zera’im , dealing with agricultural laws
- Berakhot
Hebrew Bible: Torah Prophets And Writings
The Bible, also known as Tanakh, is the founding document of the Jews.
The Hebrew Bible, also known as Mikra or TaNaKh, an acronym referring to the traditional Jewish division of the Bible into Torah , Neviim , and Ketuvim , is the founding document of the people of Israel, describing its origins, history and visions of a just society.
The word Bible, from the Greek, ta biblia, is plural and means books. This reflects the fact that the Bible is actually a collection of individual books . Similarly, another traditional name for the Torah, Chumash , indicates that the Torah itself is a book composed of five books.
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