Is the Torah the same thing as The Old Testament?
The Torah is the most holy of the sacred writings in Judaism. It is the first of three sections in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), the founding religious document of Judaism, and is divided into five books, whose names in English are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, in reference to their themes (Their Hebrew names, Bereshit, , Shemot שמות, Vayikra , Bemidbar and Devarim דברים, are derived from the wording of their initial verses). The Torah contains a variety of literary genres, including allegories, historical narrative, poetry, genealogy, and the exposition of various types of law. According to rabbinic tradition, the Torah contains the 613 mitzvot (מצוות, “commandments”), which are divided into 365 negative restrictions and 248 positive commands. In rabbinic literature, the word “Torah” denotes both the written text, “Torah Shebichtav” “Torah that is written”), as well as an oral tradition, “Torah Shebe’al Peh” “Torah that is oral”). The oral portion consists of the
