The Torah For Dummies (Paperback)

Introduction 1

Part 1: The Torah 101 5

Chapter 1: Beginning with Torah Basics 7

Chapter 2: Encountering God, the Ultimate Author 19

Chapter 3: Examining the Treasures of the Torah 37

Part 2: One by One: The Books of the Torah 61

Chapter 4: “In the Beginning”: The Book of Genesis 63

Chapter 5: “These Are the Names”: The Book of Exodus 83

Chapter 6: “And He Called”: The Book of Leviticus 107

Chapter 7: “In the Wilderness”: The Book of Numbers 121

Chapter 8: “Words”: The Book of Deuteronomy 135

Part 3: The Torah: An Operating Manual for Planet Earth 149

Chapter 9: Keeping Your Personal Behavior in Line with the Torah 151

Chapter 10: Living by the Word of the Torah in the Community 163

Part 4: The Importance of the Torah in Judaism 173

Chapter 11: Observing the Holy Days in Torah Time 175

Chapter 12: Following Jewish Customs According to the Torah 197

Chapter 13: Walking through the Torah Synagogue Service 215

Chapter 14: The Final Commandment: Writing a Torah Scroll 237

Chapter 15: Always Up for Discussion: Analyzing the Torah 261

Chapter 16: Studying the Torah with Translations, Commentaries, and Other Resources 279

Part 5: Do You Dig Archaeology? 295

Chapter 17: The Science of Biblical Archaeology 297

Chapter 18: Biblical Archaeology: True or False?. 305

Part 6: The Part of Tens 317

Chapter 19: Ten Frequently Misunderstood Quotes from the Torah 319

Chapter 20: The Ten Commandments According to the Torah 327

Appendix: A Glossary of Torah Terms and Names 335

Index 343