Tanakh Totally Explained

Everything about Tanach totally explained

The Tanakh (also Tanach, or [təˈnax], Tenakh or Tenak) is the Bible used in Judaism. The name "Tanakh" is a Hebrew notariqon or acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching," also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings") - hence TaNaKh. The elements of the Tanakh are incorporated in various forms in Christian Bibles, where, with some variations, it's called the "Old Testament."
According to the Talmud, much of the contents of the Tanakh were compiled by the "Men of the Great Assembly" by 450 BCE, and have since remained unchanged. Modern scholars are less certain, but believe that the process of canonization of the Tanakh became finalized between 200 BCE and 200 CE .
The Hebrew text was originally an abjad: consonants written with some applied vowel letters ("matres lectionis"). During the early Middle Ages scholars known as the Masoretes created a single formalized system of vocalization. This was chiefly done by the Family Ben Asher, in the Tiberius school, based on the oral tradition for reading the Tanakh. It also included some of Ben Naftali and Babylonian innovations. Despite the comparatively late process of codification, the pronunciation and cantillation derives from an ancient source, since it's impossible to read the original text without pronunciations and cantillation pauses. The combination of a text, pronunciation and cantillation enable the reader to understand both the simple meaning, and the nuances in sentence flow of the text.

Terminology

The Tanakh is also called Mikra or Miqra (meaning "reading" or "that which is read"). The three-part division reflected in the acronym Tanakh is well attested to in documents from the Second Temple period and in Rabbinic literature. During that period, however, "Tanakh" wasn't used as a word or term. Instead, the proper title was Mikra, because the biblical texts were read publicly. "Mikra" is thus analogous to the Latin term Scriptus, meaning "that which is written" (as in "Scripture" or "The Holy Scriptures"). Mikra continues to be used in Hebrew to this day alongside Tanakh to refer to the Hebrew scriptures. In modern spoken Hebrew both are used interchangeably.

Codification of the books of Tanakh

According to the Talmud (Bava Basra 14b-15a, Rashi to Megillah 3a, 14a), much of the contents the Tanakh were compiled by the Men of the Great Assembly ("Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah") a task completed in 450 BCE, and have remained unchanged since that date. Modern scholars are less certain, but believe that the process of canonization of the Tanakh became finalized between 200 BCE and 200 CE . Both the Law (Torah) and the Prophets (Nevi'im) appear to have been codified by the time of the composition of the book of Sirach, c. 180 BCE; but the Writings (Ketuvim) may not yet have become an identified unit by this date.
Formal closure of the canon has often been ascribed to Rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Heinrich Graetz proposed in 1871 that it was concluded at a Council of Jamnia (or Yavne in Hebrew), some time in the period 70–90 CE. However, this view has fallen from favour since the 1960s, and it now questioned whether such a "council" ever occurred. However, Rabbinical writings seem to indicate that certain books were disputed as accepted canon (such as Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Esther), it may not necessarily be the case. The implication of the Talmud indicates that the books themselves were already accepted canon, but may have been misunderstood on philosophical or ecclesiastical grounds. The Talmud eliminates this misunderstanding.
The twenty-four books are also mentioned in the Midrash Qoheleth 12:12. A slightly different accounting can be found in the book Against Apion, by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus, who describes 22 sacred books. Some scholars have suggested that he considered Ruth part of Judges, and Lamentations part of Jeremiah; as the Christian translator Jerome recorded in the 4th century CE. Other scholars suggest that at the time Josephus wrote, such books as Esther and Ecclesiastes were not yet considered canonical.

Books of the Tanakh

The Tanakh is an acronym of the initial Hebrew letters of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim. According to Jewish tradition, the Tanakh consists of twenty-four books.
The Tanakh counts as one book what are sometimes counted as two in Christian Bibles (for example 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and so forth), and counts as one book all the twelve "Books" of the Twelve Prophets ("Trei Asar").

The Torah

Torah, meaning "teaching" or "law," consists of the Five Books of Moses. The printed form of the Torah is called "the Chumash", meaning "five-part." The Torah is also known by its Greek name, "the Pentateuch," which similarly means "five scrolls." ť 1. Genesis [ / B'reshit]

2. Exodus [ / Sh'mot] ť 3. Leviticus [ / Vayiqra]

4. Numbers [ / B'midbar] ť 5. Deuteronomy [ / D'varim]

The Hebrew names of the books of the Torah are based on the first prominent word in each book. The English names are not translations of the Hebrew. Instead, they're based on Greek names created for the Septuagint which are, in turn, based on Rabbinic names describing the thematic content of each of the Books.

Nevi'im

Nevi'im, meaning "prophets", consists of eight books. This division includes the books which, as a whole, cover the chronological era from the entrance of the Israelites into the Land until the Babylonian captivity of Judah (the "period of prophecy"). However, they exclude Chronicles, which covers the same period. The Nevi'im are often divided into the Earlier Prophets, which are generally historical, and the Later Prophets, which contain more exhortational prophecies.
   Nevi'im consists of eight books in the Jewish version. Most versions of the Old Testament count the number as 21, counting the books of Samuel and Kings as two book each, and the "Twelve Prophets" (or the minor prophets) as 12 books. ť 6. Joshua [ / Y'hoshua]

    7. Judges [ / Shophtim] ť 8. Samuel (I & II) [ / Sh'muel]

    9. Kings (I & II) [ / M'lakhim] ť 10. Isaiah [ / Y'shayahu]

    11. Jeremiah [ / Yir'mi'yahu] ť 12. Ezekiel [ / Y'khezqel]

    13. The Twelve Prophets [] ť : a. Hosea [ / Hoshea]

   : b. Joel [ / Yo'el] ť : c. Amos [ / Amos]

   : d. Obadiah [ / Ovadyah] ť : e. Jonah [ / Yonah]

   : f. Micah [ / Mikhah] ť : g. Nahum [ / Nakhum]

   : h. Habakkuk [ /Khavaquq] ť : i. Zephaniah [ / Ts'phanyah]

   : j. Haggai [ / Khagai] ť : k. Zechariah [ / Z'kharyah]

   : l. Malachi [ / Mal'akhi]

Ketuvim

Ketuvim, meaning "writings" or "scriptures", are sometimes also known by the Greek title "Hagiographa", and consists of eleven books. These encompass all the remaining books, and include the Five Scrolls. They are sometimes also divided into such categories as the "wisdom books" of Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs, the "poetry books" of Psalms, Lamentations and Song of Solomon, and the "historical books" of Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. In the Jewish version, Ketuvim consists of eleven books, counting Ezra and Nehemiah as one book and I and II Chronicles as a single book. ť : The "Sifrei Emet," "Books of Truth":

    14. Psalms [ / T'hilim] ť 15. Proverbs [ / Mishlei]

    16. Job [ / Iyov] ť : The "Five Megilot" or "Five Scrolls":

    17. Song of Songs [ / Shir Hashirim] ť 18. Ruth [ / Rut]

    19. Lamentations [ / Eikhah] ť 20. Ecclesiastes [ / Qohelet]

    21. Esther [ / Est(h)er] ť : The rest of the "Writings":

    22. Daniel [ / Dani'el] ť 23. Ezra-Nehemiah [ / Ezra wuNekhem'ya]

    24. Chronicles (I & II) [ / Divrey Hayamim]

Chapters and verse numbers, book divisions

The chapter divisions and verse numbers have no significance in the Jewish tradition. Nevertheless, they're noted in all modern editions of the Tanakh so that verses may be located and cited. The division of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles into parts I and II is also indicated on each page of those books in order to prevent confusion about whether a chapter number is from part I or II, since the chapter numbering for these books follows their partition in the Christian textual tradition.
The adoption of the Christian chapter divisions by Jews began in the late Middle Ages in Spain, partially in the context of forced clerical debates which took place against a background of harsh persecution and of the Spanish Inquisition (the debates required a common system for citing biblical texts). From the standpoint of the Jewish textual tradition, the chapter divisions are not only a foreign feature with no basis in the mesorah, but are also open to severe criticism of two kinds:

The chapter divisions often reflect Christian exegesis of the Bible.
Even when they don't imply Christian exegesis, the chapters often divide the biblical text at numerous points that may be deemed inappropriate for literary or other reasons.
They ignore the accepted closed and open space division which are based on the Masora

Nevertheless, because they proved useful for citations, they're often continued to be included by Jews in most Hebrew editions of the biblical books. For more information on the origin of these divisions, see chapters and verses of the Bible. Jews however don't necessarily reference the specific verse in a chapter (older editions of the Talmud cite only chapter numbers) and some works cite the sectional divisions in the Torah.
   The chapter and verse numbers were often indicated very prominently in older editions, to the extent that they overshadowed the traditional Jewish masoretic divisions. However, in many Jewish editions of the Tanakh published over the past forty years, there has been a major historical trend towards minimizing the impact and prominence of the chapter and verse numbers on the printed page. Most editions accomplish this by removing them from the text itself and relegating them to the margins of the page. The main text in these editions is unbroken and uninterrupted at the beginning of chapters (which are noted only in the margin). The lack of chapter breaks within the text in these editions also serves to reinforce the visual impact created by the spaces and "paragraph" breaks on the page, which indicate the traditional Jewish parashah divisions. Some versions have even introduced a new chapter system .
   These modern Jewish editions present Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles (as well as Ezra) as single books in their title pages, and make no indication inside the main text of their division into two parts (though it's noted in the upper and side margins). In such editions, the second books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles follow the respective first books on the very same page, with no special break at all in the flow of the text. In the case of Kings, in which no parashah division appears at this point, the text of II Kings continues that of I Kings on the very same line of text.
   Jewish (Hebrew) editions have a different pattern regarding Chronicles (I Chronicles) chapters 5 and 6. In I Chronicles (in Christian sources) chapter 5 ends at verse 41. Chronicles (Jewish editions of Chronicles) 5:27-41 is equivalent to First Chronicles 6: 1-15 in most English translations. In Jewish (Hebrew) editions 6:1 is equivalent to 6:16 and therefore the chapter ends at Chronicles 6:66 instead of the First Chronicles 6:81 (English translations) and at 7:1 both Hebrew and English versions set off from the same starting point once more. This difference offsets other more contextual differences. The Jewish Tanakh is based on an accepted traditional understanding of the text . For example, Christians translate the word ) almah as virgin, the meaning in the Tanakh is young maiden. This Christian view is based on a different understanding of the Septuagint translation, which according to New Testament Scholars, can mean a marriageable maiden or virgin.

Editions

The first ever printed Hebrew Humash simply had Rashi on the page, and since then many editions have appeared.

The Mikraot Gedolot was first printed in 1524-5 in Venice, edited by Daniel Bomberg.

The Soncino edition printed in 1527 in Venice

Many editions of Mikraot Gedolot have been made since then.

Rudolf Kittel's Biblia Hebraica appeared in 1906, reprinted in 1913.

The Leningrad Codex was edited under Paul E. Kahle as the Biblia Hebraica (BHK), published in Stuttgart, in 1937. The codex was also used for Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) in 1977, and will be used for Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ).
The Leningrad Codex also served as the basis for two important Jewish editions of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh):

The Dotan edition, which was reprinted with a concise commentary and distributed to soldiers in mass quantities as the official Tanakh of the Israel Defense Forces throughout the 1990s.

Mesorah Publications מקרות גדלות, (Jerusalem, 1996)

The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (Philadelphia, 1999)

The Aleppo Codex was edited by Mordechai Breuer in 1977-1982, the first edition to include a reconstruction of the letters, vowels, and cantillation marks in the missing parts of the Aleppo codex, in 1996-8 re-edited with inclusion of new information on the parashah division.

Jerusalem Crown: The Bible of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2000. Edited according to the method of Mordechai Breuer under the supervision of Yosef Ofer, with additional proofreading and refinements since the Horev edition.

Jerusalem Simanim Institute, Feldheim Publishers, 2004 (published in one-volume and three-volume editions).

Hebrew University Bible Project (Isaiah, Jeremiah). Includes the masoretic notes of the Aleppo Codex.

Mikraot Gedolot Haketer, Bar-Ilan University (1992-present). A multi-volume critical edition of the Mikraot Gedolot, nine volumes published to date including Genesis (2 vols.), Joshua & Judges (1 vol.), Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Psalms (2 vols.). Includes the masoretic notes of the Aleppo Codex and a new commentary on them. Differs from the Breuer reconstruction and presentation for some masoretic details.

Translations

Tanakh, English translation, since known as the New Jewish Publication Society of America Version 1985, ISBN 0-8276-0252-9

Tanach: The Stone Edition, Hebrew with English translation, Mesorah Publications, 1996, ISBN 0-89906-269-5Further Information

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