Sefer Torah in the context of Bookbinding

The Torah (/ˈtɔːrə, ˈtoʊrə/; Biblical Hebrew: תּוֹרָה, romanized: tōrā, lit. 'instruction, teaching, or law') is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch (/ˈpɛntəˌt(j)uːk/) or the Five Books of Moses. In Rabbinical Jewish tradition it is also known as the Written Torah (תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב, Tōrā šebbīḵṯāv). If meant for liturgic purposes, it takes the form of a Torah scroll (Hebrew: ספר תורה Sefer Torah). If in bound book form, it is called Chumash, and is usually printed with the rabbinic commentaries (perushim).

In rabbinic literature, the word Torah denotes both the five books (תורה שבכתב, "Torah that is written") and the Oral Torah (תורה שבעל פה, "Torah that is spoken"). It has also been used, however, to designate the entire Hebrew Bible. The Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash. Rabbinic tradition's understanding is that all of the teachings found in the Torah (both written and oral) were given by God through the prophet Moses, some at Mount Sinai and others at the Tabernacle, and all the teachings were written down by Moses, which resulted in the Torah that exists today. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, and was used as the blueprint for Creation. Though hotly debated, the general trend in biblical scholarship is to recognize the final form of the Torah as a literary and ideological unity, based on earlier sources, largely complete by the Persian period, with possibly some later additions during the Hellenistic period.

In Judaism, God has been conceived in a variety of ways. Traditionally, Judaism holds that God—that is, the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the national god of the Israelites—delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and gave them the Law of Moses at Mount Sinai as described in the Torah. Jews believe in a monotheistic conception of God ("God is one"), characterized by both transcendence (independence from, and separation from, the material universe) and immanence (active involvement in the material universe).

God is seen as unique and perfect, free from all faults, and is believed to be omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and unlimited in all attributes, with no partner or equal, serving as the sole creator of everything in existence. In Judaism, God is never portrayed in any image. The names of God used most often in the Hebrew Bible are the un-pronounced Tetragrammaton (Hebrew: יהוה, romanized: YHWH) and Elohim. Other names used to refer to God in traditional Judaism include Adonai, El-Elyon, El Shaddai, and Shekhinah.

The Book of Esther (Hebrew: מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, romanized: Megillat Ester; Greek: Ἐσθήρ; Latin: Liber Esther), also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the Megillah"), is a book in the third section (Ketuvim, כְּתוּבִים "Writings") of the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the Five Scrolls (Megillot) in the Hebrew Bible and later became part of the Christian Old Testament. The book relates the story of a Jewish woman in Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people.

The story takes place during the reign of King Ahasuerus in the First Persian Empire. Queen Vashti, the wife of King Ahasuerus, is banished from the court for disobeying the king's orders. A beauty pageant is held to find a new queen, and Esther, a young Jewish woman living in Persia, is chosen as the new queen. Esther's cousin Mordecai, who is a Jewish leader, discovers a plot to kill all of the Jews in the empire by Haman, one of the king's advisors. Mordecai urges Esther to use her position as queen to intervene and save their people. Esther reveals her Jewish identity to the king and begs for mercy for her people. She exposes Haman's plot and convinces the king to spare the Jews. The Jewish festival of Purim is established to celebrate the victory of the Jews of the First Persian Empire over their enemies, and Esther becomes a heroine of the Jewish people.

Judaism has different names given to God, which are considered sacred: יהוה (YHWH), אֲדֹנָי (Adonai transl. my Lord[s]), אֵל (El transl. God), אֱלֹהִים (Elohim transl. Gods/Godhead), שַׁדַּי (Shaddai transl. Almighty), and צְבָאוֹת (Tzevaot transl. [Lord of] Hosts); some also include I Am that I Am. Early authorities considered other Hebrew names mere epithets or descriptions of God, and wrote that they and names in other languages may be written and erased freely. Some moderns advise special care even in these cases, and many Orthodox Jews have adopted the chumras of writing "G-d" instead of "God" in English or saying Ṭēt-Vav (טו, lit. '9-6') instead of Yōd-Hē (יה, '10-5', but also 'Jah') for the number fifteen or Ṭēt-Zayin (טז, '9-7') instead of Yōd-Vav (יו, '10-6') for the Hebrew number sixteen.

Torah reading (Hebrew: קריאת התורה, K'riat haTorah, "Reading [of] the Torah"; Ashkenazic pronunciation: Kriyas haTorah) is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark.It is also commonly called "laining" (lein is also spelt lain, leyn, layn; from the Yiddish לייענען (leyenen), which means "to read").

Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Judean exiles from the Babylonian captivity (c. 537 BCE), as described in the Book of Nehemiah. In the modern era, Orthodox Jews practice Torah reading according to a set procedure almost unchanged since the Talmudic era. Since the 19th century CE, Reform and Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading has usually remained the same:

A Torah ark (also known as the hekhal, Hebrew: היכל, or aron qodesh, אֲרוֹן קׄדֶש) is an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls.

Behaalotecha, Behaalotcha, Beha'alotecha, Beha'alotcha, Beha'alothekha, or Behaaloscha (בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ‎—Hebrew for "when you set up," the 11th word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 36th weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Numbers. The parashah tells of the Menorah in the Tabernacle, the consecration of the Levites, the Second Passover, how pillars of cloud and fire led the Israelites, the silver trumpets, how the Israelites set out on their journeys, the complaints of the Israelites, and how Miriam and Aaron questioned Moses. The parashah comprises Numbers 8:1–12:16. It is made up of 7,055 Hebrew letters, 1,840 Hebrew words, 136 verses, and 240 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, Sefer Torah).

Jews generally read it in late May or in June. As the parashah sets out some of the laws of Passover, Jews also read part of the parashah, Numbers 9:1–14, as the initial Torah reading for the last intermediate day (חוֹל הַמּוֹעֵד‎, Chol HaMoed) of Passover.

Simchat Torah (Hebrew: שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה‎; Ashkenazi: Simchas Torah), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret ("Eighth Day of Assembly"), which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei (occurring in September or October on the Gregorian calendar).

Simchat Torah's main celebration occurs in the synagogue during evening services. In many Orthodox as well as many Conservative congregations, this is the only time of year at which the Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark at night and are also read at night. In the morning, the last parashah of Deuteronomy and the first parashah of Genesis are read in the synagogue. On each occasion, when the ark is opened, the worshippers leave their seats to dance and sing with the Torah scrolls in a joyous celebration that lasts several hours.

A parochet (Hebrew: פרוכת, romanized: parôkheth; Yiddish: פרוכת, romanized: paroykhes), meaning "curtain" or "screen", is the curtain that covers the Torah ark (Aron Kodesh) containing the Torah scrolls in a synagogue.

The parochet symbolizes the curtain that covered the Ark of the Covenant, based on Exodus 40:21: "Then he put up the curtain for screening, and screened off the Ark of the Pact—just as יהוה had commanded Moses."

Tazria, Thazria, Thazri'a, Sazria, or Ki Tazria' (Hebrew: תַזְרִיעַ, '[she] conceives', is the 13th word—and the first distinctive word—in the parashah, wherein the root word זֶרַע‎ means "seed") is the 27th weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah deals with ritual impurity. It constitutes Leviticus 12:1–13:59. The parashah is made up of 3,667 Hebrew letters, 1,010 Hebrew words, 67 verses, and 128 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, sefer Torah).

Jews read it the 27th or 28th Shabbat after Simchat Torah, generally in April or, rarely, in late March or early May. The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In leap years (e.g., 2024 and 2027), parashat Tazria is read independently. In common years (e.g., 2025, 2026, and 2028), parashat Tazria is combined with the parashah following it, Metzora, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed.

Vayeira, Vayera, or Va-yera (וַיֵּרָא‎—Hebrew for "and He appeared," the first word in the parashah) is the fourth weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 18:1–22:24. The parashah tells the stories of Abraham's three visitors, Abraham's bargaining with God over Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's two visitors, Lot's bargaining with the Sodomites, Lot's flight, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, how Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father, how Abraham once again passed off his wife Sarah as his sister, the birth of Isaac, the expulsion of Hagar, disputes over wells, and the binding of Isaac (הָעֲקֵידָה‎, the Akedah).

The parashah has the most words (but not the most letters or verses) of any of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Genesis, and its word-count is second only to Parashat Naso in the entire Torah. It is made up of 7,862 Hebrew letters, 2,085 Hebrew words, 147 verses, and 252 lines in a Torah Scroll (Sefer Torah). (In the Book of Genesis, Parashat Miketz has the most letters, and Parashiyot Noach and Vayishlach have the most verses.)

Holiness in Judaism, often referred to by the Hebrew word for holiness, Kedushah (Hebrew: קְדֻשָּׁה), is frequently used in Judaism to describe God; worldly places and items that have holy status, such as a Torah, other Torah literature, and Jewish ritual objects such as a menorah, tzitzit, tefillin, or mikveh; special days of the year; and people who are considered on a high spiritual level (a tzadik or a gadol).

Toledot, Toldot, Toldos, or Toldoth (תּוֹלְדֹת‎—Hebrew for "generations" or "descendants," the second word and the first distinctive word in the parashah) is the sixth weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah tells of the conflict between Jacob and Esau, Isaac's passing off his wife Rebekah as his sister, and Isaac's blessing of his sons.

It constitutes Genesis 25:19–28:9. The parashah is made up of 5,426 Hebrew letters, 1,432 Hebrew words, 106 verses, and 173 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, Sefer Torah). Jews read it the sixth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in November, or rarely in early December.