The Torah Unabridged is a detailed examination of legal reasoning in the Hebrew Bible. Focusing on the exegetical operations by which biblical laws related to intermarriage were applied to circumstances and persons that lie outside the sphere of their explicit content, this book reconstructs the ways in which laws regarding intermarriage evolved, were interpreted, and were applied across time and place. William A. Tooman argues that the “exegetical impulse” to expand upon the gaps left by laws relating to marriage in the Torah is expressed in several distinctive ways in later texts in the Hebrew Bible. Adopting a diachronic approach, Tooman examines the techniques biblical writers used in their appropriation, expansion, and manipulation of legal ideas within earlier biblical texts in order to apply the laws to more situations, circumstances, and people. Tooman’s analysis reveals that from Exodus to Ezra-Nehemiah, legal reasoning on intermarriage moved in a singular direction: toward an ever-greater restriction of marriage between Israelites/Jews and gentiles. The final chapter sums up the ways that this was accomplished, summarizing the logical and exegetical operations executed in the process of expanding the relevance of these laws, and describing the hermeneutical assumptions that motivated the process. Grounded in a detailed philological analysis of the Hebrew texts, this tightly argued monograph is an important impetus to further debate in the field. It will be welcomed by biblical scholars and by specialists in the history of law.

The Torah is the essence of Jewish tradition; it inspires each successive generation. The current JPS translation, based on classical and modern sources, is acclaimed for its fidelity to the ancient Hebrew.

The first five books of the Bible contain many of its most famous stories, populated by vivid characters altogether human in their triumphs and failings--and an equally complicated deity. Many works of Western art and literature appeal to these stories, from Michelangelo's painting of Adam and Eve to a novel like William Faulkner's Go Down, Moses. The three great Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are rooted here. So is much of Western political theory and constitutional polity, for a good half of these books contains legislation (torah) of various kinds, as indicated by the ancient title: the book of the Torah. Law and narrative together render the character of the ancient covenant community known as Israel, as well as the God who rules over that community. In this revised and expanded version of his popular book of 1988, Mann engages literary criticism and theology in attending both to the composite nature of the Torah (or Pentateuch) and to its final, canonical shape. Mann's study provides a lucid introduction to the heart of the Hebrew Bible, suitable for students and general readers, but also of interest to biblical scholars.

♦ This book has been aesthetically optimized for reading ♦ Often referred to as Torah, the first five Books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) are the foundation of Judaism.

This book, "The Torah: The Five Books of Moses," is excerpted from a larger work in progress, "The King James Bible Readers' Version." As you will see, it is formatted like an epic poem-which it is-and feels like you are reading the King James Bible-which you are-but more smoothly, and with more immediate understanding. It also contains details and names missing from the King James Version that turn up in other versions of the Bible. Needless to say, I hope it increases your enjoyment and comprehension of this keystone document, whose influence on Western civilization and culture is without equal. No education is complete without reading it. Twice. The Torah is Judaism's most important text. It contains the first five books of the Hebrew Bible-the Tanakh-which are also the first five books of the Christian Bible. The Tanakh is essentially the same as what Christians call the Old Testament, with slight differences in the order and structure of the included books. The Torah begins with the creation of the world and ends with the death of Moses. The first full draft of the Torah is believed to have been completed in the 6th or 7th century B.C., and has been revised numerous times over subsequent centuries. Jewish tradition teaches that the Torah is the revelation of God, given to Moses, and written down by Moses. It is the document that contains all the rules by which the Jewish people structure their spiritual lives.