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121-670: Haredi Jews maintain that the practice of studying or reciting the Torah , when undertaken by great Torah scholars or their disciples, is crucial in defending the Israeli people from threats, similar to an additional "praying division" of the military. In practice, the Torato Umanuto arrangement provides a legal route whereby Haredi rabbis and their disciples can either enroll for a shortened service period of four months or otherwise be exempted from compulsory military service altogether. In June 2024,

242-457: A hypothesis continues to have adherents in Israel and North America. The majority of scholars today continue to recognize Deuteronomy as a source, with its origin in the law-code produced at the court of Josiah as described by De Wette, subsequently given a frame during the exile (the speeches and descriptions at the front and back of the code) to identify it as the words of Moses. However, since

363-463: A quill (or other permitted writing utensil) dipped in ink. Written entirely in Hebrew , a sefer Torah contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trained sofer ("scribe"), an effort that may take as long as approximately one and a half years. Most modern Sifrei Torah are written with forty-two lines of text per column ( Yemenite Jews use fifty), and very strict rules about

484-564: A breakaway party, Independence , which enabled him to maintain his loyal Labor's MK faction within Netanyahu's government, and prevented the departure of Labor party as a whole from Netanyahu's coalition-government. Labor previously threatened to force Barak to do so. After Barak's move, Netanyahu was able to maintain a majority of 66 MK (out of 120 in the Knesset ), previously having 74 MKs within his majority coalition. In February 2011, Barak attended

605-1030: A ceremony at the UN for the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Barak told the UN General Assembly that "an independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead." Barak's Independence party was due to run in a legislative election , but decided not to in 2012, and retired from politics. Barak planned to quit since Operation Pillar of Defense but postponed it until later that year. Barak stated during an American television interview that he would "probably" strive for nuclear weapons if he were in Iran's position, adding "I don't delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel". This comment has been criticized and compared to Barak's comment in 1998 during

726-450: A giant rental apartment in a luxury high rise." Barak said he currently earns more than a $ 1 million a year, and that from 2001 to 2007, he also earned more than a $ 1 million every year, from giving lectures and from consulting for hedge funds . Barak also said he made millions of dollars more from his investments in Israeli real estate properties. In the interview, Barak was asked whether he

847-645: A great number of tannaim , the oral tradition was written down around 200 CE by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi , who took up the compilation of a nominally written version of the Oral Law, the Mishnah ( משנה ). Other oral traditions from the same time period not entered into the Mishnah were recorded as Baraitot (external teaching), and the Tosefta . Other traditions were written down as Midrashim . After continued persecution more of

968-668: A new generation can grow up and carry out the task. The book ends with the new generation of Israelites in the " plains of Moab " ready for the crossing of the Jordan River . Numbers is the culmination of the story of Israel's exodus from oppression in Egypt and their journey to take possession of the land God promised their fathers . As such it draws to a conclusion the themes introduced in Genesis and played out in Exodus and Leviticus: God has promised

1089-632: A new government following Rabin's assassination in November 1995, Barak was made Minister of Foreign Affairs (1995–96). He was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list in 1996 , and served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Following internal elections after Peres' defeat in the election for Prime Minister in 1996, Barak became the leader of the Labor Party. In

1210-711: A new party named the Israel Democratic Party , intending to challenge Netanyahu in the September 2019 Israeli legislative election . The party ran with Meretz and other parties in the Democratic Union alliance, which received five seats. Barak himself did not enter the Knesset. In an interview with Haaretz reported in January 2015, Barak was asked to explain the source of his "big" capital, with which he "bought 5 apartments and connected them," and by which he "lives in

1331-527: A political comeback in 2005, attempting to regain leadership in the Labor Party, and later served as defense minister - where he led Operation Cast Lead in 2008–09 - and deputy prime minister under Ehud Olmert and then in Benjamin Netanyahu 's second government between 2007 and 2013. His decision to form the Independence party in 2011 marked a shift in his politics, influencing the dynamics within

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1452-523: A program of nationalist reform in the time of Josiah (late 7th century BCE), with the final form of the modern book emerging in the milieu of the return from the Babylonian captivity during the late 6th century BCE. Many scholars see the book as reflecting the economic needs and social status of the Levite caste, who are believed to have provided its authors; those likely authors are collectively referred to as

1573-611: A redactor: J, the Jahwist source, E, the Elohist source, P, the Priestly source , and D, the Deuteronomist source. The earliest of these sources, J, would have been composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BCE, with the latest source, P, being composed around the 5th century BCE. The consensus around the documentary hypothesis collapsed in the last decades of the 20th century. The groundwork

1694-508: A small ceremony in his private residence. In his spare time, Barak enjoys reading works by writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , and he is a classical pianist, with many years of study behind him. Barak earned his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1968, and his master's degree in engineering-economic systems in 1978 from Stanford University , California . Barak joined

1815-410: A television interview when he said that if he were a Palestinian he would probably have joined one of the terror organizations. In 2023 it was revealed that Barak had visited Jeffrey Epstein around 30 times from 2013 to 2017 and had also flown on his jet, having first met Epstein in 2003. Barak denied any wrongdoing. On 26 June 2019, Barak announced his return to politics and his intention to form

1936-536: A threat to Israeli unity and that they may lead Israeli society into a "dark and dangerous place". After winning back the leadership of the Labor party, Barak was sworn in as Minister of Defense on 18 June 2007, as part of Prime Minister Olmert 's cabinet reshuffle. However, on 1 July 2007, Barak led a successful effort in the Labor central committee to stipulate that Labor would leave the government coalition if Olmert did not resign by September or October 2007. At that time

2057-457: A world which is good and fit for mankind, but when man corrupts it with sin God decides to destroy his creation, using the flood, saving only the righteous Noah and his immediate family to reestablish the relationship between man and God. The Ancestral history (chapters 12–50) tells of the prehistory of Israel, God's chosen people. At God's command Noah's descendant Abraham journeys from his home into

2178-528: Is Targum . The Encyclopaedia Judaica has: At an early period, it was customary to translate the Hebrew text into the vernacular at the time of the reading (e.g., in Palestine and Babylon the translation was into Aramaic). The targum ("translation") was done by a special synagogue official, called the meturgeman ... Eventually, the practice of translating into the vernacular was discontinued. However, there

2299-542: Is a lobbyist who earns a living from "opening doors". The interviewer stated "You have arrived recently at the Kazakhstan despot Nazarbayev and the president of Ghana . You are received immediately." Barak confirmed that he has been received by these heads of state but denied earning money from opening doors for international business deals for Israeli and foreign corporations, and said he does not see any ethical or moral problems in his business activities. He further said there

2420-949: Is also considered a sacred book outside Judaism; in Samaritanism , the Samaritan Pentateuch is a text of the Torah written in the Samaritan script and used as sacred scripture by the Samaritans ; the Torah is also common among all the different versions of the Christian Old Testament ; in Islam , the Tawrat ( Arabic : توراة‎ ) is the Arabic name for the Torah within its context as an Islamic holy book believed by Muslims to have been given by God to

2541-702: Is an apartheid state ." As part of these negotiations, Barak took part in the Camp David 2000 Summit which was meant finally to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but failed. Barak also allowed Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to attend the Taba Summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority , after his government had fallen. On 22 August 1999, Barak appointed the Tal committee which dealt with

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2662-549: Is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party between 1997 and 2001 and between 2007 and 2011. Born on a kibbutz , Barak is the eldest of four sons; his grandparents were murdered in the Holocaust . He graduated in physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later obtained a master's in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University . Barak's military career in

2783-598: Is arguably the most important book in the Bible, as it presents the defining features of Israel's identity: memories of a past marked by hardship and escape, a binding covenant with God, who chooses Israel, and the establishment of the life of the community and the guidelines for sustaining it. The Book of Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle , which they had just built (Leviticus 1–10). This

2904-534: Is called a Sefer Torah ("Book [of] Torah"). They are written using a painstakingly careful method by highly qualified scribes . It is believed that every word, or marking, has divine meaning and that not one part may be inadvertently changed lest it lead to error. The fidelity of the Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered paramount, down to the last letter: translations or transcriptions are frowned upon for formal service use, and transcribing

3025-508: Is done with painstaking care. An error of a single letter, ornamentation, or symbol of the 304,805 stylized letters that make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use, hence a special skill is required and a scroll takes considerable time to write and check. According to Jewish law, a sefer Torah (plural: Sifrei Torah ) is a copy of the formal Hebrew text handwritten on gevil or klaf (forms of parchment ) by using

3146-514: Is estimated to be $ 10–15 million. Ehud Barak was born on kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon in what was then Mandatory Palestine . He is the eldest of four sons of Esther (née Godin; 25 June 1914 – 12 August 2013) and Yisrael Mendel Brog (24 August 1910 – 8 February 2002). His paternal grandparents, Frieda and Reuven Brog, were murdered in Pušalotas (Pushelat) in northern Lithuania (then ruled by Russian Empire ) in 1912, leaving his father orphaned at

3267-562: Is followed by rules of clean and unclean (Leviticus 11–15), which includes the laws of slaughter and animals permissible to eat (see also: Kashrut ), the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), and various moral and ritual laws sometimes called the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17–26). Leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following God's commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Leviticus 17 establishes sacrifices at

3388-454: Is found neither in the Torah itself, nor in the works of the pre-Exilic literary prophets . It appears in Joshua and Kings , but it cannot be said to refer there to the entire corpus (according to academic Bible criticism). In contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were "The Book of Moses" and "The Book of

3509-548: Is no suggestion that these translations had been written down as early as this. There are suggestions that the Targum was written down at an early date, although for private use only. The official recognition of a written Targum and the final redaction of its text, however, belong to the post-Talmudic period, thus not earlier than the fifth century C.E. Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( Hebrew : אֵהוּד בָּרָק [eˈhud baˈʁak] ; born Ehud Brog ; 12 February 1942)

3630-416: Is punctuated by a series of covenants with God , successively narrowing in scope from all mankind (the covenant with Noah ) to a special relationship with one people alone (Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob). The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Torah, immediately following Genesis. The book tells how the ancient Israelites leave slavery in Egypt through the strength of Yahweh ,

3751-448: Is regardless of whether that yod appears in the phrase "I am the LORD thy God" ( אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ , Exodus 20:2) or whether it appears in "And God spoke unto Moses saying" ( וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֲנִי יְהוָה. Exodus 6:2). In a similar vein, Rabbi Akiva ( c.  50  – c.  135 CE ), is said to have learned a new law from every et ( את ) in

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3872-474: Is the Arabic name for the Torah, which Muslims believe is an Islamic holy book given by God to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel . The Torah starts with God creating the world , then describes the beginnings of the people of Israel , their descent into Egypt, and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai . It ends with the death of Moses , just before the people of Israel cross to

3993-656: Is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible , namely the books of Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy . In Christianity , the Torah is also known as the Pentateuch ( / ˈ p ɛ n t ə tj uː k / ) 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

4114-506: Is the fifth book of the Torah. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab , shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recounts the forty years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment, and ends with an exhortation to observe the law (or teachings), later referred to as the Law of Moses ;

4235-567: Is widely seen as a product of the Persian period (539–332 BCE, probably 450–350 BCE). This consensus echoes a traditional Jewish view which gives Ezra , the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation. Many theories have been advanced to explain the composition of the Torah, but two have been especially influential. The first of these, Persian Imperial authorisation, advanced by Peter Frei in 1985, holds that

4356-501: The parashot for the Torah on the Aleppo Codex . Conservative and Reform synagogues may read parashot on a triennial rather than annual schedule, On Saturday afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following Saturday's portion is read. On Jewish holidays , the beginnings of each month, and fast days , special sections connected to the day are read. Jews observe an annual holiday, Simchat Torah , to celebrate

4477-426: The 1999 Prime Ministerial election , Barak beat Benjamin Netanyahu by a wide margin. However, he sparked controversy by deciding to form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox party Shas , who had won an unprecedented 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset . Shas grudgingly agreed to Barak's terms that they eject their leader Aryeh Deri , a convicted felon, and enact reform to "clean up" in-party corruption. Consequentially,

4598-725: The Battle of the Chinese Farm . He went on to command the 401st armored brigade and the 611st "Pillar of Fire" and 252nd "Sinai" divisions, before his appointment to head the IDF's Planning Directorate . Barak also participated in the Siege of Beirut , overseeing it from Beirut International Airport. Barak later served as head of Aman, the Military Intelligence Directorate (1983–85), head of Central Command (1986–87) and Deputy Chief of

4719-678: The British Mandate for Palestine , and by extension preventing an internal conflict within the Palestinian Jewish community (the Yishuv ) amidst high tensions with the region's Arabs . By contrast, Israelis who belong to the Religious Zionist community are conscripted, often under the yeshiva system of the Hesder program , which combines Torah study with military service. Over the years, as

4840-672: The Deuteronomist . One of its most significant verses is Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema Yisrael , which has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity : "Hear, O Israel: the L ORD our God, the L ORD is one." Verses 6:4–5 were also quoted by Jesus in Mark 12:28–34 as part of the Great Commandment . The Talmud states that the Torah was written by Moses, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy, describing his death and burial, being written by Joshua . According to

4961-568: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began in 1959, spanning 35 years and culminating in his appointment as Chief of the General Staff in 1991, serving until 1995. His military tenure is noted for his leadership in several operations, including " Operation Isotope " in 1972, the covert 1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon , and the 1976 Entebbe raid . A lieutenant general , Barak shares with two others

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5082-403: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1959. He served in the IDF for 35 years, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff and the rank of Rav Aluf (Lieutenant-General), the highest in the Israeli military. During his service as a commando in the elite Sayeret Matkal , Barak led several highly acclaimed operations, such as: "Operation Isotope", the mission to free the hostages on board

5203-478: The Israel Defense Forces , but only as long as their sole occupation was studying the Torah , which a number of Haredi Jews devote and occupy themselves with for the majority of their day as a religious commandment. The arrangement's original purpose was to reach a comprehensive accommodation, later called the secular–religious status quo , between the secular community and the Haredi population who were then living under

5324-663: The Jerusalem Talmud . Since the greater number of rabbis lived in Babylon, the Babylonian Talmud has precedence should the two be in conflict. Orthodox and Conservative branches of Judaism accept these texts as the basis for all subsequent halakha and codes of Jewish law, which are held to be normative. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism deny that these texts, or the Torah itself for that matter, may be used for determining normative law (laws accepted as binding) but accept them as

5445-486: The Knesset in July 2002. The new Tal Law, as it came to be known, was passed with 51 votes in favour and 41 against. The new law provided for a continuation of the Torato Umanuto arrangement under specific conditions laid down in the law; it was hoped that the number of exemptions would gradually reduce. The new law did not however put an end to controversies and disagreements. In 2005, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni stated that

5566-433: The Mishnah one of the essential tenets of Judaism is that God transmitted the text of the Torah to Moses over the span of the 40 years the Israelites were in the desert and Moses was like a scribe who was dictated to and wrote down all of the events, the stories and the commandments. According to Jewish tradition , the Torah was recompiled by Ezra during Second Temple period . The Talmud says that Ezra changed

5687-441: The Oral Torah which comprises the Mishnah , the Talmud , the Midrash and more. The inaccurate rendering of "Torah" as "Law" may be an obstacle to understanding the ideal that is summed up in the term talmud torah ( תלמוד תורה , "study of Torah"). The term "Torah" is also used to designate the entire Hebrew Bible . The earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been "The Torah of Moses". This title, however,

5808-407: The Persian period , with possibly some later additions during the Hellenistic period. The words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe ( sofer ) in Hebrew. A Torah portion is read every Monday morning and Thursday morning at a shul (synagogue) but only if there are ten males above the age of thirteen. Reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases of Jewish communal life. The Torah

5929-399: The Promised Land of Canaan . Interspersed in the narrative are the specific teachings (religious obligations and civil laws) given explicitly (i.e. Ten Commandments ) or implicitly embedded in the narrative (as in Exodus 12 and 13 laws of the celebration of Passover ). In Hebrew, the five books of the Torah are identified by the incipits in each book; and the common English names for

6050-415: The Supreme Court of Israel declared any continued exemption of IDF conscription unlawful and the army sent draft orders to thousands of Haredi men in the following months. The source of the phrase Torato Umanuto is taken from the Talmud : "For it was taught: If companions [scholars] are engaged in studying, they must break off for the reading of the shema , but not for prayer. R. Johanan said: This

6171-438: 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

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6292-487: The Tabernacle , the means by which he will come from heaven and dwell with them and lead them in a holy war to possess the land, and then give them peace. Traditionally ascribed to Moses himself, modern scholarship sees the book as initially a product of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), from earlier written and oral traditions, with final revisions in the Persian post-exilic period (5th century BCE). Carol Meyers , in her commentary on Exodus suggests that it

6413-507: The Winograd Commission would publish its final report on the performance of the Israel Defense Forces and its civilian leadership. The preliminary Winograd report released earlier this year laid most of the blame on Olmert for poorly planning, executing, and reviewing war strategies in the 2006 conflict against Hezbollah . From December 2008 to January 2009, Barak led the Israel Defense Forces through Operation Cast Lead in his capacity as Minister of Defence. Labor won only 13 out of

6534-502: The prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel . The word "Torah" in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה , which in the hif'il conjugation means 'to guide' or 'to teach'. The meaning of the word is therefore "teaching", "doctrine", or "instruction"; the commonly accepted "law" gives a wrong impression. The Alexandrian Jews who translated the Septuagint used the Greek word nomos , meaning norm, standard, doctrine, and later "law". Greek and Latin Bibles then began

6655-439: The synagogue in the Ark known as the "Holy Ark" ( אֲרוֹן הקֹדשׁ aron hakodesh in Hebrew.) Aron in Hebrew means "cupboard" or "closet", and kodesh is derived from "kadosh", or "holy". The Book of Ezra refers to translations and commentaries of the Hebrew text into Aramaic , the more commonly understood language of the time. These translations would seem to date to the 6th century BCE. The Aramaic term for translation

6776-459: The 120 Knesset seats in the 2009 elections , making them the fourth largest party. Barak and other Labor officials initially stated they would not take part in the next government. However, over the objections of some in the Labor party, in March 2009, Barak reached an agreement under which Labor joined the governing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu . Barak retained his position as Defense Minister. In January 2011, Labor Party leader Barak formed

6897-424: The 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah's reforms (including his court's production of a law-code) have become heavily debated among academics. Most scholars also agree that some form of Priestly source existed, although its extent, especially its end-point, is uncertain. The remainder is called collectively non-Priestly, a grouping which includes both pre-Priestly and post-Priestly material. The final Torah

7018-406: The 19th and 20th centuries CE, new movements such as Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading has usually remained the same: As a part of the morning prayer services on certain days of the week, fast days, and holidays, as well as part of the afternoon prayer services of Shabbat, Yom Kippur, a section of

7139-466: The Defense portfolio). In the 1990s the High Court of Justice of Israel ruled that the Defense minister had no authority to determine the extent of these exemptions. The Supreme Court postponed the application of the ruling to give the government time to resolve the matter. In accordance with the judicial ruling, Prime Minister Ehud Barak set up the Tal committee in 1999. The Tal committee reported in April 2000, and its recommendations were approved by

7260-415: The Education Ministry and the Defense Ministry to begin the drafting process for Haredi men. On the night of 1 April, the coalition government stated that it had not agreed to an extension of the exemption, which had thus expired. Following a number of delays, a letter from Prime Minister Netanyahu requesting a one-month extension, and the passing of the deadline, on 1 April 2024, the Supreme Court decided that

7381-409: The Exodus story was composed to serve the needs of a post-exilic Jewish community organised around the Temple, which acted in effect as a bank for those who belonged to it. A minority of scholars would place the final formation of the Pentateuch somewhat later, in the Hellenistic (332–164 BCE) or even Hasmonean (140–37 BCE) periods. Russell Gmirkin, for instance, argues for a Hellenistic dating on

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7502-436: The General Staff (1987–91). He served as Chief of the General Staff between 1 April 1991 and 1 January 1995. During this period he implemented the first Oslo Accords and participated in the negotiations towards the Israel–Jordan peace treaty . Barak was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service and four Chief of Staff citations ( Tzalash HaRamatkal ) for courage and operational excellence. These five decorations make him

7623-427: The God who has chosen Israel as his people. Yahweh inflicts horrific harm on their captors via the legendary Plagues of Egypt . With the prophet Moses as their leader, they journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai , where Yahweh promises them the land of Canaan (the " Promised Land ") in return for their faithfulness. Israel enters into a covenant with Yahweh who gives them their laws and instructions to build

7744-421: The God-given land of Canaan , where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob . Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and through the agency of his son Joseph , the children of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all with their households, and God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus . The narrative

7865-462: The Haredim would no longer receive an exemption from military service and that yeshivas could no longer receive the associated government subsidies. The Times of Israel reported that per government figures, 1,257 yeshivas would lose subsidies for 49,485 students receiving the exemption. Haredi lawmakers, members of the political parties United Torah Judaism and Shas , and supporters of the coalition government have stated their intention to walk out if

7986-448: The Israeli population grew, the number of Haredi men eligible for exemption under the Torato Umanuto grew significantly; from 400 men originally to tens of thousands as of 2024. Many non-Haredi Israeli Jews began to complain over the uneven burden of military service. For many years the Torato Umanuto arrangement had the status of a regulation under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense (Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion also had

8107-420: The Israelites that they shall become a great (i.e. numerous) nation, that they will have a special relationship with Yahweh their god, and that they shall take possession of the land of Canaan. Numbers also demonstrates the importance of holiness, faithfulness and trust: despite God's presence and his priests , Israel lacks faith and the possession of the land is left to a new generation. The Book of Deuteronomy

8228-412: The Labor party, Barak announced he would stay at the party, despite his shaky relationship with its newly elected leader. He declared, however, that he would not run for a spot on the Labor party's Knesset list for the March 2006 elections . Barak's attempt to return to a prominent role in Israel politics seemed to have failed. However, Peretz's hold on the Labor leadership proved unexpectedly shaky as he

8349-516: The Netanyahu government. Despite retiring from politics in 2012, he attempted another comeback, running in the September 2019 Israeli legislative election as the leader of Israel Democratic Party - a new party he formed. His party merged with others to form an alliance called the Democratic Union , but it did not win enough seats for him to become a member of the Knesset . Outside of his political and military career, Barak has accumulated wealth through business endeavors and investments; his net worth

8470-450: The Oral Law was committed to writing. A great many more lessons, lectures and traditions only alluded to in the few hundred pages of Mishnah, became the thousands of pages now called the Gemara . Gemara is written in Aramaic (specifically Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ), having been compiled in Babylon. The Mishnah and Gemara together are called the Talmud. The rabbis in the Land of Israel also collected their traditions and compiled them into

8591-460: The Oral and the written Torah were transmitted in parallel with each other. Where the Torah leaves words and concepts undefined, and mentions procedures without explanation or instructions, the reader is required to seek out the missing details from supplemental sources known as the Oral Law or Oral Torah. Some of the Torah's most prominent commandments needing further explanation are: According to classical rabbinic texts this parallel set of material

8712-597: The Pentateuch is read from a Torah scroll. On Shabbat (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section (" parashah ") is read, selected so that the entire Pentateuch is read consecutively each year. The division of parashot found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities (Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite) is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah , Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls , chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of

8833-539: The Persian authorities required the Jews of Jerusalem to present a single body of law as the price of local autonomy. Frei's theory was, according to Eskenazi, "systematically dismantled" at an interdisciplinary symposium held in 2000, but the relationship between the Persian authorities and Jerusalem remains a crucial question. The second theory, associated with Joel P. Weinberg and called the "Citizen-Temple Community", proposes that

8954-536: The Tabernacle as an everlasting ordinance, but this ordinance is altered in later books with the Temple being the only place in which sacrifices are allowed. The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Torah. The book has a long and complex history, but its final form is probably due to a Priestly redaction (i.e., editing) of a Yahwistic source made some time in the early Persian period (5th century BCE). The name of

9075-627: The Tal Law in its current form was unconstitutional and could not be extended beyond August. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the government would formulate a new bill that would guarantee a more equal sharing of the burden by all parts of Israeli society. The issue was also part of a possible government collapse leading into the 2012-2013 election . The Supreme court ruled in 2017 that blanket military service exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students were illegal and discriminatory. In March 2024, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara instructed both

9196-510: The Tal Law, which by then had yet to be fully implemented, did not provide an adequate solution of the problem of Haredi conscription as only 1,115 of the 41,450 yeshiva students covered by the arrangement had taken the "decision year" provided by the law, and of these only 31 had later enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces. In 2007 the Tal Law was extended until August 2012. In January 2012, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said his ministry

9317-480: The Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); the particle et is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark the direct object . In other words, the Orthodox belief is that even apparently contextual text such as "And God spoke unto Moses saying ..." is no less holy and sacred than the actual statement. Manuscript Torah scrolls are still scribed and used for ritual purposes (i.e., religious services ); this

9438-502: The Torah and its laws first emerged in 444 BCE when, according to the biblical account provided in the Book of Nehemiah (chapter 8), a priestly scribe named Ezra read a copy of the Mosaic Torah before the populace of Judea assembled in a central Jerusalem square. Wellhausen believed that this narrative should be accepted as historical because it sounds plausible, noting: "The credibility of

9559-405: The Torah has multiple authors and that its composition took place over centuries. The precise process by which the Torah was composed, the number of authors involved, and the date of each author are hotly contested. Throughout most of the 20th century, there was a scholarly consensus surrounding the documentary hypothesis , which posits four independent sources, which were later compiled together by

9680-567: The Torah was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity ( c.  537 BCE ), as described in the Book of Nehemiah . In the modern era, adherents of Orthodox Judaism practice Torah-reading according to a set procedure they believe has remained unchanged in the two thousand years since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). In

9801-400: The Torah") is a Jewish religious ritual 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 Torah scroll (or scrolls) from the ark , chanting the appropriate excerpt with traditional cantillation , and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is distinct from academic Torah study . Regular public reading of

9922-518: The Torah", which seems to be a contraction of a fuller name, "The Book of the Torah of God". Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the 'Pentateuch' ( / ˈ p ɛ n . t ə ˌ t juː k / , PEN -tə-tewk ; Ancient Greek : πεντάτευχος , pentáteukhos , 'five scrolls'), a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria . The " Tawrat " (also Tawrah or Taurat; Arabic : توراة‎ )

10043-458: The Torah, should be the source for Jewish behavior and ethics. Kabbalists hold that not only do the words of Torah give a divine message, but they also indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Thus they hold that even as small a mark as a kotso shel yod ( קוצו של יוד ), the serif of the Hebrew letter yod (י), the smallest letter, or decorative markings, or repeated words, were put there by God to teach scores of lessons. This

10164-721: The age of two. Barak's maternal grandparents, Elka and Shmuel Godin, died at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust . Ehud hebraized his family name from "Brog" to "Barak" in 1972. It was during his military service that he met his future wife, Nava (née Cohen, born 8 April 1947 in Tiberias ). They had three daughters together: Michal (born 9 August 1970), Yael (born 23 October 1974) and Anat (born 16 October 1981). He has grandchildren. Barak divorced Nava in August 2003. On 30 July 2007, Barak married Nili Priel (born 25 April 1944) in

10285-412: The authentic and only Jewish version for understanding the Torah and its development throughout history. Humanistic Judaism holds that the Torah is a historical, political, and sociological text, but does not believe that every word of the Torah is true, or even morally correct. Humanistic Judaism is willing to question the Torah and to disagree with it, believing that the entire Jewish experience, not just

10406-467: The basis that the Elephantine papyri , the records of a Jewish colony in Egypt dating from the last quarter of the 5th century BCE, make no reference to a written Torah, the Exodus , or to any other biblical event, though it does mention the festival of Passover . In his seminal Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels , Julius Wellhausen argued that Judaism as a religion based on widespread observance of

10527-424: The book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites. Numbers begins at Mount Sinai , where the Israelites have received their laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary . The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land. The people are counted and preparations are made for resuming their march. The Israelites begin the journey, but they "murmur" at

10648-583: The books are derived from the Greek Septuagint and reflect the essential theme of each book: The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Torah. It is divisible into two parts, the Primeval history (chapters 1–11) and the Ancestral history (chapters 12–50). The primeval history sets out the author's (or authors') concepts of the nature of the deity and of humankind's relationship with its maker: God creates

10769-431: The completion and new start of the year's cycle of readings. Torah scrolls are often dressed with a sash, a special Torah cover, various ornaments, and a keter (crown), although such customs vary among synagogues. Congregants traditionally stand in respect when the Torah is brought out of the ark to be read, while it is being carried, and lifted, and likewise while it is returned to the ark, although they may sit during

10890-535: The contest, he was defeated by Likud leader Ariel Sharon , and subsequently resigned as Labor leader and from the Knesset. He left Israel to work as a senior advisor with United States–based Electronic Data Systems . He also partnered with a private equity company focused on "security-related" work. In 2005, Barak announced his return to Israeli politics, and ran for leadership of the Labor Party in November . However, in light of his weak poll showings, Barak dropped out of

11011-741: The controversial issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews' exemption from military service. Following the failure of the Camp David summit with Arafat and Bill Clinton in the summer of 2000, when the original 7 years mandate of the PNA expired, and just after Israel pulled out its last troops out of southern Lebanon in May 2000, the weeks-long Riots in October 2000 led to the killing of twelve Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian by Israel Police and one Jewish civilian by Israeli Arabs. In 2001, Barak called an election for Prime Minister . In

11132-449: The custom of calling the Pentateuch (five books of Moses) The Law. Other translational contexts in the English language include custom , theory , guidance , or system . The term "Torah" is used in the general sense to include both Rabbinic Judaism 's written and oral law , serving to encompass the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history, including

11253-518: The dismantling of Palestinian terrorist cell Black September . It has been alluded that Barak also masterminded the Tunis Raid on 16 April 1988, in which PLO leader Abu Jihad was killed. During the Yom Kippur War , Barak commanded an improvised regiment of tanks which, among other things, helped rescue paratrooper battalion 890, commanded by Yitzhak Mordechai , which was suffering heavy losses in

11374-473: 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

11495-482: The exemption removal is enforced; Anshel Pfeffer , a journalist for the newspaper Haaretz , argued that these threats were hollow. Haredi youth in the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem burned Israeli flags and military uniforms in protest. Following the 1 April lapse, the Supreme Court stated that it would convene on 2 June 2024 to hear a case regarding the conscription of Haredi men. The case

11616-447: The first round of voting, on 28 May 2007, he gained 39% of the votes, more than his two closest rivals, but not enough to win the election. As a result, Barak faced a runoff against the second-place finisher, Ami Ayalon , on 12 June 2007, which he won by a narrow margin. Barak has been critical of what he sees as racist sentiments that have recently been expressed by some Israeli rabbis and rebbetzins ; he views such statements as

11737-534: The following forty years, though many non-Orthodox Jewish scholars affirm the modern scholarly consensus that the Written Torah has multiple authors and was written over centuries. All classical rabbinic views hold that the Torah was entirely Mosaic and of divine origin. Present-day Reform and Liberal Jewish movements all reject Mosaic authorship, as do most shades of Conservative Judaism . Torah reading ( Hebrew : קריאת התורה , K'riat HaTorah , "Reading [of]

11858-465: 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

11979-449: The hardships along the way, and about the authority of Moses and Aaron . For these acts, God destroys approximately 15,000 of them through various means. They arrive at the borders of Canaan and send spies into the land. Upon hearing the spies' fearful report concerning the conditions in Canaan, the Israelites refuse to take possession of it. God condemns them to death in the wilderness until

12100-824: The hijacked Sabena Flight 571 at Lod Airport in 1972; the covert 1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon in Beirut, in which he was disguised as a woman to kill members of the Palestine Liberation Organization ; Barak was also a key architect of the June 1976 Entebbe raid , another rescue mission to free the hostages of the Air France aircraft hijacked by terrorists and forced to land at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. These highly acclaimed operations, along with Operation Bayonet , led to

12221-544: The honor of being the most highly decorated soldier in Israel's history. In politics, his career began with his appointment as interior minister in 1995 under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin . Following Rabin's assassination, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Shimon Peres ' government. Barak was elected to the Knesset on the Labor Party list in 1996 and subsequently became party leader. Barak served as Israel's last left-wing Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. His tenure

12342-548: The left wing Meretz party quit the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy minister in the Ministry of Education. In 1999 Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's 22-year-long occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. On 24 May 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon. On 7 October, three Israeli soldiers were killed in a border raid by Hezbollah and their bodies were subsequently captured. The bodies of these soldiers, along with

12463-643: The living Elhanan Tenenbaum, were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004. The Barak government resumed peace negotiations with the PLO , stating that "Every attempt [by the State of Israel] to keep hold of this area [the West Bank and Gaza] as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state , and if they don't vote it

12584-637: The middle of the 2nd century BCE. Adler explored the likelihhood that Judaism, as the widespread practice of Torah law by Jewish society at large, first emerged in Judea during the reign of the Hasmonean dynasty , centuries after the putative time of Ezra. By contrast, John J. Collins has argued that the observance of the Torah started in Persian Yehud when the Judeans who returned from exile understood its normativity as

12705-569: The most decorated soldier in Israeli history (jointly with close friend Nechemya Cohen ). In 1992 he was awarded the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the United States. In 2012, he was again awarded by the United States with the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service . On 7 July 1995, Barak was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by Yitzhak Rabin . When Shimon Peres formed

12826-431: The narrative appears on the face of it." Following Wellhausen, most scholars throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries have accepted that widespread Torah observance began sometime around the middle of the 5th century BCE. More recently, Yonatan Adler has argued that in fact there is no surviving evidence to support the notion that the Torah was widely known, regarded as authoritative, and put into practice prior to

12947-464: The observance of selected, ancestral laws of high symbolic value, while during the Maccabean revolt Jews started a much more detailed observance of its precepts. Rabbinic writings state that the Oral Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai , which, according to the tradition of Orthodox Judaism , occurred in 1312 BCE. The Orthodox rabbinic tradition holds that the Written Torah was recorded during

13068-514: The passing of the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua and, finally, the death of Moses on Mount Nebo . Presented as the words of Moses delivered before the conquest of Canaan, a broad consensus of modern scholars see its origin in traditions from Israel (the northern kingdom) brought south to the Kingdom of Judah in the wake of the Assyrian conquest of Aram (8th century BCE) and then adapted to

13189-531: The position and appearance of the Hebrew letters are observed. See for example the Mishnah Berurah on the subject. Any of several Hebrew scripts may be used, most of which are fairly ornate and exacting. The completion of the Sefer Torah is a cause for great celebration, and it is a mitzvah for every Jew to either write or have written for him a Sefer Torah. Torah scrolls are stored in the holiest part of

13310-402: The race early and declared his support for veteran statesman Shimon Peres . Following his failed attempt to maintain leadership of the Labor party, Barak became a partner of the investment company SCP Private Equity Partners, Pennsylvania . He also established a company "Ehud Barak Limited" which is thought to have made over NIS 30 million. After Peres lost the race to Amir Peretz and left

13431-409: The reading itself. The Torah contains narratives, statements of law, and statements of ethics. Collectively these laws, usually called biblical law or commandments, are sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses ( Torat Moshɛ תּוֹרַת־מֹשֶׁה ), Mosaic Law , or Sinaitic Law . Rabbinic tradition holds that Moses learned the whole Torah while he lived on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights and both

13552-545: The script used to write the Torah from the older Hebrew script to Assyrian script, so called according to the Talmud, because they brought it with them from Assyria. Maharsha says that Ezra made no changes to the actual text of the Torah based on the Torah's prohibition of making any additions or deletions to the Torah in Deuteronomy 12:32 . By contrast, the modern scholarly consensus rejects Mosaic authorship, and affirms that

13673-451: The second Priestly. By contrast, John Van Seters advocates a supplementary hypothesis , which posits that the Torah was derived from a series of direct additions to an existing corpus of work. A "neo-documentarian" hypothesis, which responds to the criticism of the original hypothesis and updates the methodology used to determine which text comes from which sources, has been advocated by biblical historian Joel S. Baden, among others. Such

13794-500: The second reminds the Israelites of the need to follow Yahweh and the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends; and the third offers the comfort that even should Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored. The final four chapters (31–34) contain the Song of Moses , the Blessing of Moses , and narratives recounting

13915-466: Was badly damaged by negative views of his performance as Defense Minister during the 2006 Lebanon War, which was seen as something less than a success in Israel. In January 2007 , Barak launched a bid to recapture the leadership of the Labor party in a letter acknowledging "mistakes" and "inexperience" during his tenure as Prime Minister. In early March 2007, a poll of Labor Party primary voters put Barak ahead of all other opponents, including Peretz. In

14036-417: Was laid with the investigation of the origins of the written sources in oral compositions, implying that the creators of J and E were collectors and editors and not authors and historians. Rolf Rendtorff , building on this insight, argued that the basis of the Pentateuch lay in short, independent narratives, gradually formed into larger units and brought together in two editorial phases, the first Deuteronomic,

14157-613: Was marked by significant events, including the decision to form a coalition with the Orthodox party Shas , the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Southern Lebanon in 2000, and participation in the 2000 Camp David Summit aimed at resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Barak's government faced challenges, notably the protests in October 2000 . After defeat in the 2001 Israeli prime ministerial election , he left politics and engaged in international business and advisory roles. He made

14278-435: Was originally transmitted to Moses at Sinai, and then from Moses to Israel. At that time it was forbidden to write and publish the oral law, as any writing would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation and abuse. However, after exile, dispersion, and persecution, this tradition was lifted when it became apparent that in writing was the only way to ensure that the Oral Law could be preserved. After many years of effort by

14399-548: Was preparing an alternative to the Tal Law. Dozens of IDF reserve soldiers had put up what they called "the suckers' camp" near the Tel Aviv Savidor Central Railway Station , to protest the possible extension of the Tal Law. Several politicians, public figures, disabled IDF veterans and high school and university students visited the protest encampment. In February 2012 the High Court of Justice ruled that

14520-536: Was proceeded over by an expanded, nine-judge panel, as opposed to the standard three-judge panel. On June 25, 2024, the panel unanimously agreed to allow the compulsory conscription of Haredi Jews. In July 2024, the army began drafting 3,000 Haredi men, less than 10% showed up at recruitment centers. In November, 7,000 additional draft orders for Haredi men were approved. Torah The Torah ( / ˈ t ɔːr ə / or / ˈ t oʊ r ə / ; Biblical Hebrew : תּוֹרָה Tōrā , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law")

14641-428: Was taught only of such as R. Simeon b. Yohai and his companions, whose Torah study was their occupation." During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion reached a special arrangement with Israel's Haredi Jews (represented by Agudat Yisrael and Yitzhak-Meir Levin ) in which a small part of the community's senior yeshiva disciples (400 men) would be temporarily exempted from serving in

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