The Torah is both the most sacred object and the most sacred text in
Judaism. It consists of the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The word “Torah” comes from the same
root as the Hebrew word hora’ah (hoe-rah-ah), which means “instruction” or
“teaching.” The Torah’s purpose, simply stated, is to provide people with
instructions for finding and following the path of God and the path to God.
Although the words in the Torah, which is also known as the Five Books of
Moses, consists of exactly 304,805 letters, the great sages of Jewish tradition
teach that all the wisdom in the universe is hidden within these letters. Jewish
tradition looks carefully at these letters and at the words they form, and great
sages throughout history have provided — and continue to provide — the
proper instruction for analyzing the Torah text and revealing its divine messages.