Torah

American  

[toh-ruh, tawr-uh, toh-rah, toh-ruh, toi-ruh] / ˈtoʊ rə, ˈtɔr ə, toʊˈrɑ, ˈtoʊ rə, ˈtɔɪ rə /

Sometimes torah,

noun

Judaism.

• Torahs
  plural

1. Also the Torah the five books containing the Law as revealed to Moses, constituting the first of the three divisions of Jewish Scripture.

   In the desert of life filled with obstacles and challenges, the light of Torah helps lead the way.

2. a parchment scroll on which the five books of the Law are written, used in synagogue services.

3. Also the Torah

   1. the entire body of Jewish Scripture, including all three divisions; Tanakh.

   2. the entire body of Jewish religious literature, law, and teaching as contained chiefly in the Tanakh and the Talmud.

4. law or instruction.

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Torah British  

/ ˈtəʊrə, tɔˈra /

noun

1. 1. the Pentateuch

   2. the scroll on which this is written, used in synagogue services

2. the whole body of traditional Jewish teaching, including the Oral Law

3. (modifier) promoting or according with traditional Jewish Law

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Torah Cultural  

1. The law on which Judaism is founded (torah is Hebrew for “law”). This law is contained in the first five books of the Bible (see also Bible) (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Torah can also refer to the entire body of Jewish law and wisdom, including what is contained in oral tradition.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Torahs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Torah

First recorded in 1570–80; from Hebrew tôrāh “instruction, law”; akin to hôrāh “to teach,” yārāh “to throw”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Torah Torahs

From one collection point alone came more than 900 Torah scrolls and roughly 250,000 books.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Ratner said the branch is a reference to the story in the Torah of Noah sending out a dove during the Great Flood and returning with an olive branch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Most of the men who study Torah in Kiryas Joel also work for a living, or will work after a few years of full-time study in their early 20s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026

Congregation members were able to save little more than its sacred Torah scrolls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026

She knew that his voice got very soft when he spoke to the goats, but she couldn’t remember what he sounded like when he read the Torah to her.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

“The Torahs are always the first things we rescue from the sanctuary when there are fires,” said Frenkel, who has been with the synagogue for 40 years.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

"We were taking the Torahs and the last Jews out of the city. The Torahs will go back, the synagogue will be reopened. Once again there will be Jewish life in Antakya," he said.

From Reuters ● Mar. 7, 2023

In the old days, we knew this: we kept our ancestries in Bibles, in Torahs, and in oral tradition.

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2018

Active in local Jewish life, the well-off Roberta and Larry are deeply moved when the chance arises to buy one of Dov’s Torahs for their local synagogue.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 26, 2015

The cantor is at his post at the reading-desk on the platform, two of the principal, well-to-do Jews, with Torahs in their hands, on each side of him.

From Yiddish Tales by Various