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.

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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Etymology

Origin of Torah

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

Example Sentences

Then, the summer before her 60th birthday, she participated in an intensive learning experience in Jewish prayer and Torah in Jerusalem and was set off on the path to the clergy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026

Rosenzweig was born in Kassel in 1886, into a German-Jewish bourgeoisie for which Beethoven, Goethe and the Frankfurter Zeitung newspaper were as formative as the Torah had once been.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

Certain hardline sections of the ultra-Orthodox community disagree with autopsies, saying any interference with a dead body is a desecration according to the Torah.

From Barron's • Jan. 20, 2026

June, for a bat mitzvah scene you memorized a complicated Torah portion.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025

I’m amazed at how many community members are there to greet Mr. Friedrich and his wife when the mountain passes are finally open and he brings the Torah to Chokecherry.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman