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

Mr. Brander is president and rosh yeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 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

In the next gallery, a 15th-century Quran was displayed alongside a North African Torah and Coptic Christian Bible.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 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

I remembered reading about him while studying the Torah with my father, long before the war.

From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz

Laurence Harris, a longtime member and wife of the temple’s cantor, Ruth, who both helped save saved multiple Torahs from burning last year, said that the community has grown in the year since.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 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

Torahs, menorahs, mezuzas — the rabbis are on the lookout for anything that might be of holy significance to the many Jewish families who lived in Champlain Towers.

From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2021

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

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2018

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