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

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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”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Torah Torahs

One is United Torah Judaism – or UTJ – and represents Ashkenazi Jews, or Jews of European origin.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace and wholeness, appears after a crisis in the Book of Numbers, and it is written with a break in its third letter in all Torah scrolls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Other treasures on view include a charred 18th-century Torah scroll that survived the British ransacking of a synagogue, George Washington’s inaugural chair and Bible, and a New York printing of the Declaration of Independence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026

Religions bring the sacred into our lives with Gothic churches, Muslim mosques, Hindu ashrams, Torah scrolls, Tibetan prayer wheels, priestly cassocks, candles, incense, Christmas trees, matzah balls, tombstones and icons.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

They saved 13 Torahs before they had to flee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2025

"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

The synagogues have some of their original Torahs, prayer books and other documents, and the project will shore up the library, which was threatened by a flood in 2019.

From New York Times ● May 4, 2022

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

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