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Looking for a good Chumash/Pentateuch/Tanach/Jewish Bible?
Needless to say, Jewish books start with the Torah. Torah, in the traditional
world, refers both to the written Torah, and also to the oral Torah, which
includes commentary and other exegesis on the written Torah. Talmud? That's
Torah. Chassidic teachings from the last couple of centuries? Depending on your
outlook, also Torah. And so on.
The Jewish Bible is known in Hebrew by the acronym Tanakh (Torah,
Neviim, Ketuvim - Torah, Prophets, Writings). The first five books in a printed
edition are called Chumash. (In English, this is usually rendered as
Pentateuch, an unwieldy name from Greek.) Most commentaries focus on
the Torah, and there are many fine editions from Artscroll, JPS, and other
publishers.
Okay, class, time for review: want a book with the weekly Torah portions and
lots of commentary? That would be a Chumash. Want the entire Hebrew
Bible, not just the first five books? That's a Tanakh.
Here are computer programs and other goodies to help you learn Torah (with or
without Rashi), and
even gematria (numerology) and Bible codes, courtesy of our affiliate
jewishsoftware.com. Want to learn how to chant Torah or Haftarah? Have a
look at our Bar Mitzvah page.
Here are traditional Jewish Bibles and Torah commentaries - Chumashim and
Tanakhim - followed by other
books on the Bible. Most are beautiful editions, suitable for very lasting gifts
to yourself or someone else. You can find an entire series - well, actually,
several series - of Bibles from Artscroll with traditional commentaries, as well
as Bibles from other publishers. If you're looking for a complete set with
commentary, consider the
Soncino Books of the Bible. You also can't go wrong with the one-volume
Hertz Pentateuch, a standard in many synagogues. The Hertz Chumash includes
the haftarot for each week as well.
And here are modern Torah commentaries, plus nontraditional and secular Bible studies:

Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits and Legends |

Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Yerushalmi, and Midrashic
Literature |

A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament: Based upon the
Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner |

Josephus's Interpretation of the Bible (Hellenistic Culture and Society, No
27) |

Student's Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic |

Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew: Based on the Commentaries of
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch |

Israel and the Nations: The History of Israel from the Exodus to the Fall of
the Second Temple |

Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew
Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and New Testament |

A Reader's Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament |

On the Book of Psalms: Exploring the Prayers of Ancient
Israel |

Understanding Genesis |

Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel |

The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy: The Traditional Hebrew Text
With the New JPS Translation |

Exodus: The Traditional Hebrew Text With the New JPS Translation |

Bible Commentary: Genesis |

Numbers: The Traditional Hebrew Text With the New JPS Translation |

Leviticus: The Traditional Hebrew Text With the New JPS
Translation |

The Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy (The Schocken Bible, Volume 1) |

Genesis: Translation and Commentary |

The Art of Biblical Narrative |
Can't find it here? Try a search on Amazon:
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