Taurat dan Talmud

Written Torah

To Jews, there is no "Old Testament." The books that Christians call the New Testament are not part of Jewish scripture. The so-called Old Testament is known to us as Written Torah or the Tanakh.

This is a list of the books of Written Torah, in the order in which they appear in Jewish translations, with the Hebrew name of the book, a translation of the Hebrew name (where it is not the same as the English name), and English names of the books (where it is not the same as the Hebrew name). The Hebrew names of the first five books are derived from the first few words of the book. The text of each book is more or less the same in Jewish translations as what you see in Christian bibles, although there are some occasional, slight differences in the numbering of verses and there are some significant differences in the translations.

Oral Torah: The Talmud

In addition to the written scriptures we have an "Oral Torah," a tradition explaining what the above scriptures mean and how to interpret them and apply the Laws. Orthodox Jews believe G-d taught the Oral Torah to Moses, and he taught it to others, down to the present day. This tradition was maintained only in oral form until about the 2d century C.E., when the oral law was compiled and written down in a document called the Mishnah.

Over the next few centuries, additional commentaries elaborating on the Mishnah were written down in Jerusalem and Babylon. These additional commentaries are known as the Gemara. The Gemara and the Mishnah together are known as the Talmud. This was completed in the 5th century C.E.

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Jika kita buat perbandingan, pegangan ramai orang Islam hari ini, ia sudah menyamai pegangan kaum Yahudi yang menjadikan adanya kitab lain selain Kitab Allah yang diturunkan kepada Rasul mereka untuk ditaati. Taurat adalah Kitab Allah yang diturunkan dan telah dicatatkan oleh Nabi Musa. Tetapi para ulamak Yahudi telah membuat kitab baru bernama Talmud atas nama hadis/ucapan/oral untuk menjelaskan tentang Taurat. Mereka menokok-tambah hukum atas nama agama sehingga banyak ajaran yang lari daripada ruh Taurat.

Ketika zaman Nabi Muhammad, baginda mengajak kaum Yahudi kembali kepada Taurat, bukan Talmud, kerana perbuatan mengambil selain Kitab Allah itulah menyebabkan kaum Yahudi hidup berpecah-belah dan beragama secara jumud, sempit dan fanatik dengan puak mereka yang dirasakan betul dan puak lain hina.

3.23. Tidakkah kamu memperhatikan orang-orang yang telah diberi bahagian yaitu Al Kitab, mereka diseru kepada kitab Allah supaya kitab itu menetapkan hukum diantara mereka; kemudian sebahagian dari mereka berpaling, dan mereka selalu membelakangi.

Bukankah ia suatu keadaan yang sama dengan apa yang umat Islam hari ini lakukan ia jadikan Hadis sebagai penjelas bagi Al Quran yang wajib dipercayai membuta-tuli? Mereka mengambil riwayat hadis melebihi Al Quran sehingga agama jadi sempit dan umat Islam hidup berpecah-belah kerana fanatik mengikut ajaran atas nama puak masing-masing. Apa yang Allah tidak larang dalam Al Quran, mereka buat larangan baru semata-mata nak menunjuk-nunjuk kononnya puak mereka sahaja yang betul dan puak lain hina.

Apa yang selain telah termaktub dalam Kitab Allah, ia bukannya layak
dijadikan hukum agama, melainkan perbezaan pendapat sesama manusia sahaja. Mana yang baik, bolehlah diikuti. Mana yang membawa kepada kesempitan beragama, jumud dan fanatik, takkanlah kita nak pegang juga?

Tidakkah manusia itu memikirkan?