The Cover Of a "Hebrew Bible"

Factual Questions
1

What is on the cover of a “Hebrew Bible,” I use this as to mean, the bible that Jews use.

I called two people I know that are Jewish and both of them said “I took a bible from a hotel and just read the first part. It’s the same as Christianity but we use the old testament only.”

Which I know, but wasn’t interested in the content, I just wanted to know what it says on the cover. Like my bible on the cover says “Holy Bible.”

I Googled for Hebrew bible but it comes out in the language Hebrew.

So I was just curious when Jews go to get a bible does the cover just say “Bible?”

2

In Court in theUK Jewish witnesses/defensants swear their oath on the Old Testament. It has ‘Old Testament’ on the front.

3

Actually on second thoughts, I may misremebr. I think it actually says 'Hebrew Bible on the front. IIRC Catholic witnesses also swear there oaths on this book, but I can’t ever remebr seeing a Catholic witness being sowrn so I’m not really sure.

4

IANAJ, but my sister is a religious studies major. She has two very attractive books. The one that only has what Christians think of as the Old Testament is labelled Tanach. The other one has prayers and is labelled The Chumash.

5

There are many different editions of Bibles used by Jews. Some are all-Hebrew, some are Hebrew-English (or Hebrew and whatever is the local language). Some contain only the Torah, some contain all the books of the Jewish Bible.

The cover usually has a title chosen by the editor(s) and/or translator(s), and their names, the name of the publisher, etc. There’s really no rules.

6

Not surprisingly, Wikipedia has a good entry which includes a photos of Hebrew Bibles. Most versions available in English speaking countries have the Hebrew text on the right and an English translation on the left of each facing page pair. Generally, they open as a Hebrew book would – so the front cover has the binding on the right – the opposite of an English language book. So, you are looking at the front cover in photo about 2/3 down the Wikipedia page which shows a modern one.

7

But the wiki article which I did see doesn’t say that the word TANAKH appears on the cover. The picture shows Hebrew writing. So if I was an American Jew and wanted to by “Hebrew Bible” would the word TANAKH written in English appear or would the actual Hebrew letters appear on the cover, with English words inside?

That’s what isn’t clear to me

8

OK, now I understand.

Well, it varies. Most have both the Hebrew and English words “Tanakh.” However, the English word “Bible” is very, very rarely used to mean the Tanakh by Jews. Bible has come to mean the Old and New Testaments as used by Christians. The Hebrew word is used even by English speakers to differentiate.

9

A book containing the entire “Old Testament” would be titled “Tanach”, as some here have already mentioned.

A book containing only the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) would probably say “Chamisha Chumshei Torah” (Five fifth-books of the Torah) on the cover.

10

I had a collection of bibles of the major different translations. There was a time - I know you’re not going to believe this - but there once was a time when to compare verses, one had to hold different editions in one’s hands and open them individually. Yes, I realize it sounds ridiculous. Why not just go to a universal verse locator? Because there wasn’t… Never mind. You won’t believe me.

Anyway, one that I still have was copyright 1928 by the Hebrew Publishing Co. The Alexander Harkavy translation. There are no words at all on the cover, just an embossing of the ten commandments.

On the spine are the words “PENTATEUCH” and “HAFTOROTH.”

The Pentateuch are the five books of Moses. The Haftoroth (spelled Haftaroth inside, and also Haftarah in the back of the book), are the books of the prophets. Here, as was the common practice, they are combined with the Five Megiloth - Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther and the Song of Solomon.

Those are the three parts of the writings. That’s what books containing them normally would be called, the Pentateuch, the Haftoroth, and the Five Megiloth.

11

A Chumash contains, as somebody else has pointed out, the first five books of the Torah, although the term Torah is also used to refer to only these five books (Genesis-Deuteronomy.) It will also generally have the haftorot and usually the megillot, as Exapno mentions, and it’s what’s used in synagogues for the congregation to follow along during the Torah reading. Some editions have many commentaries printed in them as well; those are intended more for classes and study. I have several editions of chumashim (the plural), none of which have English and so none of which have English titles. For example, the Rav Kook Foundation edition of the Chumash says, in Hebrew, ‘Torat Chaim’ (The Torah of Life), ‘Chamisha Chumshei Torah’ (functionally, the first five books of the Torah), ‘Breishit’ (Genesis) on the spine of the first volume. Prayers are in a different book, called a siddur.

As a side point, ‘the Old Testament’ isn’t exactly the same thing as the Tanach. There are certain books in the Catholic and Orthodox OTs that Jews consider apocrypha, such as Maccabees or the book of Ben Sira. Both the Catholic and the Protestant OTs are in a different order from the Jewish one; for example, in the ‘OT’, Ruth comes after Judges, and is the eighth book, but in the Tanach, it’s considered part of the Writings, the third section, and is the thirteenth book, coming after all of the prophets, Psalms, and Proverbs.

12

Thanks this clears it up.

I see from our library which has a copy of the Koran in English it says “Holy Koran,” or “Koran” or various spellings. I couldn’t find any thing for the Jews.

So like in my family at Christmas we’d say “let’s have a reading from the bible,” and the eldest male gets up and reads a birth of Jesus story.

I’m not very familiar with Judaism, so if a Jewish family does something similar at a passover or other religious celebration would they say “Let’s get the Tanach and read from it?”

I am not trying to be silly, I am just curious. As I said the Jews I know aren’t too religious. They are like religous like going to temple only on holy days, so they don’t help me much.

13

Are you referring to those days before the Web? Most of us aren’t that young.

14

hotcoldhot:

Well, a portion of the Torah (meaning, specifically from the five books of Moses) is read from a parchment scroll in synagogues during morning prayers on Mondays, Thursdays, Sabbath (Saturdays), holidays, fast days, and the beginning of every month (on the Hebrew calendar),and during afternoon prayers on Sabbath and on fast days. Most congregants will follow the reading in a Chumash (described earlier in this thread), or in a prayer book - called a Siddur, or on Holidays, some use a specialized siddur called a Machzor - which has the day’s Torah portion printed therein.

Portions from the books of the Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi) are read after the Torah portion on Sabbath and holiday mornings, and on the afternoons of Fast Days, plus on the morning of the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av, a very special fast day. (Yom Kippur counts as both a holiday and a fast day.) Some synagogues have these on parchment scrolls as well, but in most, these portions will be read from a Tanakh. The congregants will likely follow along in the same book which they followed the main reading in, those usually have the appropriate prophetic portion in there for convenience.

On five occasions during the year, a book from the Writings is read - Esther on Purim, Song of Songs on Passover, Ruth on Shavuot, Lamentations on the ninth of Av, and Ecclesiastes on Sukkot (or the day after Sukkot, which is technically a different holiday, albeit adjacent). Just about any synagogue will have Esther in parchment scroll form, but the other four are, like the prophetic books, not so common for synagogues to have as parchment scrolls. Those that do have them will read from them, those who don’t will use a Chumash or Machzor or Tanakh. The congregation will generally follow the reading in a Chumash, Machzor, or a printed book of that reading, but on Purim, many congregants will have their own parchment Esther scrolls.

Daily prayer services include many scriptural passages, mostly from Psalms, some from the five Books of Moses, and a bit from Chronicles and Nehemiah. These will be read from a Siddur (or Machzor, on holidays), as that book has all prayer services arranged in the proper order for prayer. The Passover ritual is conducted witha Hagaddah, which similarly includes scriptural passages and is arranged in the order required for ritual.

Psalms will also frequently be read in times of trouble, or as part of memorializing the dead. A dedicated book of Psalms (separate from the rest of Tanakh) will usually be used for this; the cover of this book would read, in Hebrew, “Tehillim.”

Torah study is greatly encouraged in Judaism, though the majority of those engaging in free study will learn Talmud rather than scripture. However, those who do spend their time learning scripture could certainly be learning it from a Tanakh.

15

Well, for Pesach (Passover), there’s a separate book called the Hagaddah (lit. “the telling”) that we read from. The Hagaddah tells the story of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, and it discusses why and how we observe Pesach. We read from the Hagaddah before and after the ritual meal on the first and second nights of the holiday.

As far as reading from the Tanakh at home, I’ve never been someplace where someone just felt “moved” to have a reading. Reading from the Torah is supposed to happen in a ritualized manner in front of at least 10 adults (Not that you couldn’t do it at home, but it’s unlikely that all the pieces are in place). There’s a specific parsha (portion) for each sabbath throughout the liturgical year. For the most part, the parshot advance through the Torah in an orderly beginning-to-end manner, but some holidays are associated with a specific parsha, and those get read out of order.

On the other hand, there could be people studying at home, and then they’d probably read from a Tanakh. They’d probably be reading bits and pieces of the portion that they’re studying to each other as they try to make sense of it.

ETA: cmkeller beat me to it.

16

Yet, many of you are. :slight_smile:

17

That depends on the edition you buy. Some do have Hebrew lettering on the cover, some don’t.

I have a couple of Jewish bibles at home.

One is a paperback and says “Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures” (with no Hebrew) on the cover.

One is a hardcover and says “Etz Hayim” in English and Hebrew letters (Etz Hayim translates as “tree of life”, which is a phrase used in the Jewish liturgy to refer to the Torah.)

The Haggadah (it’s transliterated from Hebrew, so there are a number of acceptable English spellings) isn’t just a selection from the Bible, either. It is its own text, based on the story of the Exodus from Egypt. It’s more analogous to a book about the birth of Jesus that might include some quotes from the various gospel accounts and some stuff that doesn’t appear in the gospels.

No, reading from the Tanakh at home is more likely to be silent reading.

18

Well, if the family is of the intellectual sort, they might read a passage out loud, and then debate its meaning. But even then, it probably won’t be at random - they’ll probably choose something from the portion of the week or something similar.

19

“Etz Hayim” is just the Conservative translation/commentary. Even though I’m Reform, it’s the edition I use; it strikes a balance between the Orthodox commentary that consider the Torah literally, and the Reform commentary that can seem a bit too “scientific”, for lack of a better word.

“Etz Hayim” is just the title of one edition, though, just as some Christian Bibles are often given titles such as “The Word” and so on by their publishers.