Appendix B

In this section we would like to familiarize you with the world of Torah commentaries. If you are a novice in this area, it may help to remember that there is very little difference between reading a Bible commentary and listening to a sermon. In fact, many commentaries were originally sermons themselves! We will mention just a few of those that we have found most helpful in our Torah study.

In our studies in the Torah, we prefer those commentaries that provide the most accurate and detailed historical background information of the times in which the Torah was written. Thus, the books we recommend are as follows:

     1. The Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series. This includes volumes by Derek Kidner on Genesis, R. Alan Cole on Exodus, R. K. Harrison on Leviticus, Gordon J. Wenham on Numbers, and J. A. Thompson on Deuteronomy.

     2. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. These books include: Genesis chapters 1-17, by Victor Hamilton, Leviticus by Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers by Timothy R. Ashley, and Deuteronomy by P. C. Craigie. As far as we know, the commentary on Exodus has not yet been published.

3.The Keil and Delitsch commentaries on the Old Testament are also great, especially if you like to work in the Hebrew.

     6. Sometimes it is helpful to look up the various topics which the Torah discusses. Our favorite place to do this is in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

     We are sure that there are many other great commentaries on the Torah in addition to those mentioned here. We encourage you to find your own favorites!

Naturally, the oldest commentaries on the Torah are written by Jewish scholars. Any student of the Torah should be at least somewhat familiar with the classic Jewish works in this area. The most serious students of the Torah must utilize Jewish commentaries!

   For those of you who have never swum in the sea of rabbinic literature, you need a little help getting your feet wet. It can be very tricky if you are not prepared for a different way of thinking.

   The key to understanding Jewish commentaries is to know that the rabbis utilize a different method of interpreting the Bible than most evangelicals. They seek at least four levels of interpreting any given text. The first level begins with the most literal or obvious sense of the words or text. However, that is just a starting point. The goal is to look for the deepest sense of every phrase, word, and even letter in the Hebrew. In order to accomplish this task, there is widespread use of the allegorical method of interpretation. This is employed in cases where little or nothing can be gained from working at the literal or obvious level, enabling each passage to be understood in a symbolic or spiritual sense. As one may imagine, historical backgrounds, while utilized from time to time, actually play a very minor role in ascertaining the ultimate understanding of the text.

   One more unique feature of rabbinic interpretation is the use of gematria, a system of interpreting biblical text by determining the numerical values of each word. This system is based on the fact that Hebrew letters also have numerical value. These numerical values and the combinations thereof are used to decipher some meanings "behind" the text. However, it is not as simple as this definition makes it sound. Indeed, several books have been published explaining the intricacies of the whole system of gematria. In addition to the different hermeneutical methods used by the rabbis, anyone using Jewish commentaries needs to understand that the Jewish worldview is often drastically different than the "standard" evangelical worldview÷if there is one!

   Notwithstanding these cultural differences, it is very helpful to read the classic (and sometimes not so classic) Jewish commentaries on the Torah. In some cases, the sages have been given tremendous insights into the biblical text. At other times, however, we are left wondering how they could possibly have come up with a given viewpoint.

   Hence, we are not suggesting that you should adopt an interpretation just because a rabbi or a sage says it. On the contrary, each interpretation should be scrutinized very carefully! The Jewish commentaries, however, offer a different insight into the Torah. They also may contribute to the history of the interpretation of a given text. Indeed, sometimes (especially when studying the Midrash, Targum, or the Talmud) we are looking at how the sages have understood the Bible well before the time of Yeshua, depending on whose viewpoint we are reading. That can sometimes be extremely helpful in studying the Bible, especially the Torah. Moreover, it is exciting to learn how the Jewish sages understood particular passages in an era which predated the reactionary interpretations that began to appear after the Christian era.

   With all of these preliminaries aside, here is a very brief annotated bibliography of some of the most important Jewish works providing commentary on the Torah.

     1. The Talmud (both Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds). This is a huge collection of oral law, first written down around the year 500 CE. Some of its contents, however, reflect an oral tradition dating from a time well before the arrival of Yeshua. Much of the Talmud consists of legal debates between rabbis. But there is also a great deal of commentary on the Torah. The Soncino Press has an English edition with some notes and several kinds of indexes. We understand that ArtScroll also has an English edition with more elaborate explanatory notes.

     2. The Mishnah. This is the first of the two sections of the Talmud, the other being the Gemarah (a much longer section which elaborates on the Mishnah). This is oral law, so it contains many legal sections. But, like the Talmud, it contains many comments on the Torah as well. It is much easier to purchase than the Talmud. The most popular one-volume edition of the Mishnah is the one translated by Herbert Danby.

     3. The Midrash Rabbah is specifically a commentary. There are several midrashim from ancient times. But the Midrash Rabbah is the most popular one accessible in English. It is a multi-volume set of commentaries on the Torah and the Megilot (Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther). This is a classic example of the allegorical method of interpretation. The Midrash Rabbah was written sometime between 300 and 900 CE.

     4. Aramaic Targums are paraphrases and translations of the Hebrew Scriptures (some now in English) dating from sometime in the late Second Temple period. They provide important insight into how a Torah text was understood during that time period, some of which predated Yeshuaâs time.

     5. There are various "Torah Study Bibles" circulating in the Jewish world. Such a volume is called a Chumash, taken from the Hebrew word for "five." It refers to the five books of Moshe, the Torah. These Chumashim contain the Torah in both the English and Hebrew texts. Sometimes they also offer Targum Onkelos in Aramaic. The text is arranged according to the weekly Torah portions. Each portion is followed by the Haftarah, or weekly reading of the Prophets, which has been chosen to correspond to the Torah reading. Explanatory notes are also provided.

     Our favorite Chumash is called The Pentateuch and Haftarahs, edited by Rabbi J. H. Hertz. He is the most literal and offers many excellent historical notes. There are other popular volumes to choose from as well, such as the ArtScroll Chumash and another which is edited by Rabbi S. R. Hirsch. All three can easily be purchased (as can all of these books) in any Jewish religious bookstore.

     The above works are the best ways to get Jewish comments on any given Torah passage. There are also individual commentaries on the Torah written by some famous and important sages. Here are some of them:

    1. Rashi. The most respected Jewish commentator, he wrote a commentary on the Torah sometime during the 1000âs. His brevity is deceiving. Every Jewish student knows about Rashi, called by one scholar "the prince of Jewish Bible commentators."

    2. Rambam. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides) wrote a highly respected commentary on the Torah sometime in the 1100âs. He was also a world-famous medical doctor!

     3. Ramban. As in the case of Rashi and Rambam, "Ramban" is not this commentatorâs given name, but an acronym derived from the first letters of his personal names. Writing in the 1200âs, Ramban was sometimes at odds with Rambam (Moshe ben Nachman). His commentary is flavored with the Kabbalah (mystical writings) and may also reflect something of his famed debates with Christian theologians.

     4. Ibn Ezra, Abravanel, and Sforno are all very popular Torah commentators from the early Renaissance period in Europe.

     5. Rav Kook. The first Chief Rabbi of (then) Palestine is someone to take very seriously in your Torah study.

     6. Nechama Leibowitz. It is highly unusual to have a woman Bible commentator respected and approved by the Orthodox Jewish world. Leibowitzâs multi-volume commentary on the Torah does not comment on every verse, but it does raise many helpful questions and provides many extremely insightful remarks on the issues from the Torah that she does discuss. Leibowitz is one of our favorite Torah commentators.

     7. Last, but not least, is a great multi-volume Torah commentary by Rabbi Elie Munk. Munk provides a great summary of what many of the classic sages such as Rashi and Rambam say about a given text. He attempts to comment on every verse.

     8. While not a commentary, the Encyclopedia Judaica has nevertheless always proven helpful for background information related to Jewish studies and Jewish Torah interpretation.

For reasons unknown to us, there are very few Torah commentaries written by Jewish believers, particularly those who are favorable toward the Torah lifestyle.

As mentioned earlier, Dr. Louis Goldberg has authored credible works on Leviticus and Deuteronomy which are highly useful as reference tools.