page_title: Judaism
section_title: Jewish religious texts
hierarchical_section_title: Judaism / Jewish religious texts
caption_attribution_description: English: Tisha B'Av at the Western Wall עברית: הכותל המערבי בתשעה באב, Original Image Name:תשעה באב בכותל, Location:ירושלים
context_page_description: Judaism is an ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. It encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. The Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the world.
  Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah. Historically, all or part of this assertion was challenged by various groups such as the Sadducees and Hellenistic Judaism during the Second Temple period; the Karaites during the early and later medieval period; and among segments of the modern non-Orthodox denominations.
context_section_description: The following is a basic, structured list of the central works of Jewish practice and thought.
  Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and Rabbinic literature
  Mesorah
  Targum
  Jewish Biblical exegesis (also see Midrash below)
  Works of the Talmudic Era (classic rabbinic literature)
  Mishnah and commentaries
  Tosefta and the minor tractates
  Talmud:
  The Babylonian Talmud and commentaries
  Jerusalem Talmud and commentaries
  Midrashic literature:
  Halakhic Midrash
  Aggadic Midrash
  Halakhic literature
  Major Codes of Jewish Law and Custom
  Mishneh Torah and commentaries
  Tur and commentaries
  Shulchan Aruch and commentaries
  Responsa literature
  Jewish Thought and Ethics
  Jewish philosophy
  Musar literature and other works of Jewish ethics
  Kabbalah
  Hasidic works
  Siddur and Jewish liturgy
  Piyyut (Classical Jewish poetry)
  Many traditional Jewish texts are available online in various Torah databases (electronic versions of the Traditional Jewish Bookshelf). Many of these have advanced search options available.
caption: A man holds up a Sephardi-style torah at the Western Wall, Jerusalem
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