Chumash (Judaism)
Chumash(alsoḤumash;Hebrew:חומש,pronounced[χuˈmaʃ]orpronounced[ħuˈmaʃ]orYiddish:pronounced[ˈχʊməʃ];pluralḤumashim) is aTorahin printed and book bound form (i.e.codex) as opposed to aSefer Torah,which is ascroll.
The word comes from the Hebrew word for five,ḥamesh(חמש). A more formal term isḤamishah Ḥumshei Torah,"five fifths of Torah". It is also known by the Latinised Greek termPentateuchin common printed editions.[1]
Etymology[edit]
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The wordḥumeshis a standardAshkenazicvowel shiftofḥomesh,meaning "one-fifth", alluding to any one of the five books; bysynecdoche,it came to mean the five fifths of the Torah. TheModern Israeli Hebrewpronunciationḥumashis an erroneous reconstruction based on the assumption that the Ashkenazic accent, which is almost uniformly penultimately stressed, had also changed the stress of the word. In fact,ḥumeshpreserves the original stress pattern and both pronunciations contain a shifted first vowel.
In early scribal practice, there was a distinction between aSefer Torah,containing the entire Pentateuch on aparchmentscroll, and a copy of one of the five books on its own, which was generally bound incodexform, like a modern book, and had a lesser degree of sanctity. The termḥomeshstrictly applies to one of the latter. Thus,ḥomesh B'reshitstrictly means "the Genesis fifth", but was misread asḥumash, B'reshitand interpreted as meaning "The Pentateuch: Genesis", as ifḥumashwas the name of the book andBereshitthe name of one of its parts. Compare the misunderstanding of "Tur"to mean the entirety of theArba'ah Turim.[citation needed]
In the legal codes, such asMaimonides'Mishneh Torah,it is laid down that any copy of the Pentateuch which does not comply with the strict rules for a Sefer Torah, for example, because it is not a parchment scroll or containsvowel signs,has only the same sanctity as a copy of an individual book (ḥomesh). In this way, the wordḥomesh(orḥumash) came to have the extended sense of any copy of the Pentateuch other than a Sefer Torah.[2]
Usage[edit]
The wordḥumashgenerally only refers to "book" bound editions of the Pentateuch, whereas the "scroll" form is called asefer Torah( "book [of the] Torah" ).
In modern Jewish practice:
- A printedḥumashusually sets out the Hebrew text of the Torah withniqqud(vowel marks) andcantillationmarks, separated into its 54 constituentweekly Torah portions(parashiyyot), together with thehaftarahfor each portion and, often, translations and notes.[3]
- Aḥumash-Rashialso contains theTargum Onkelosand the commentary ofRashi,and may or may not have a vernacular translation of the text.
- ATikkun soferimorTiqqun Qore'imsets out, in parallel columns, the unvocalized text of the Pentateuch as it would appear in a Torah scroll and the normal printed text as it appears in a Chumash; it sometimes includeshaftarotand theFive Megillot.It exists as an aid forsoferim(Torah scribes) and for those preparing to read from the sefer Torah in the synagogue.
- A multi-volume set in Hebrew only, often but not always including the entireTanakhwithmasoretic notes(sometimes),Targumimand several classical commentaries, is referred to asMikraot Gedolot( "Great Scriptures" ).
Various publications[edit]
- The Pentateuch and Haftorahs,London 1937, known as the "Hertz Chumash", containing the commentary of former BritishChief RabbiJoseph Hertz
- SoncinoChumash,(1st of the 14 volumeSoncino Books of the Bibleseries) ed.Abraham Cohen,containing notes summarizing the traditional commentaries (Mikraot Gedolot).
- Torah and Haftarot,translation byPhilip Birnbaum(Hebrew Publishing Company, 1983.ISBN0-88484-456-0)
- Etz Hayim Humash(Published by theJewish Publication Society of AmericaISBN0-8276-0712-1): associated withConservativemovement
- GutnikChumash withOnkelos,Rashiand commentaries of theLubavitcher Rebbe
- The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition.W. Gunther Plaut, ed. New York: Union for Reform Judaism, 2006: associated with AmericanReformmovement
- The Torah: A Women's Commentary,edited byTamara Cohn EskenaziandAndrea L. Weiss,Union for Reform Judaism/Women of Reform Judaism, 2008
References[edit]
- ^Zaklikowski, Dovid."What doesChumashmean? ".Chabad.org.Retrieved2016-12-03.
- ^"Torah versus Talmud?".Archived fromthe originalon 2022-01-17.Retrieved2019-01-10.
- ^Levenson, Alan T. (2011).The Making of the Modern Jewish Bible: How Scholars in Germany, Israel, and America Transformed an Ancient Text.Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 181–183.ISBN978-1-4422-0516-1.
