Jewish Books You Have and Haven't Heard Of

Jewish books "on one foot":

There are many Jewish texts, such as those of the Apocrypha (written after the Hebrew Bible closed) and those of the Rabbis. This source sheet explains many of them.

Tanach

The Tanach is the Hebrew Bible. TaNaCh stands for Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). The first date that we have from archeology is that the Israelites entered the Land of Israel (under Joshua) around 1200 BCE, because that’s when the pottery changes. Tradition ascribes the Torah as having been dictated by G-d to Moses on Mt. Sinai (around 1240 BCE). Modern scholarship ascribes the Torah to different authors, traceable through the different names used for G-d (the “Documentary Hypothesis”). The Bible was closed around 444 BCE, traditionally by the prophet Ezra.

The Masorites added the trope and the vowels in the Land of Israel in the 800s; because trope also function as punctuation, this defined where the verses ended as well. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, added chapters around 1200; this explains why the 7th day of Creation is in the same aliyah as the other 6 days (a Jewish division), but it is in Chapter 2 of Genesis instead of Chapter 1 (a Christian division). Jews nonetheless embraced chapters, even if they didn’t always line up with Jewish divisions. Christians didn’t get around to putting verse numbers in their translations until the Geneva Bible of 1551, which drew on the Jewish division of verses.

Rashi’s Commentary on the Tanach

Rashi is an acronym for Rabbi Shimon Ben Yitzchak. He was a French winemaker who lived from 1040-1105. When he wasn’t making wine, he wrote a commentary on the Tanach and the Talmud. Rashi usually tried to explain the “p’shat”, the literal meaning of the text.

Mishnah

Both during and after the time of the Second Temple, there were many discussions about how to apply the laws of the Torah to “modern” times. Around the year 200 CE, Rabbi Judah the Prince organized these discussions into 6 large topics (“orders”), and then 63 sub-topics (“tractates”). In the Seder song “Who Knows One”, this is the answer for “Who knows Six?”.

Pirkei Avot

Pirkei Avot is a collection of quotes from the rabbis of the Mishnah. They lived from the years 300 BCE to 200 CE, and their sayings form a tractate of the Talmud. It’s one of the few tractates of the Mishnah which has no Gemara commenting on it, and it’s the only tractate of the Talmud which is about ethical/moral ways of living but not about Jewish law. Pirkei Avot is traditionally studied after Shabbat Mincha in the summer months (Passover to Rosh Hashanah), so it’s printed in its entirety at that spot in most siddurim.

Midrash

If the Mishnah explained the “how” of the Torah, and Rashi explained the “what” of the Torah, Midrash explains the “so what” of the Torah. Halachic Midrash seeks to explain the deeper meaning of the text, while Aggadic Midrash seeks to explain the missing parts of the stories. For example, what did Cain and Abel talk about in their last conversation? The Torah only says that they talked, so Midrash seeks to fill in the gaps. Classical Midrashic texts were written between 200 CE and 1200 CE. The Mechilta covers Exodus, Sifra is about Leviticus, and Sifrei covers Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Tanchuma covers all 5 books. There’s also Midrash Rabbah, with books covering each book in the Torah and each of the 5 megillot - Esther, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes. People still write midrashim today.

There are also versions of this story in Sifrei and Tanchuma.

Talmud

After the Mishnah was compiled in the Land of Israel around 200 CE, the rabbis in Israel and Babylonia spent decades and decades analyzing it to figure out exactly how to implement what it said. These discussions became known as “Gemara”. The discussions in Israel were compiled around 400 CE into the Jerusalem Talmud (actually done in Tiberius), while the discussions in Babylonia were compiled around 500 CE into the Babylonian Talmud. This became the better-known Talmud after the Muslim Caliphate in Baghdad allowed the Babylonian Talmud to spread through its communication networks. Moreover, the Jerusalem Talmud has a greater focus on matters only relevant within the Land of Israel. Now, when somebody says “The Talmud”, they mean “The Babylonian Talmud”.

Rashi’s Commentary on the Talmud

Rashi (France, 1040-1105) not only wrote a commentary on the literal meaning of the Tanach, he also wrote a commentary explaining what 30 of the 39 tractates of the Talmud were talking about (he died before finishing this project). When Daniel Bomberg made the first printed Talmud in 1520 he included Rashi’s commentary, and thereafter Rashi has always been included in printed copies of the Talmud. His commentary is always the part of the page closest to the middle of the book so it’s easy to find. Particularly given that there are traditionally no vowels and very little punctuation in the Talmud, Rashi is indispensable in understanding the Talmud.

Mishneh Torah

The Mishneh Torah was written by Maimonides (1135-1204), a.k.a. The Rambam. The Rambam’s main job was physician to the Sultan, and in his spare time he set out to answer the question “What should a Jew do?” He did this mostly by reorganizing the thoughts of the Talmud, but also adding his own knowledge 600 years later. At first the Mishneh Torah was controversial because it took out all of the back-and-forth in the Talmud and just gave a bottom line answer, but this later became seen as a strength.

Shulchan Aruch

The Shulchan Aruch was published by Rabbi Joseph Caro in 1563 as a “Code of Jewish Law”. It updates the Mishneh Torah as a way of explaining what to do in every situation that it could think of. In general it gives Sephardic practice, so the Rema (Rabbi Moses Isserles) wrote a gloss giving the Ashkenazic practice when it was different. There are 4 sections to the Shulchan Aruch:

Orach Chayim - the laws about Jewish time (prayer time and holidays)

Yoreh De’ah - the laws about Jewish living (kashrut, conversion, mourning, Israel)

Even Ha’ezer - the laws about getting married and divorced

Choshen Mishpat - the laws about business, money, and courts

Mishnah Berurah

The Mishnah Berurah was written by the Chofetz Chayim (Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan) in the late 1800s. It takes the Orach Chayim section of the Shulchan Aruch (laws about prayer, synagogue, Shabbat, and holidays) and explains various ways of thinking about them as of the late 1800s. It tends to lean toward the stricter of the options that it presents when it gives options.

A Recap in Video Form

What is the Difference Between Tanach, Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha?

The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) consists of a collection of writings dating from approximately the 13th - 3rd centuries BCE. These books were included in the Jewish canon by the Talmudic sages at Yavneh around the end of the first century CE, after the destruction of the Second Temple. However, there are many other Jewish writings from the Second Temple Period which were excluded from the Tanakh; these are known as the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha.

The Apocrypha (Greek, "hidden books") are Jewish books from that period not preserved in the Tanakh, but included in the Latin (Vulgate) and Greek (Septuagint) Old Testaments. The Apocrypha are still regarded as part of the canon of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, and as such, their number is fixed.

The term Pseudepigrapha (Greek, "falsely attributed") was given to Jewish writings of the same period, which were attributed to authors who did not actually write them. This was widespread in Greco-Roman antiquity - in Jewish, Christian, and pagan circles alike. Books were attributed to pagan authors, and names drawn from the repertoire of biblical personalities, such as Adam, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel, Baruch, and Jeremiah. The Pseudepigrapha resemble the Apocrypha in general character, yet were not included in the Bible, Apocrypha, or rabbinic literature.

All the Apocrypha and most of the Pseudepigrapha are Jewish works (some contain Christianizing additions). They provide essential evidence of Jewish literature and thought during the period between the end of biblical writing (ca. 400 BCE) and the beginning of substantial rabbinic literature in the latter part of the first century CE. They have aroused much scholarly interest, since they provide information about Judaism at the turn of the era between the Bible and the Mishna (Biblical Law and Oral Law), and help explain how Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity came into being.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-apocrypha-and-pseudepigrapha

Some Apocrypha Texts

Tobit

This book tells the story of Tobit, a righteous Israelite of the tribe of Naphtali, living in Nineveh after Sargon II had deported the northern tribes of Israel to Assyria in 721 B.C. In the two Greek versions, the first two and a half chapters are written in the first person; in the Vulgate version, they are written in the third person.^[17]Tobit, raised by his paternal grandmother, Deborah, remains loyal to the worship of God at the temple in Jerusalem, refusing the cult of the golden calves that Jeroboam, king of the northern kingdom of Israel, set up at Dan. He is particularly noted for his diligence in attempting to provide proper burials for fallen Israelites whom Sargon's successor, Sennacherib, has slain. For this behavior the king seizes his property and exiles him. After Sennacherib's death, Tobit is allowed to return to Nineveh, where he buries a man who has been murdered on the street. That night, he sleeps in the open and is blinded by bird droppings which fall into his eyes. His blindness subsequently leads him to falsely accuse his wife, Anna, of stealing a baby goat she had received as partial payment for work she had done.^[18] This strains his marriage and, ultimately, he prays for death.^[19]

Meanwhile, in faraway Media, a young woman named Sarah has prayed for death in despair. The demon of lust, Asmodeus ("the worst of demons"), abducts and kills every man Sarah marries on their wedding night before the marriage can be consummated. God sends the angel Raphael, disguised as a human, to heal Tobit and free Sarah from the demon.^[19]

The main narrative is dedicated to Tobit's son, Tobiah or Tobiyah (Greek: Τωβίας Tobias), who is sent by his father to collect money that the elder has deposited in distant Media. Raphael presents himself as Tobit's kinsman, Azariah, and offers to aid and protect Tobias. Under Raphael's guidance, Tobias journeys to Media with his dog.

Along the way, while washing his feet in the river Tigris, a fish tries to swallow his foot. By the angel's order, he captures it and removes its heart, liver and gall bladder.^[20]

Upon arriving in Media, Raphael tells Tobias of the beautiful Sarah, whom Tobias has the right to marry because he is her cousin and closest relative. The angel instructs the young man to burn the fish's liver and heart to drive away the demon when he attacks on the wedding night.^[21] The two marry, and the fumes of the burning organs drive the demon to Upper Egypt, where Raphael follows and binds him. Sarah's father had been digging a grave to secretly bury Tobias under the assumption that he would be killed. Surprised to find his son-in-law alive and well, he orders a double-length wedding feast and has the grave secretly filled. Since the feast prevents him from leaving, Tobias sends Raphael to recover his father's money.^[21]

After the feast, Tobias and Sarah return to Nineveh. There, Raphael tells the youth to use the fish's gall to cure his father's blindness. Raphael then reveals his identity and returns to heaven, and Tobit sings a hymn of praise.^[21]

Tobit tells his son to leave Nineveh before God destroys it according to prophecy (compare the Book of Nahum). After the prayer, Tobit dies at an advanced age.^[22] After burying his father and mother, Tobias returns to Media with his family.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Tobit#Summary

Judith

The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved.^[27] Though she is courted by many, Judith remains unmarried for the rest of her life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Judith#Plot_summary

For a song by Alicia Jo Rabin about this story, see here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/94814?lang=bi​​​​​​​

Susannah

A fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two lustful elders secretly observe the lovely Susanna. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sex with them. She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for promiscuity when the young Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After being separated, the two men are cross-examined about details of what they saw but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. In the Greek text, the names of the trees cited by the elders form puns with the sentence given by Daniel. The first says they were under a mastic tree (ὑπο σχίνον, hypo schinon), and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cut (σχίσει, schisei) him in two. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree (ὑπο πρίνον, hypo prinon), and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to saw (πρίσαι, prisai) him in two. The great difference in size between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_(Book_of_Daniel)#Summary

Bel and the Dragon

The narrative of Bel (14:1–22) ridicules the worship of idols. In it, the king asks Daniel, "You do not think Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?"^[6] to which Daniel answers that the idol is made of clay covered by bronze and thus cannot eat or drink. Enraged, the king then demands that the seventy priests of Bel show him who consumes the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set the offerings as usual (which were "twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine") and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring: if Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, Daniel is to be killed.

Daniel then uncovers the ruse (by scattering ashes over the floor of the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually consumed at night by the priests and their wives and children, who enter through a secret door when the temple's doors are sealed.

The next morning, Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple floor; the priests of Bel are then arrested and, confessing their deed, reveal the secret passage that they used to sneak inside the temple. They, their wives and children are put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple. This version has been cited as an ancestor of the "locked-room mystery".^[7]

In the brief but autonomous companion narrative of the dragon (Daniel 14:23–30), "There was a great dragon which the Babylonians revered."^[8] In this case the supposed god is no idol, but an animal. However, Daniel slays the dragon by baking pitch, fat, and hair (trichas) to make cakes (mazas, barley-cakes) that cause the dragon to burst open upon consumption. In other variants, other ingredients serve the purpose: in a form known to the Midrash, straw was fed in which nails were hidden,^[9] or skins of camels were filled with hot coals,^[10] or in the Alexander cycle of Romances it was Alexander the Great who overcame the dragon by feeding it poison and tar.^[11]

Earlier scholarship has suggested a parallel between this text and the contest between Marduk and Tiamat in Mesopotamian mythology, where the winds controlled by Marduk burst Tiamat open^[12] and barley-cake plays the same role as the wind.^[13]However, David DeSilva has recently cast doubt on this reading.^[14]

As a result, the Babylonians are indignant, and threaten the king if he does not give them Daniel. Daniel is handed over, and thrown into a lions' den. The prophet Habakkuk is miraculously recruited and brought to share a meal with Daniel in the den. When Daniel is found alive in the den seven days later, the king throws his persecutors to the lions, who eat and kill them.

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel_and_the_Dragon#Summaries}

Maccabees 1

The setting of the book is about a century and a half after the conquest of Judea by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, after Alexander's empire has been divided so that Judea was part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. It tells how the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted to suppress the practice of basic Jewish law, resulting in the Maccabean Revolt (a Jewish revolt against Seleucid rule). The book covers the whole of the revolt, from 175 to 134 BC, highlighting how the salvation of the Jewish people in this crisis came through Mattathias' family, particularly his sons, Judas Maccabeus, Jonathan Apphus, and Simon Thassi, and Simon's son, John Hyrcanus. The doctrine expressed in the book reflects traditional Jewish teaching, without later doctrines found, for example, in 2 Maccabees. The First Book of Maccabees also gives a list of Jewish colonies scattered elsewhere through the Mediterranean at the time.^[1]

In the first chapter, Alexander the Great conquers the territory of Judea, only to be eventually succeeded by the Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes. After successfully invading the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Antiochus IV captures Jerusalem and removes the sacred objects from the Temple in Jerusalem, slaughtering many Jews. He then imposes a tax and establishes a fortress in Jerusalem.

Antiochus then tries to suppress public observance of Jewish laws, in an attempt to secure control over the Jews. In 168 BC, he desecrates the Temple by setting up an "abomination of desolation" (that is, establishing rites of pagan observance in the Temple, or sacrificing an unclean animal on the altar in the Holy of Holies). Antiochus forbids both circumcision and possession of Jewish scriptures on pain of death. He forbids observance of the sabbath and the offering of sacrifices at the Temple. He also requires Jewish leaders to sacrifice to idols. While enforcement may be targeting only Jewish leaders, ordinary Jews were also killed as a warning to others.

Hellenization included the construction of gymnasiums in Jerusalem. Among other effects, this discouraged the Jewish rite of circumcision even further, which had already been officially forbidden; a man's state could not be concealed in the gymnasium, where men trained and socialized in the nude. However, 1 Maccabees also insists that there were many Jews who sought out or welcomed the introduction of Greek culture. According to the text, some Jewish men even engaged in foreskin restoration in order to pass as fully Greek.

Mattathias calls upon people loyal to the traditions of Israel to oppose the invaders and the Jewish Hellenizers, and his five^[2] sons begin a military campaign against them (the Maccabean Revolt). There is one complete loss of a thousand Jews (men, women and children) to Antiochus when the Jewish defenders refuse to fight on the Sabbath. The other Jews then reason that, when attacked, they must fight even on the holy day. In 165 BC the Temple is freed and reconsecrated, so that ritual sacrifices may begin again. The festival of Hanukkah is instituted by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers to celebrate this event (1 Macc. 4:59). Judas seeks an alliance with the Roman Republic to remove the Greeks. He is succeeded by his brother Jonathan, who becomes high priest and also seeks alliance with Rome and confirms alliance with Areus of Sparta (1 Macc. 12:1–23). Simon follows them, receiving the double office of high priest and prince of Israel. (Simon and his successors form the Hasmonean dynasty, which is not always considered a valid kingship by the Jews, since they were not of the lineage of David.) Simon leads the people in peace and prosperity, until he is murdered by agents of Ptolemy, son of Abubus, who had been named governor of the region by the Macedonian Greeks. He is succeeded by his son, John Hyrcanus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Maccabees#Contents

Maccabees 2

Unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees does not attempt to provide a complete account of the events of the period, instead covering only the period from the high priest Onias III and King Seleucus IV (180 BC) to the defeat of Nicanor in 161.

In general, the chronology of the book coheres with that of 1 Maccabees, and it has some historical value in supplementing 1 Maccabees, principally in providing a few apparently authentic historical documents. The author seems primarily interested in providing a theological interpretation of the events; in this book God's interventions direct the course of events, punishing the wicked and restoring the Temple to his people. It has been suggested that some events appear to be presented out of strict chronological order to make theological points, but there seems little reason to expect a sequential chronology anyway, and little evidence for demonstrating the point one way or the other. Some of the numbers cited for sizes of armies may also appear exaggerated, though not all of the manuscripts of this book agree.

The Greek style of the writer is very educated, and he seems well-informed about Greek customs. The action follows a very simple plan: after the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple is instituted. The newly dedicated Temple is threatened by Nicanor, and after his death, the festivities for the dedication are concluded. A special day is dedicated to commemorate the Jewish victory called "Adar" and each year it is celebrated two days before "Mordecai Day".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Maccabees#Contents