The Way Into Torah

The Way Into

by Norman J. Cohen

An accessible introduction to how to read, study, and understand Torah―the Bible and related sacred texts that have grown up around it. For everyone who wants to understand Torah, this book shows the way into an essential aspect of Judaism, and allows you to interact directly with the sacred texts of the Jewish tradition. Guided by Dr. Norman J. Cohen, rabbi and professor of midrash at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, The Way Into Torah helps us explore the origins and development of Torah, why it should be studied, and how to do it. This guide offers an entrance into the world of Torah, and to its meaning for our lives. The Way Into Torah shows us why reading Torah is not the same as reading anything else―and enables us to become a part of a chain of Jewish tradition that began millennia ago, and remains unbroken today.

Genres: Judaism, Religion, Judaica

176 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2000

Reviews

[Dara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 interesting, but I found it more scholarly than the title would suggest. Had both an overview, and depth into the subject matter.

[Adam Glantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Norman Cohen recommends that modern Jews who are looking for meaning in their lives should reclaim their sacred ancestral text. But this isn't an argument for radical skeptics, as he presumes the intrinsic, even mystical value of the Torah. Given the title of the book and the type of reader likely to be attracted to it, this is eminently acceptable.

The crux of his argument is that reading the Torah is an active enterprise of give-and-take, whereby the reader extends revelation by discovering new meanings in the text, and thereby learns something new about himself (or, more rarely: herself, given the patriarchal traditional culture of the Rabbis) in the process. These meanings can be sought in a variety of ways, but the dominant mode of the Rabbis is derash, by which a variety of thematic and grammatical connections are made between passages in the text. The result are often unexpected and delightful meanings at variance with the plain sense, or peshat, of the passage. The belief that all "new"meanings were present in the text from the beginning give the Torah its rootedness and its timeless nature, while the terseness of the text guarantees that the seeker can uncover an unlimited number of fresh meanings throughout his or her life of study. This is the sense in which the Torah is both complete and expanding at the same time. According to Cohen, the process of delving into the Torah is spiritually fulfilling, revealing the nature of God Himself, perhaps even constituting a bona fide theophany, and this divine energy has ensured that the Jewish project has overcome all historical travails to survive into the present. But there are no short cuts to Torah. It requires both diligent study and a supportive community of teachers and learners to unlock its potential.

Cohen's argument is dialectical, of course, proceeding from value judgments that some modern Jews may not share. But I found it difficult not to be swept up by his enthusiasm, either because of his manifest belief in what he writes or because I hope that such a source of divine blessing really exists in this often disappointing world. In the shadows cast by the Holocaust, it's hard to believe that the Torah infallibly promotes Jewish survival, but it's clear that Cohen and people like him really do obtain spiritual sustenance from its pages. Perhaps his toughest sell is the social aspect of Torah, which cuts against the grain of a world of atomized individuals connected by the slender filaments of the internet. And perhaps that's what makes it so important.

[Simcha York · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Way Into Torah is a quick, concise introduction to Torah study. It is geared primarily toward readers who are not yet engaged in a regular routine of Torah study. It provides some basic information on PaRDes (the four approaches to discovering meaning in Torah) and a description of Torah in its broadest sense (including not only the text of the Torah and Chumash, but also the whole Tanakh, as well as the Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, and associated commentary). The scope of the book allows only for a superficial glance at the landscape of the written and oral Torah, but it is an enticing glance that will hopefully lead some readers to begin a more in-depth program of Torah study. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who has yet to make Torah study a regular part of their routine.

[Justin Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carefully written and thouroughly researched. Cohen makes the Torah spiritual without any obvious agenda other than to desire God's word.