La Torá (en hebreo, תּוֹרָה‎ [Torah], lit., «instrucción, enseñanza») es el texto que contiene la ley y el patrimonio identitario del pueblo israelita; constituye la base y el fundamento del judaísmo. El término proviene de la raíz hebrea .י.ר.ה (Y.R.H.), que significa «acometer» y se halla etimológicamente ligado a las nociones de ley, enseñanza e instrucción. Para el judaísmo, la Torá es la Ley. Según la tradición común al judaísmo y al cristianismo, involucra la totalidad de la revelación y enseñanza divina otorgada al pueblo de Israel. Considerando la importancia de Moisés en este proceso, ambas denominaciones a veces se refieren a la Torá como la Ley de Moisés, la ley mosaica, e incluso ley escrita de Moisés: dado que en el judaísmo, la Torá comprende tanto la ley escrita como la ley oral. Ello no es arbitrario dado que su sentido estricto, el término Torá se refiere específicamente a los cinco primeros libros bíblicos, el Pentateuco, al que se conoce también como los cinco libros de Moisés. En hebreo se los denomina Jamishá Jumshéy Torá (חֲמִשָּׁה חֻמְשֵׁי תּוֹרָה—"Los Cinco Quintos de la Torá"), mas habitualmente se emplea la forma abreviada de esa expresión y se los llama y conoce entonces como el Jumásh (חֻמָּשׁ-"Quinto"). En su sentido más amplio, cuando el término Torá implica todos los libros de la Biblia hebrea, los israelitas suelen denominarla "Tanaj" (תַּנַ"ךְ). Se trata de un acrónimo para designar a los 24 libros de la Biblia hebrea. El mencionado acrónimo es formado por tres consonantes, T-a-N-a-J, que son a su vez las iniciales de los términos hebreos que designan las tres secciones que forman la Biblia hebrea: T de Torá (Pentateuco), N de Nevi'im (Profetas) y J de Ketuvim (Escritos). Los libros que forman el Pentateuco son: \n* Génesis — Bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית), "En el comienzo" \n* Éxodo — Shemot (שְׁמוֹת), "Nombres" \n* Levítico — Vayikrá (וַיִּקְרָא), "Y llamó" \n* Números — Bemidbar (בְּמִדְבַּר), "En el desierto" \n* Deuteronomio — Devarim (דְּבָרִים), "Palabras"/"Cosas"/"Leyes". Tanto la Torá como el Tanaj constituyen aquello que los cristianos denominan "Antiguo Testamento". Por último, los judíos utilizan la palabra Torá para referirse también a la Mishná, la ley oral, desarrollada durante siglos y compilada en el siglo II por Yehudah Hanasí.

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The Torah (/ˈtɔːrəˌˈtoʊrə/; Hebrew: תּוֹרָה, "Instruction, Teaching"), or the Pentateuch (/ˈpɛntəˌtuːk, -ˌtjuːk/), is the central reference of the religious Judaic tradition. It has a range of meanings. It can most specifically mean the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh, and it usually includes the perushim (rabbinic commentaries). The term "Torah" means instruction and offers a way of life for those who follow it; it can mean the continued narrative from Book of Genesis to the end of the Tanakh, and it can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching, culture and practice. Common to all these meanings, Torah consists of the foundational narrative of Jewish peoplehood: their call into being by God, their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with their God, which involves following a way of life embodied in a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws (halakha). In rabbinic literature the word "Torah" denotes both the five books (Hebrew: תורה שבכתב‎‎ "Torah that is written") as well as the Oral Torah (תורה שבעל פה, "Torah that is spoken"). The Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash. According to rabbinic tradition, all of the teachings found in the Torah, both written and oral, were given by God through Moses, a prophet, some of them at Mount Sinai and others at the Tabernacle, and all the teachings were written down by Moses, which resulted in the Torah we have today. According to a Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, and was used as the blueprint for Creation. The majority of Biblical scholars believe that the written books were a product of the Babylonian captivity (c. 600 BCE), based on earlier written and oral traditions, and that it was completed by the period of Achaemenid rule (c. 400 BCE). However, the 2004 discovery of fragments of the Hebrew Bible at Ketef Hinnom dating to the 7th century BCE, and thus to before the Babylonian captivity, suggests that at least some elements of the written Torah were current before the Babylonian exile. Traditionally, the words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a sofer on parchment in Hebrew. A Torah portion is read publicly at least once every three days in the halachically-prescribed tune, in the presence of a congregation. Reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases for Jewish communal life.

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