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Introduction To The Torah

The biggest act of kindness (hesed) a person can do is to teach Torah. Everything written in the Torah, HASHEM told Moshe (Moses) to write. God spoke and Moshe wrote. By learning Torah you can reveal exactly what God wants from you and how God wants it from you. HASHEM promised in the Torah, whom ever will listen to his voice (which are the words written in the Torah, as just explained), HASHEM will bring upon him/her all the blessings. And whom ever will not listen to God's voice, God will bring upon him/her all the curses written in the Torah and more. HASHEM made it perfectly clear that HASHEM wants us to learn his Torah and be mekayem (fulfill) his laws, therefore HASHEM spoke to Moshe the Ten Commandments in front of Bnei Yisrael, to show everyone, that Moshe is and always be God's messenger. No one else but Moshe received God's public endorsement. Even when Moshe was passing away, God buried Moshe by God's self, to evaporate any non-sense notions that God will chose someone else at a later time.

God's Torah is the Hamisha Humshai Torah, AKA Torat Moshe. The Mishna and G'mara are also important, since they reveal the Torah sh'be-al peh, however they were written by the Hebrew Sages (Hazal) and are not God's words. Therefore, if you see many conflicts in the Mishna and G'mara you can understand why, since there had been difference in opinions amongst the Hebrew Sages, each declaring his way of learning and not moving from what his Rabbi passed down to him. However, they all shared the common view on the Torah, every letter is accurate, and no one has the right to contradict any portion of it what so ever. All that Moses wrote, was upon God's speech to him. This is why Hazal begin Perkai Avos with "Moshe kibel Torah meSinai", the very first word "Moshe", to teach us all that Moses wrote was accurate upon God's mouth, and that we must fully accept Moshe's Torah. They continued to declare that any rabbi who didn't receive the Torah from Moshe, is not a rabbi. "Moshe kibel...u'mesara le-Yehoshua veYehoshua la-Zekainim..."

The Neviyim (Prophets), were also true prophets of God, however all of their prophecies were given as a dream and in examples. Only Moshe's prophecies were given in exact and clear form, from God's mouth straight to Moshe, not in a dream. This attribute is what differs Moses from all other prophets. HASHEM stated that only Moses is to receive the highest form of prophecy because he is the most trusted by God. Because all of the other prophets were given prophecies in a mystery manner, none of their prophecies can be taken in a pshat (simple straight forward) manner, they cannot be understood as they are written. But, the Torah are all God's words given to Moshe AS IS, and must be taken in a pshat (simple straight forward) way. Any notion that a pasuk or word or letter is not pshat, is a vital blow to Moshe's prophecies, and negates God's will. The Hebrew Sages titled a person who doesn't believe that the Torah is pshat as an Apikores, Kofer and excluded him from the congregation. To clarify Hazal's statement, they simply meant the Torah should be learned in a pshat way according to the 13 ikarim. For instance, the first pasuk in the Torah, "B'raishit bara E-lokim et hashamiyim...", if you would learn by pshat then u would say b'raishit created God, however in the 13 ikarim is stated, God is first and prior to everything, therefore the pshat must be explained as E-lokim created b'raishit. Another example, "vayar Yisrael et haYad hegedola asher asa b'mitzrayim...", the pshat could be mistaken as if God has a big hand, a physical hand, however, in the 13 ikarim is stated God isn't physical and doesn't have a physical appearance, therefore, we must learn this pasuk as a metaphor trying to describe how God punished the Egyptians. The 13 ikarim are the guidelines which the Torah must be learned by. One of the ikarim is that the Torah must be learnt in a pshat way, and must be accepted AS IS, just as long as the pshat doesn't disqualify any of the other ikarim.

The Ketuvim were written not by prophecy, rather by ruach ha-Kodesh. Which means they weren't God's messengers, God didn't tell them to write it, rather they wrote them because of the strong inner feeling they felt that this is God's will.

Beezrat HASHEM, I wrote all of the above, in order to help everyone properly absorb what they learn. As you see, the Torah is not complex at all, just those who don't have the basics, also learn and teach incorrectly. After all is said and done, you should always remember, God's words are the Torah, the five books, B'raishit, Shmos, VaYikra, Bamidbar and Devarim.