The Torah, also known as the Pentateuch refers to the Five Books of Moses— the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or Torah scroll is a copy of the Torah written on parchment in a formal, traditional manner by a specially trained scribe under strict requirements. Jewish tradition holds that the Torah was revealed to Moses at Mt. Sinai in 1312 BCE. However, modern historical scholarship suggests that the Torah was written much later, as its internal references allude to Moses as someone from the distant past. In the Christian religion, the Torah is part of the Old Testament of the Bible.
In most Harry Turtledove works, the Torah exists much as it does in OTL, and may be referenced or quoted by characters. This article focuses on those stories where the Torah is a direct plot point.
Torah in "Shtetl Days"[]
Although the Greater German Reich wiped out the Jews during and after the War of Retribution, it preserved the Torah. In the mid 21st Century, the Reich's Commissariat for the Strengthening of the German Populace created several shtetls as tourist attractions. The Commissariat also hired actors to play the parts of the extinct Jews. These method actors were required to be conversant in the Torah, among other Jewish texts.
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