So the reason I keep using the term Pentateuch is that Torah is used as a much more broad descriptor that encompasses the Written Torah, the Mishna, Gemara, Midrashim, and commentaries throughout history. The book we read the weekly Torah portion from (in Hebrew and English) is called a Chumash and the extensive footnotes are extremely illuminating (and often challenging!). Maybe that’s why I was so gobsmacked by Jack insisting there is no room for discussion of Scripture. It’s just antithetical to my lifetime of experience of learning in general, and the daily and weekly experience of learning the week’s parsha. Below is a page from the Or HaChaim’s lengthy commentary on Vayikra (Leviticus) 16:1-18:30. All those footnotes and debates for millennia were unnecessary or hazardous, depending on how you read Jack’s dismissal of Scripture discussion. It just boggles the mind. I genuinely can’t imagine living like that.
View attachment 7626850