As believers, we naturally desire a closer personal relationship with God, to know Him more intimately. The best way to get to know Him better is through the study of His word, His instruction manual for right living. Today, through modern technology, we have available to us a vast multitude of books about God and the Bible. However, the early believers had no such books and studied the scriptures themselves, most often the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. The Torah is the foundation on which both Judaism and Christianity are built. There is nothing more fundamental to our faith than God’s Torah.
During Jesus’ time, believers in the Messiah as well as other devout Jews would meet together weekly to study the Torah. Jewish sages had broken down the Torah into 54 portions (each called a parashah) to provide a systematic way to study the entire Torah in a year. Thus, each week there was an assigned portion of scripture to be read and studied. Typically, a small group would meet together, read the assigned portion and discuss it among themselves. Usually there was an elder or appointed leader of the group but the style of learning was very interactive with plenty of questions to provoke thought. Many opinions and ideas were expressed and people learned from one another. In this way, God was able to work in the hearts of each one in the group, regardless of their level of understanding or familiarity with the scripture.
This same system of reading, study and discussion is still in use today and forms the basis for the Torah for Today study series. Student workbooks have been developed for each of the five books of the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Each workbook is organized into chapters based on the traditional Torah portions. Within each chapter, there are a series of detailed questions designed to be answered by the student in his or her personal study time. Some questions are rather elementary while others are open-ended, intended to stimulate discussion. Often the questions will refer to other passages in either the Old Testament (Tanach) or the New Testament (B’rit Hadashah). At the end of each section, there is a set of more detailed questions designed for deeper study. There are also various charts, maps and diagrams presented as study aids. In addition, a Leader’s Guide has also been developed for each book in the Torah. These Leader’s Guides contain the same questions as the student workbooks along with answers and comments.
Typically, each week the group meets together. They review the Parashah for that week, reading the scripture and reviewing their answers to the questions together. The study group leader is not necessarily expected to be an instructor or teacher. Instead, he or she acts as a discussion moderator, ensuring that a balanced discussion is maintained and keeping to a schedule so that all the material is covered.
The material in this study program has been “field tested” for over five years. It is very rewarding to see how God blesses those who regularly and diligently study His word. Psalm 1 tells us that the man who “delights in the Torah of the LORD and who meditates on it day and night” is blessed. This has definitely been the case with those who have participated in this Torah study series. If you would like to start a Torah study group in your home or congregation, contact us for more information on this study series.
