About: Chumash (Judaism)   Sponge Permalink

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The word "Chumash" may be a misreading of chomesh, meaning "one-fifth", alluding to any one of the five books: as the Hebrew חומש has no vowel signs, it could be read either way. It could also be regarded as a back-formed singular of chumashim/chumshei (which is in fact the plural of chomesh).

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  • Chumash (Judaism)
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  • The word "Chumash" may be a misreading of chomesh, meaning "one-fifth", alluding to any one of the five books: as the Hebrew חומש has no vowel signs, it could be read either way. It could also be regarded as a back-formed singular of chumashim/chumshei (which is in fact the plural of chomesh).
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  • The word "Chumash" may be a misreading of chomesh, meaning "one-fifth", alluding to any one of the five books: as the Hebrew חומש has no vowel signs, it could be read either way. It could also be regarded as a back-formed singular of chumashim/chumshei (which is in fact the plural of chomesh). In early scribal practice there was a distinction between a Sefer Torah, containing the entire Pentateuch on a parchment scroll, and a copy of one of the five books on its own, which was generally bound in codex form, like a modern book, and had a lesser degree of sanctity. The term chomesh strictly applies to one of these. Thus, Chomesh Bereshit strictly means "the Genesis fifth", but was misread as Chumash, Bereshit and interpreted as meaning "The Pentateuch: Genesis", as if "Chumash" was the name of the book and "Bereshit" the name of one of its parts. In the legal codes, such as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, it is laid down that any copy of the Pentateuch which does not comply with the strict rules for a Sefer Torah, for example because it is not a parchment scroll or contains vowel signs, has only the same sanctity as a copy of an individual book (chomesh). In this way, the word chomesh (or chumash) came to have the extended sense of any copy of the Pentateuch other than a Sefer Torah.
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