the torah is not merely rules and regulations. it represents the national and religious history of the jewish people. if you want to know about the origins of the jewish people, here is the place to look. it will answer questions like 'how did the jewish race begin?' and 'why did the jewish race begin?'. yet, the torah goes far beyond merely recording the origins of the jewish people. in fact, the torah speaks about the origins of the world and the universe itself, the origins of the human race, the origins of when human sin began etc. to understand god's salvation history (heilsgeschichte - salvation history), one has to begin with the torah. in it, we see how because men and women fell into sin, god had to initiate his salvation plan, beginning with abraham and sarah aand their descendants, the jewish people, and climaxing in jesus' incarnation on earth and culminating in his final return (the second coming).

how does one go about reading the torah profitably? one suggestion is to see all five books as representing a single block of material that has a beginning and end, which are tied together with common themes (like covenant, election, deliverance, promise, land) and has a natural flow. i always suggest to my students to find a long weekend, go somewhere quiet like the beach or the highlands, and read through genesis to deuteronomy in one sitting. this is to capture the majestic sweep and flow of the narrative. i can guarantee that this is far better reading than any of hollywood or bollywood's epics or mills and boon's romantic novels. very often, we don't do this synchronic reading (like slicing a cake from the side through the whole cake). we do what is called diachronic reading (cutting the cake just straight down into different slices). most of our bible reading is done diachronically, especially if you use the american daily bread for your daily readings. you end up reading a little here and a little there but do not read a whole book and thus do not see the whole picture. try a synchornic reading of the torah. it will blow your mind (i.e. to comprehend the salvation plan of god. and this is just the 1st part)!