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The Torah

Let there be Shmoop.

  • Course Length: 3 weeks
  • Course Type: Short Course
  • Category:
    • Humanities
    • Literature
    • High School

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What are the two things you're never supposed to talk about in polite company? Politics and religion. And the first five books of the Bible have them both—in spades.

So yeah, the Torah can be a touchy subject. Nothing can derail a nice evening out with friends quicker than someone dropping some accusatory verses from Leviticus, areweright?

Shmoop knows that everyone out there has different takes on these books—and guess what? That's okay. Whether or not you think God once wiped out all of humanity in a flood, you're cool by us.

See, we'll be studying the Bible as literature. That means our Bible curriculum won't be trying to figure out if Eve really gave Adam that fruit. We'll be analyzing these books like you would a short story, novel, or poem. That means you will

  • think about Genesis as the beginning of all literary beginnings, including an activity that compares it to Dickens and Austen. 
  • complete close-reading activities to compare the different creation stories.
  • examine the use of symbolism in the Torah.
  • discuss and debate how biblical laws impacted the lives of the ancient Israelites and how they still influence us today.
  • write literary essays about the Bible the way you would about any other work of literature.

And it will be good.

Required Skills

  • An understanding of basic literary concepts like symbols and themes (but we'll do a refresher, for sure)
  • Some experience writing about literature

Unit Breakdown

1 The Torah - The Big Five

Get ready to tackle Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in one fell swoop. (NB: 1 fell swoop is equivalent to 15 lessons.)


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.02: Family Matters: Genesis

Um...Dad?

(Source)

Now that we've got the whole creation-of-the-world thing under our belts, let's zoom in a bit. How much? Well, we're gonna focus our sights on one of Shmoop's favorite things: family.

Ever since Abraham was introduced a few chapters ago, Genesis switched from talking about Big Deal Myths to telling us all about the ins and outs of one particular clan. And really, Abraham's family—whose stories will take up the rest of Genesis—is just like any other. There are moms and dads, sons and daughters, favoritism, sibling rivalry, and loads of family drama.

Okay, so they may occasionally fight and misunderstand each other, but deep down it's all love and hugs for Abraham's clan, right?

Um, sort of. Abraham's family reminds us a bit of the folks you see on The Jerry Springer Show, except these biblical relations have way more issues. Most of us never reminisce about the time our dad tried to kill us, or when our uncle tricked us into working for free for fourteen years. Sure, we've all taken something that belonged to a sibling, but usually, that thing was a sweatshirt and not their God-given birthright.

Family: can't live with 'em, can't ship 'em off to a remote land.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.02: Genesis 22-36: Abraham's Boys

Let's read Genesis 22-36. Start here if you're following along online. And either way, check out Shmoop's chapter summaries if you need a helping hand. Come on, don't be shy.

After you're all done with that, take a peek at some of our character breakdowns for the folks we've been reading about. Don't you want to know exactly where these guys and gals are coming from? Yeah, we thought so:

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.02a: The Way We Were: Good Old-Fashioned Sibling Rivalry

Jacob and Esau don't exactly get along. Though they manage to bury the hatchet in the end, we'd say they've got a few issues left to work out together in family therapy. This whole in-fighting between siblings thing is all over the place in Genesis.

First, read what we have to say about sibling rivalry in Genesis.

Got it? Good.

Now tell us:

What's different between Cain and Abel's relationship and Jacob and Esau's? What's similar? Is the theme of sibling rivalry portrayed differently in the two relationships or is it just variation on a theme? A few things to think about while answering these questions:

  • Who's to blame for the rivalry in each scenario? Parents? God? The siblings? Something totally different?
  • Is there a clear good guy and bad guy in each story? If so, are the good guys in each story similar to one another? The bad guys?
  • How does each story end?

We're looking for about 200 words total.

Expository Writing Rubric - 15 Points

OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
Evidence / Support

All support is clearly and logically connected to the topic. Examples, evidence, and details are thorough and relevant with effective explanation.

(6)

All support about the main topic is relevant. Examples, evidence, and details are explained.

(5)

Most support is related to the topic. Examples, evidence, or details are given.

(5)

Insufficient examples, evidence, or details. Support may be irrelevant.

(4)
Content Understanding

All content is accurate and analysis is interesting and sophisticated.

(6)

All content is accurate.

(5)

May contain minor errors.

(5)

Major errors.

(4)
Style

Language is clear and interesting. Enhances presentation of information. No errors.

(3)

Language is clear and appropriate to topic. Minor spelling or grammatical errors.

(3)

Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Frequent spelling/grammar errors that do not impede comprehension.

(2)

Language use makes writing very difficult to understand. Frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension.

(2)

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.02b: Cain and Abel, Meet Everyone Who Came After You

Let's broaden our scope of sibling rivalry.

  1. Think of as many sets of famous siblings (from books, movies, TV, or even real life) as you can. Just one catch: they have to be siblings who don't get along (sorry Mary Kate and Ashley). List 'em here. And while we said "as many as you can," we're looking for at least 15. But go crazy.

  2. Now go through your list and pick the one you think is the most Biblical. Which pair is most similar to the siblings you've seen so far in Genesis? You're going to write a mini-persuasive essay arguing that your famous sibling rivalry reflects the ones seen in Genesis. That means using textual evidence—both from the Bible and from the text you've chosen—to prove our case.

    You can head on over to our Essay Lab for help, but either way, make sure you have a strong thesis and lots of support.

    300 words, please.

Literary Essay Rubric - 30 Points

OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
Introduction

Grabs reader’s attention effectively. Presents effective context for thesis, including background and significance of topic.

(3)

Presents topic clearly. Presents some context for thesis, including background. Attempts to discuss significance.

(3)

Presents topic. Includes some background and context. May be trite and unfocused.

(2)

Does not present topic clearly and/or does not contextualize thesis.

(2)
Thesis

Has clear, supportable, and interesting perspective on topic with clear rationale.

(4)

Has clear and supportable perspective on topic with sense of rationale.

(3)

Has supportable perspective on topic.

(2)

Has no evident perspective on topic, or has one that is not supportable.

(2)
Analysis of Text

Creates insightful, meaningful interpretation of texts. Analyzes author’s use of language, structure, and literary elements and how they contribute to larger meaning of text.

(6)

Creates logical interpretation of text. Discussion of author’s use of language, structure, and literary elements mixes analysis and description.

(5)

Creates reasonable but limited interpretation of text. Discussion of language, structure, and literary elements is primarily descriptive.

(5)

Interpretation of text is not reasonable, or discussion of text never extends beyond description.

(4)
Evidence / Support

All support is clearly and logically connected to the topic. Examples, evidence and details are thorough and relevant with effective explanation.

(5)

All support about the main topic is relevant. Examples, evidence and details are explained.

(4)

Most support is related to the topic. Examples, evidence or details are given.

(3)

Insufficient examples, evidence, or details. Support may be irrelevant.

(3)
Organization

Has a logical organizational scheme. Each piece of information flows logically and smoothly to the next.

(3)

Has a clear organizational plan. Information is presented logically with some sense of connection.

(3)

General sense of organizational plan. Information makes sense within it, but transitions are lacking.

(2)

Information appears disconnected or illogical.

(2)
Citation

All citation form is accurate. Goes beyond required integration of sources. Paraphrase and quoting is used effectively.

(3)

All citation form is accurate. All required sources are used. Has examples of both paraphrasing and quoting.

(3)

May contain minor citation form errors. May be missing required source. Direct quotes are over utilized and/or paraphrasing is occasionally inaccurate.

(2)

Major citation errors, or correct form is used, but most of paper is quoted directly. (If paper is plagiarized, it automatically gets a zero in total.)

(2)
Conclusion

Logically and effectively synthesizes information in an interesting way that shows the larger implications of the topic.

(3)

Synthesizes information persuasively and shows larger implications somewhat.

(3)

Restates information with some attempt at showing larger relevance.

(2)

Restates information.

(2)
Style

Language is clear and interesting. Enhances presentation of information. No errors.

(3)

Language is clear and appropriate to topic. Minor spelling or grammatical errors.

(3)

Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Frequent spelling/grammar errors that do not impede comprehension.

(2)

Language use makes writing very difficult to understand. Frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension.

(2)