Jewish religious writings fall into three layers: the Hebrew Bible itself, the rabbinic works that interpret it, and the prayer books and legal codes that carry it into daily life. The names most people meet first are the Torah, the Tanakh, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the Midrash.
This guide explains each text — what it contains, when it was written and why it matters — then compares them with the Christian Bible and shows you where to start.
Jewish Religious Writings at a Glance
| Text | What it is | When written |
|---|---|---|
| Torah | The first five books of the Hebrew Bible | Earliest layer (traditionally c. 1400–400 BCE) |
| Tanakh | The complete Jewish Bible: Torah, Prophets, Writings — 24 books | Assembled over many centuries |
| Mishnah | The first written collection of rabbinic oral teachings | around 200 CE |
| Talmud | The Mishnah plus centuries of discussion (the Gemara) | c. 400–500 CE |
| Midrash | Interpretations and stories built on biblical passages | from roughly 400 CE onward |
| Siddur / Machzor | Daily prayer book / High Holy Day prayer book | Developed over the centuries |
1. The Torah
What it is. The Torah is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It tells the story of creation, the ancestors of Israel, the Exodus from Egypt, and the laws of the covenant between God and Israel.
Why it matters. The Torah holds the central place in Jewish worship and study. Synagogues read from handwritten Torah scrolls during regular services, and the weekly reading cycle covers the whole Torah every year. Almost every later Jewish text — legal, mystical or liturgical — treats the Torah as its starting point.
2. The Tanakh
What it is. The Tanakh is the Jewish Bible. The name is an acronym of its three sections:
- Torah — the five books above
- Nevi’im — the Prophets
- Ketuvim — the Writings, which include Psalms and Proverbs
Counted the Jewish way, the Tanakh has 24 books. Christian Old Testaments carry the same material as 39 books, because Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and the twelve minor prophets are split or grouped differently. The content overlaps; the numbering and order do not.
Why it matters. The Tanakh is the widest sacred collection in Judaism, and the Torah is only its first section. Keeping the two apart makes every later comparison with Christian scripture clearer. For the Christian side of that comparison, see our guide to how many books are in the Bible’s Old and New Testaments.
3. The Mishnah
What it is. The Mishnah is the first written collection of Jewish oral teachings, compiled around 200 CE and traditionally linked to Rabbi Judah the Prince. Its six sections cover prayer, festivals, marriage, civil damages, and a wide range of religious duties. Many passages record disagreements between teachers rather than a single ruling.
Why it matters. The Mishnah does not replace the Torah — it preserves the rabbinic teaching that shaped Jewish practice and legal study. Students read it to see how earlier teachers turned broad biblical commands into daily rules.
4. The Talmud
What it is. The Talmud is the Mishnah surrounded by centuries of discussion called the Gemara. Two versions exist: the Jerusalem Talmud, which took shape in the land of Israel around the end of the fourth century CE, and the Babylonian Talmud, compiled about a century later, which became the more influential of the two.
Why it matters. The discussions cover law, ethics, worship, family life and community affairs, and they often preserve several competing opinions instead of one answer. Reading the Talmud means watching teachers question, compare and probe — it remains the backbone of Jewish learning to this day.
5. The Midrash
What it is. Midrash is both a method of interpreting scripture and the collections built with that method. Some Midrashim draw out laws; others fill the gaps in a biblical story or explore the questions a passage raises.
Why it matters. A Midrash may offer an interpretation that runs far beyond the plain wording of the verse, so readers should always separate the biblical text from the later explanation. What Midrash shows, better than any other Jewish religious writing, is how teachers kept the text alive in every generation. For the text those interpretations build on, see how many verses are in the Bible — including why Jewish and Christian verse counts differ.
6. Prayer Books: The Siddur and the Machzor
What they are. A siddur contains the daily prayers along with Shabbat and festival services. A machzor is the special prayer book for the High Holy Days — Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — though the word is also used for festival prayer books in general.
Why they matter. These are the Jewish religious writings people actually hold in their hands every day. They turn the ideas of scripture and rabbinic law into spoken worship, which makes them the most-used texts on this list.
Later Legal Codes and Mystical Writings
Three more works belong in any complete list.
- Mishneh Torah — a fourteen-volume code of Jewish law written by Maimonides between 1170 and 1180. It arranged the whole of Jewish law in a systematic order that scholars still quote.
- Shulchan Aruch — compiled in the sixteenth century, it became the standard guide that Orthodox communities follow in daily practice.
- Zohar — the central work of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. It appeared in thirteenth-century Spain and reads the Torah through symbolic interpretation. It is not law and not a plain commentary; it is a separate literary world worth knowing by name.
How Jewish Religious Writings Differ From the Christian Bible
Judaism and Christianity share the ancient scriptural texts, but the collections and the readings differ.
- The Tanakh is the central collection in Judaism. The Christian Bible adds the New Testament, writings about Jesus and the early church that are not part of the Tanakh.
- Christian traditions also differ among themselves: Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments do not all carry the same books.
- The Mishnah and Talmud matter deeply in rabbinic Judaism, but neither is a section of the Tanakh — they are interpretation, not scripture.
The practical rule: identify the layer a text belongs to before you compare it. A passage from the Torah is not the same kind of source as a later rabbinic discussion of that passage.
How to Start Reading Jewish Religious Texts
Begin with the Torah, then move into the rest of the Tanakh — Psalms is an easy next step. Learn the basic terms before opening rabbinic works, so you can tell scripture apart from later discussion.
Free places to read online: Sefaria.org hosts the Tanakh, the Mishnah, both Talmuds and hundreds of Midrashim in translation, while MyJewishLearning and Chabad.org offer beginner-friendly introductions to each text.
Christian readers will find these texts useful when studying the Old Testament — for example, seeing how Jewish teachers discuss Abraham alongside the Genesis text. Just keep in mind that the two communities may read the same passage differently.
Common Questions About Jewish Religious Writings
What is the main Jewish religious text? The Torah holds the central place in Judaism. It is the first of the Tanakh’s three sections and the text read publicly in synagogues every week.
Are the Torah and Tanakh the same? No. The Torah is five books; the Tanakh is the whole Jewish Bible in three sections — Torah, Prophets and Writings.
What is the difference between the Mishnah and the Talmud? The Mishnah, compiled around 200 CE, is a collection of early rabbinic teachings. The Talmud contains the Mishnah plus the Gemara — centuries of discussion about those teachings.
Is the Talmud part of the Jewish Bible? No. The Talmud is a collection of rabbinic discussions, not a section of the Tanakh.
Do Jewish people use the Old Testament? Jewish people generally call their scriptures the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. “Old Testament” is the Christian term for the shared books, and it is not the usual Jewish name for them.
Which of these texts should a beginner read first? The Torah, ideally in a modern translation, followed by selections from Psalms. Free translations of every text on this list are available at Sefaria.org.
In Short
Jewish religious writings span three layers: the Hebrew Bible (Torah and Tanakh), the rabbinic tradition (Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash), and the prayer books and codes used daily (siddur, machzor, Mishneh Torah, Shulchan Aruch).
Knowing which layer a text belongs to makes Jewish history, worship and belief far easier to follow — and makes any comparison with the Christian Bible accurate instead of guesswork. If you want the shared scriptures themselves, start with our guides to God’s Word and the comforting Bible verses that draw on the same Psalms.
Christian writer and Bible study leader from Charleston, South Carolina. She writes about comfort, prayer, and trusting God in everyday struggles.
