Why Jews Call the Torah “The Chumash”

If you were going to write the Torah - the most important book in history - what would you call it? Something epic, right? It would make sense to choose a name that conveys the importance and gravity of the content. Here are some ideas to get your imagination going: The Book of Life, God's Manual for Living, The Word of God, Heaven's Teaching.

With so many great names to give, why would Jews call our most holy text "The Chumash" – The Five? That must be one of the worst names of all time! Five? You’re going to call the most important book of all time “Five”?

Okay... let's give our ancient tradition the benefit of the doubt here. There must be a good reason. Let's dig into the text and see if we can find some answers.

Our sages teach us that in order to understand what something is, look for the first time it's mentioned in the Torah and derive its essence from there. So where is the first time we see "five" in the Torah? You might be thinking of the fifth day of creation, but we can go back even farther - all the way to the beginning, to the first thing that God created:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated between the light and between the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night, and it was evening and it was morning, one day. (Bereishis 1:3-1:5)

If you look closely, you'll notice a word repeated over and over in these verses. Can you spot it?

The word light (in Hebrew, "Ohr") is repeated five times in these first verses. This repetition marks the first instance of "Five" that we see in the Torah.

Five Steps in Creation Process

Significantly, these verses also describe the first creative process in the Torah. It follows that the Torah is not only giving us the five steps in the creation of light, but also the five steps in any creative process. What are the steps? Let's analyze each statement:

1. Let there be light
2. There was light
3. God saw that the light was good
4. God separated between the light and the darkness
5. God called to the light “Day”

Use your own analytical skills to examine these statements and identify the five stages of creative expression.

Let's see how you did!

1. Let there be light – This statement corresponds to the step in the creative process called Ideation - the formation of the idea.
2. There was light - Actualization - the concept is brought into reality.
3. God saw that the light was good – Validation/Evaluation - The product is tested and proven effective/useful at serving a particular purpose.
4. God separated between the light and the darkness – Simplification/Refinement - the product is stripped of all its unnecessary features and perfected.
5. God called to the light “Day” – Finalization – the product is given its name and unleashed into the world (I like to think of it as the "Go to market").

Corresponding to the Five Books of the Torah

Pretty amazing, right? But we're not done. Remember our first question: why do Jews call the Torah “The Chumash"? As we know, there are five books in the Torah. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabba 3:5)¹ explains that these five aspects of creation also correspond to the Five Books of the Torah:

1. Let there be light - Ideation - Bereishit (Genesis). In this book, God creates the world and the sparks of greatness are born in our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who give birth to the 12 tribes of the Jewish nation.
2. There was light - Actualization - Shemot (Exodus). In this book, the 70 Jews (Jacob and his family) who went down to Egypt become a nation, receive the Torah and solidify their eternal relationship with Hashem.
3. God saw that the light was good – Validation - Vayikra (Leviticus). In this book, God gives the Jewish people their duty of the service of the Mishkan (Tabernacle).²
4. God separated between the light and the darkness – Simplification/Refinement - Bamidbar (Numbers). In this book, the Jews struggle and fail through 10 tests, yet come out as the nation that will enter Israel.³
5. God called to the light “Day”⁴ – Finalization – Devarim (Deuteronomy). In this book, Moshe brings God’s word out to a human level. Unlike the other four books where Moses acts only as a mouthpiece/scribe for God, in Deuteronomy, Moses is given poetic license to express God's word through his unique voice. The ultimate purpose of the Torah is for all of us to achieve our utmost potentials. Through expressing the Torah through his own words, Moses became the embodiment of this self-actualization. That's why Deuteronomy is the book that represents the successful "go-to-market" of Torah.

Now that we see the five steps of the creative process not only within the five statements of the first creation, but also literally built into the Five Books of the Torah, the name "Chumash" seems quite fitting for God's manual for life.⁵

Etymology of the Word Chumash

But we can go further. Let's look at the etymology of the word Chumash (חמש). The Vilna Gaon says that in order to understand the depth of a Hebrew word, we must look at the first two letters of its root. The first two letters of the word Chumash are Chet (ח) and Mem (מ). The two letters together form the word Cham (חם), which means heat, or passion. What's the connection between passion and the five steps of creation?

Have you ever had a test or presentation that you didn't prepare for? You dread the morning. You pray for a snowstorm, sickness, or anything to exempt you and buy you more time. When you don't prepare, you're lethargic, embarrassed, dismissive. When you do prepare, you're excited, energized, and can't wait to put your practiced skills and knowledge to the test. So too, when we've learned the Chumash deeply and understand the five steps to manifesting ultimate greatness, we’ll be excited and passionate about the tests that everyday life has in store for us. Thus, the word Cham, heated passion.

But we can't just leave the letter Shin (ש) at the end of Chumash hanging. Every letter has its role! So what’s the Shin here to teach? The three branches of the Shin represent the three aspects of a human being – body, mind, and soul. Putting it all together, Chumash is the book unlocking our creative, Godly potential and passion in every aspect of our lives - body, mind, and soul.

As we go back to Genesis and restart reading the Torah this week, I wish you the greatest success in your journeys in Chumash this year. And please check out Aish.com’s new series on the Torah portion written by yours truly. May the Torah inspire all of us to become passionate co-creators of life!

Inspiration for this essay comes from my Rosh Yeshiva and primary mentor, Rabbi Beryl Gershenfeld.

1. Bereishis Rabba 3:5
   אָמַר רַבִּי סִימוֹן, חָמֵשׁ פְּעָמִים כְּתִיב כָּאן אוֹרָה, כְּנֶגֶד חֲמִשָּׁה חֻמְשֵׁי תוֹרָה. וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר, כְּנֶגֶד סֵפֶר בְּרֵאשִׁית, שֶׁבּוֹ נִתְעַסֵּק הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וּבָרָא אֶת עוֹלָמוֹ. וַיְהִי אוֹר, כְּנֶגֶד סֵפֶר וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת, שֶׁבּוֹ יָצְאוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹרָה. וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאוֹר כִּי טוֹב, כְּנֶגֶד סֵפֶר וַיִּקְרָא, שֶׁהוּא מָלֵא הֲלָכוֹת רַבּוֹת. וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחשֶׁךְ, כְּנֶגֶד סֵפֶר בְּמִדְבַּר, שֶׁהוּא מַבְדִּיל בֵּין יוֹצְאֵי מִצְרַיִם לְבָאֵי הָאָרֶץ. וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, כְּנֶגֶד סֵפֶר מִשְׁנֶה תּוֹרָה, שֶׁהוּא מָלֵא הֲלָכוֹת רַבּוֹת. מְתִיבִין חַבְרַיָא לְרַבִּי סִימוֹן, וַהֲלוֹא סֵפֶר וַיִּקְרָא מָלֵא הֲלָכוֹת רַבּוֹת, אָמַר לָהֶן אַף הוּא שָׁנָה בוֹ דָּבָר. Said Rabbi Simon: Light is written five times here, this corresponds to the five books of Torah. 'God said, “Let there be light” - this corresponds to the book of 'in the beginning', in which the Holy One of Blessing occupied Himself and created His world. 'and there was light' - this corresponds to the book of 'and these are the names', in which Israel came from darkness to light. 'God saw that the light was good' corresponds to the book 'and He called' which is full of many laws. 'And God separated the light from the darkness' corresponds to the book 'in a desert' which makes a distinction between those who left Egypt and those who came into the Land. 'And God called the light Day' corresponds to the book of Repetition of the Torah, which is full of many laws. The group of colleagues challenged Rabbi Simon: and wasn't the Book of 'and He called' full of many laws? He answered them: even He repeated things in it.
2. Etz Yosef on Bereishit Rabbah 3:5:4
   שהוא מלא הלכות רבות שכל הספר מתחילה ועד סוף הלכות ודינים. שהן מאירות עיניו של אדם. ולפיכך נכפלו בו ב' תוארים. אור. וכי טוב. לומר שאור זה טוב מאד מהראשונים. שבהראשונים יש בהם ספורים רבים שלא מענין המצות. וכן בספר במדבר יש ספורים רבים שלא מענין המצות (יפ"ת)
3. According to the Midrash, in the beginning of Bamidbar, the Jews were afraid to enter Israel and thereby leave the security of God's miraculous protection and care in the desert because they thought the added hardships of mundane life would lead them to sin. But, after living purely on miracles in the desert for 40 years and sinning nonetheless, they no longer had the illusion that miracles could prevent them from sin. Instead, they were ready to do the work of living in the world. We see their evolution through the two times that God counts the Jewish people; one in the beginning of the book and the other at the end; the first count representing an immature nation scared to take on their divine mission and the second representing a refined nation prepared to take on the challenges of the world
4. "God called to the light 'Day'" (Bereishis 1:5) - The Hebrew word for Day is Yom, which is comprised of the Hebrew letters Yud, which, as the highest and smallest letter, always represents a spiritual idea, and Mem, the letter with a numerical value of 40, which is the time required for completion (40 days on Mount Sinai, 40 years in the desert, etc.). Putting these two together, Yom - a day - is the unit of time necessary to bring an idea into fruition.
5. Ever wonder why God made our hands with five fingers? Hands are the medium by which we bring out creative potential into action! As we know, the number that represents that quality is five - the five fingers of our hands!