Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Jewish Thought (6/12) Previous Document: Question 12.24: Why are there different names for G-d? Next Document: Question 12.26: How does one atone for sins? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Answer: The "Book of Life" is called Sefer HaChaim in Hebrew. The only reference to such a book (where the lives of humans are written) that occurs in the Torah is in Sh'mot (Exodus) 32:32. According to the New JPS translation: "Now, if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the record which You have written!". In Hebrew the words that are translated as "the record which You have written." can also be translated as your book that you wrote. It is as close as we come in Torah itself. In the Prophets Malachi 3:16 speaks of a scroll of remembrance. Scroll is often a translation of the word sefer which is mostly translated as book. In T'hilim (Psalms 69:29) you have the expression Sefer Chaim (Book of Life) and the idea of the righteous being written into the same. The idea has been developed much further in post T'nach (Old Testament) times and is today a central motif in the Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur services. User Contributions:Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Jewish Thought (6/12) Previous Document: Question 12.24: Why are there different names for G-d? Next Document: Question 12.26: How does one atone for sins? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: SCJ FAQ Maintainer <maintainer@scjfaq.org>
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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