[Guillermo]

Historically, the Torah was not generally made available for non-Jewish public consumption.

Bookstores, and Amazon.com have not been around for thousands of years.

[gscc]

The mistake is being made between the Torah and the Talmud.. The Talmud is a compendium of Jewish law and lore, it is a product of the 3d and 4th centuries AD, and was finally completed about 499. The Talmud is the work that the controversy lies.

[bvw]

Grover Cleveland said "Tell the Truth!" -- his motto. And Guiler, you might, you might.

Anyway the Bible, the TORAH including collection of scriptual texts, was first brough into English by Wycliffe. See for example: "John Wycliffe's English Bible Translation: Glimpses of Truth", at http://home.midsouth.rr.com/ochsner/article1043.html

There Lynda Ochsner writes:

Though most English-speaking people today take English Bible translations for granted, the Bible was not always available in the peoples' common language. Indeed, the medieval Catholic Church held a tight grip over English peasants, allowing the Holy Scriptures to be printed and read only in Latin: which by the late-fourteenth century was only known by the well-educated, an elite club of Catholic clergy and English noblemen. Into this scene entered John Wycliffe, who made the first translation of the complete Bible into English, a first step towards the later King James Version of the early 17th century.

[SJackson]

Historically, the Torah was not generally made available for non-Jewish public consumption….Bookstores, and Amazon.com have not been around for thousands of years.

Uhhh, it would seem to me that if Christian’s were clamoring for the Five Books of Moses, their local Church would have been the logical place to look, not the local shetyl. It’s true though, till Luther’s time, the Church wasn’t particularly happy about widespread access. Hardly the Jews fault.

Face it though, that’s not what you meant. You said

A little research will get one a ton of information....There is no doubt as to why the Torah is not easily made available to non-Jews. Now, with the internet, it's easier to research it.

clearly delineating a time frame. Your statement is complete nonsense.

[Alouette]

Historically, the Torah was not generally made available for non-Jewish public consumption.

The Torah (and the rest of the Hebrew scriptures) were translated into Greek 2300 years ago.

[Piranha]

Guillermo, do you resent the Jews for not marching into Christian neighborhoods over the years with their holy books, trying to introduce the Jewish religion to non-Jews? I've never before heard of anyone who was unhappy because the Jews didn't try to convert them.

I think that Jews had enough trouble holding onto their own books over the years, as massive Jewish bookburnings took place in Paris and elsewhere during the Middle Ages.

Why don't you google Onkelos. He was an early convert to Judaism who translated the Torah into Aramaic, the lingua franca of the time. In my opinion, the English language translations of Jewish holy books that are being published today are following in his footsteps.

[SauronOfMordor]

Historically, the Torah was not generally made available for non-Jewish public consumption.

Slight correction: Torah is what we call the Old Testement

You are thinking of the Talmud, and you are correct that Jews did not go out of their way to let Gentiles be able to read it, due to certain unflattering items about Jesus and Christians. One place where it's available is here

[SauronOfMordor]

Historically, the Torah was not generally made available for non-Jewish public consumption.

The specific reference in the TALMUD is in Sanhedrin 59:

Sanhedrin 59

1) MAY NOCHRIM[non-Jew] LEARN TORAH?

(a) (R. Yochanan): A Nochri that learns Torah is Chayav Misah[worthy of death] - "Torah...Morashah" - it is a Morashah (inheritance) for Yisrael[Israelites], not for Nochrim.
(b) Question: Why is this not included among his seven Mitzvos?
(c) Answer: It is included in theft;

1. According to the opinion that expounds it is as if said Me'orasah (Torah is Mekudeshes to Yisrael), it is included in Arayos.

(d) Question (Beraisa - R. Meir): If a Nochri engages in Torah, he receives reward like a Kohen Gadol - "Asher Ya'aseh Osam *ha'Adam* va'Chai";

1. It does not say that *Yisraelim* will live through the Mitzvos, rather, Adam - this teaches that if a Nochri engages in Torah, he is rewarded like a Kohen Gadol.

(e) Answer: He is rewarded for learning his seven Mitzvos (he is liable for learning anything else in Torah).

[adam_az]

Historically, the Torah was not generally made available for non-Jewish public consumption.

No Freaking Duh.... HISTORICALLY, MOST PEOPLE WERE ILLITERATE!

[American in Israel]

Historically, the Torah was not generally made available for non-Jewish public consumption.

Historically the Bible was not made available for public consumption either. The text was kept in latin to keep the truth hidden. The invention of the printing press broke the yoke of the "Church Fathers" and broke the back of the inquisition. The Protestant reformation was the result in rejection of what the "Oral Traditions" made of the written word.

If I can make a touchy parallel, Messianic's are a type of Protestants of the Ultra Orthodox "Church Fathers". From my observation, the Written Oral traditions shred the Tanach, (the whole old testament, not just the first five books, the Torah), to a completely unrecognizable Religion that rejects the Wisdom of God for the Wisdom of men. Just like Early Catholicism shredded Christianity into Churchianity, Rabbinical Judaism has done the identical thing to Judaism. In the same light, the re-interpreted word is claimed by the Catholics as to being the "One True Church", so also the Rabbinical Judaists have claimed Judaism for themselves.

Thinking themselves as wise, they miss the point of the Scriptures entirely. God, who is not to be taken lightly, is still there, where the Church fathers all sleep as dust. When it is all over, and we all stand before God, nobody will be any different than anybody else, we all screwed it up the same way. Christians, who fly the flag up the pole to salute that they have it all right, along with Rabbinical Judiasts flying a different flag up the pole to salute both have it wrong. Both sides equally allowed the traditions of men to pollute the simple truth that is available to anyone who is willing to read the Bible, the WHOLE BIBLE, and to seek God with all their heart. Yes I believe Jesus, Yeshua was the first coming of the Messiah of the Jews. Yes I believe He died on the cross as the lamb of God as the Tanach describes, as the supplied sacrifice for sin, MY sin, as the Abraham sacrifice indicates. And yes I believe the Jews are the Chosen Children of the Living God, the family that the head thereof has adopted me at a great price to be a part of.

So my older brother does not understand that yet, and rejects me, so what? If his and my Father disagrees with him, in the end, the brother will understand, because the brother is not the Father, the Father is. My part is to serve the family anyway I can. I am the prodigal son.

So now I have placed myself outside both camps and am sure to be a target of both. I mean you no ill will, I love you both, but some day you all need to realize that there are not two camps here, just two sides of one big family. The two branches will become one tree, no matter how hard you struggle as it is Gods stated and intended purpose for this to happen. It is only the teachings of men that divide us, not the teachings of the Tanach.