The
word torah or "teaching" refers in particular to the first
five books of the Bible. For ceremonial reading, these are handwritten on
parchment in a scroll. Each week on Sabbath Jews read a section, completing the
Torah in a year. A part of the weekly section is also read on Mondays and Thursdays.
In Orthodox Judaism, a quorum of ten Jewish men (a minyan)
is required for the ceremonial, public reading. Reform and some Conservative
Jews do not discriminate between the sexes in matters of ritual, but these
movements are small in