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Artefact Description: The Hebrew Bible

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4. Artefact Description
The Torah

The Hebrew Bible is divided into three sections: The Torah, Nevi’I'm, and Ketubim. These three sections are often called the Tanakh. According to Jewish tradition, the Torah was revealed to Moses from God, and Moses brought it to the people of Israel. The word Torah itself means instruction or teachings. The Torah is seen as God’s law and also the ‘basic teaching’, and consists of five books; Bereishith (Genesis), Shemoth (Exodus), Vayiqra (Leviticus), Bamidbar (Numbers), and Devarim (Deuteronomy).
The Torah is more commonly known, to non-Jews, as the Old Testament. The Torah is so important to Jews because it is the foundation of the Jewish religion, which contains the 613 commandments which Jews live by, …show more content…

The circle is a symbol of eternity, perfection, unity, and completeness. A mandala can hold a different meaning to each person, thus the only limit as to how far one can go with creating one is in the hands of the creator. A mandala is a sacred geometric figure that is a depiction of the universe. When one is completed, it becomes a holy area that serves as a collection point of the universal forces and also serves as a respectable abode for the deities. By entering into the mandala, mentally, and journeying to its center, a person is symbolically guided through the cosmos to the essence of reality (Anonymous, 2014). The construction of a mandala is one of ritual, which can takes days or weeks to complete. Before a monk can undergo the process of creating a mandala, they have to undergo a period of artistic and philosophical study. Traditionally four monks work on a mandala each completing a quadrant. Midway through the process, a monk will receive an assistant who helps fill in the colours, while the monk works on the finer details. Mandal’s are constructed from the inside out, starting with a simple dot. The placement of the dot links with a certain deity. This deity will usual be depicted in an image over the center dot, though some mandalas are purely geometric. (Anonymous, 2014). From the central dot, the monks work outwards in a series of concentric circles. Here, the monk work in tandem all moving around the mandala and wait until each section is complete before moving on. This ensures that the mandala will be balanced. Some mandalas are painted to serve as an enduring project of contemplation, but the tradition Tibetan sand mandala, once completed, is deliberately destroyed. The sand used to create it is poured into a river or stream to distribute the positive energies that it contains. All mandalas have a secret meaning, inner and, outer level. On the outer level, the represent the world in its divine

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