Statement

In the Near East, scribes compiled catalogues of books worthy of a library or a school curriculum. The first collections of Judahite literature may have had similar motives, but the collection became something different: Jews came to believe that their tie to their ancestors and their hopes for what lay ahead hinged on these books, and they felt bound to follow the laws of the Five Books.

References

1. p. 47

   supports · main text · ch. 2

   Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.

   Verification anchor recorded · checked against the page text