ABSTRACT
The first great religious conflict within the Jewish people— once Judaism had become definitely the religion of torah with monotheism as its basic doctrine—arose over the question whether its “sacred book” should be the Pentateuch only or should include also a number of other writings, those which along with the Pentateuch form what is now called the “Old Testament.” The Pentateuch contains a law—ceremonial, social and moral—the other books contain no law; and in all ages there have been Jews who regarded the law as the be-all and end-all of their religion and thought little of its other elements.
