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The Hebrew names of the 5 books of the Torah (or Chumash) - as
well as each Parasha- come from the first (important) word of
the book (or portion). The word Chumash (or Pentateuch), comes
from the root meaning 5 in Hebrew (or Greek, respectively). In
English, the titles of the 5 books refers to the content of the
book, so for example the second book is called Exodus in English
(from the Greek word meaning 'exit' refering to the exodus of
the Jews from Egypt, while in Hebrew the name is Shmot, meaning
'Names,' "Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who went down to Egypt..."
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