Wikipedia's first sentence called it “study of jewish religious texts by jews for the religious”. Today it says “study of the torah”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-04.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Torah study is the study of Jewish religious texts by Jews for the religious (as opposed to academic) purposes.1 This practice is present to an extent in all religious branches of Judaism and is considered of paramount importance. Torah study has also evolved over the generations, as lifestyles changed and new texts were written.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16031941.
The opening as it stood in 2010 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah , Hebrew Bible , Talmud , responsa , rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism 's religious texts.Ideally within Judaism it is done for the purpose of the mitzvah ("commandment") of Torah study itself.This practice is present to an extent in all branches of Judaism and is considered of paramount importance among traditional Jews.Torah study has evolved over the generations, as lifestyles changed and also as new texts were written.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 365063849.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Torah scroll Reading of the Torah Torah study is the study of the Torah , Hebrew Bible , Talmud , responsa , rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism 's religious texts.According to Rabbinic beliefs the study is ideally done for the purpose of the mitzvah ("commandment") of Torah study itself.This practice is present to an extent in all religious branches of Judaism and is considered of paramount importance among religious Jews. Torah study has evolved over the generations, as lifestyles changed and also as new texts were written.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 662063631.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Studying the Torah, Talmud or other rabbinic literature Torah scroll Reading of the Torah Torah study is the study of the Torah , Hebrew Bible , Talmud , responsa , rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism 's religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism , the study is ideally done for the purpose of the mitzvah ("commandment") of Torah study itself. This practice is present to an extent in all religious branches of Judaism and is considered of paramount importance among religious Jews . Torah study has evolved over the generations, as lifestyles changed and also as new texts were written.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 961750105.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Studying the Torah, Talmud or other rabbinic literature Rabbis debating the Talmud, 1870 A historic painting of Jews studying Torah Torah study is the study of the Torah , Hebrew Bible , Talmud , responsa , rabbinic literature , and similar works, all of which are Judaism 's religious texts . According to Rabbinic Judaism , the study is done for the purpose of the mitzvah ("commandment") of Torah study itself. This practice is present to an extent in all religious branches of Judaism, and is considered of paramount importance among religious Jews . Torah study has evolved over the generations, as lifestyles changed and also as new texts were written.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177149127. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “study of jewish religious texts by jews for the religious”. Today it says “study of the torah”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
study of jewish religious texts by jews for the religious
Now
study of the torah
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.