Still on Torah and miracles

Rabbi Pesach Fishman

He challenges the statement that the Torah has been handed down unchanged and unchallenged for millennia. Indeed, the Torah was transmitted for several thousand years largely unchallenged within the Jewish people until the rise of various forms of Biblical criticism (and its offshoots), gaining steam in the 19^th century. I think we are both basically in agreement on that.

Frack (and the authors he refers to) take as an article of faith that the Torah was written by committee some 800 years after the Exodus. This theory was espoused by Bible critics in the 1800s based on a flawed literary analysis that was in vogue at the time. 

That theory is not tenable for a number of reasons, including the fact that it ignores the entire body of Torah commentary that preceded it that address and explain the very issues that baffle these critics. One cannot possibly form an accurate picture of the Torah (or anything) while wilfully ignoring all of the relevant context and clarification. 

Frack is disturbed by the “ethnic cleansing” of the inhabitants of the Promised Land by Moshe. Regrettably, Moshe never entered the Land of Israel.

His comparison of the Jews’ conquest of Israel to the savagery of the Wermacht is odious and totally ignores the distinction between a just war (which at its best results in death and destruction) and an unjust war and importantly what actually happened. Were the actions of the Allies and the Germans in the Second World War also comparable? 

“By what legal and moral right did Hashem donate the flourishing land of others to the Jews?” The very first comment of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki), the prime commentator on the Torah addresses this very point – it was first promised and given to Avraham (and his Jewish descendents), later occupied by those foreign nations and then returned to its rightful owners, the Jewish nation. (This is a prime example of the hazards of ignoring the classical commentators and then being perplexed by the Torah’s narrative of events.) 

Frack does not accept the miraculous events of the Torah. Usually the Bible critics’ attacks were/are accompanied by a denial of the existence of G-d as understood by normative Judaism which leads to a denial of the possibility of miracles.

There is a crucial difference between the events of the Exodus and Mt Sinai and the claims of miracles of other religions. The miracles of Egypt and Mt Sinai were national events and had they not occurred their veracity would have been challenged immediately  -not 3 100 years after the fact (or according to Frack 2 300 year later).

The claims of other religions are based on statements of an individual or small group of followers that are more difficult to verify. 

Ultimately though, belief in miracles is not the basis for Judaism – the validity of the Torah is its foundation. 

In response to the many challenges of Frack, I have just one challenge – take the time to study the authentic Torah sources that address the questions you have.

Northcliff Shul, Johannesburg