When talking about whether the ‘Torah is true’ we need to realize that this question consists of a few subquestions:
1) Did the events happen the way the Torah describes them? i.e., is the text reliable
2) Did G-d, in any sense, give the Torah to us?
2) What is the reason, if there is any, that I should follow the Torah?
Obviously, some of these questions overlap- if G-d gave us the Torah, that would be a reason to keep it. However, question 2 seems like the most pointed question, and also the most elusive. Attempting to ‘prove that G-d did x’ is almost as hard as proving that ‘because of x, therefore G-d.’
Why almost, and not just? Because Judaism would presuppose that G-d exists. If he does, then he already becomes a materially possible explanation for events, rather than simply a logically possible explanation. However, to assume that an event was caused by G-d one needs more than just the possibility, one needs proof, or at least reference to the best explanation.
Here is a famous ‘proof’
1. The Torah claims that there were 600,000 men between 20-60 at Sinai, so about 2 million people total.
2. We are their direct descendants
3. If 1 happened, then our ancestors would tell us
4. If someone told us 1, and our ancestors had not told us, we would not believe them
5. Therefore, since we do believe it (i.e. it’s at least in the Torah) it could not be made up, because no one would have accepted it.
Coupled with this proof is the assertion that Judaism is the only religion to ever claim mass revelation
1) Other unique claims:
a. Jesus as god- what about Krishna? ( Are we sure he lived?) is it significant that he was an avatar, not ‘god’? what about the pharaohs?
b. Is it significant that we are talking about revelation?
2) Counterexamples:
a. Mahabarata- epic battle with 4 million people fighting. However, only ‘7 survive.’
b. Aztec- their god tells them to call themselves the Mexicana, related to founding of Mexico City, the Aztec capital. Not a founding of religion, also not clear how massive the revelation
But, even if these objections fail, the proof seems to as well:
1) The 600,000/2 mil. claim seems very dubious: world population was only 38 million in 1500 BCE. Population figures in Canaan seem to bear this out: 100,000 people lived there in 1000.
2) 4 seems dubious as well:
a. The myth could have evolved gradually
b. The rest of the Hebrew Bible records many times where Jews ‘forgot’ the religion, and later came back to it.
c. Scrolls were found by Josiah, and by Nehemiah
So, 2 is a difficult question to answer. What about question 1: did things happen the way the Torah claims they did; is it a reliable document?
Within this category there are a few issues:
1) Is the text we have now the original?(lower criticism)
2) Is there any evidence for any of these events independent of the text?
3) Higher criticism: was the Torah even composed by one author?
‘1’ is the least likely to be true, but also the least important. ‘2’ is up for open dispute. However, as we saw a few weeks ago, the story of the exodus is ‘plausible.’ What archeology can mainly do here is give context, not concrete answers. For ‘3’ let’s look in the texts: Genesis 1 and 2.
(see work by mordechai breuer, and by umberto cassuto. also, see the art of biblica narrative by robert altar)
So we see that answering 1 is problematic, but not impossible. Textual criticism, though interesting, seems a bit wrong sided.
But what we need to do now is to understand what exactly the Torah is meant to be, and what it is not meant to be.
What the Torah definitely is: a recording of the religious experience of people of the biblical era. This may be a nice idea, but it does not relate to us. But is it more than that?
The Torah, at the end of the day, is a ‘revolutionary’ document that smashes the idea of idolatry. As such, it is best understood (in ascending order) as a) a polemic against idolatry b) a lesson c) plan for living.
‘A’ is the background theme of the entire Torah. Understanding Genesis by Nachum Sarna is a good start about the way in which the Torah clearly understands pagan culture, yet offers ‘devastating’ critiques.
‘B’ is the way in which the Torah is written. It is written to elicit responses to the text. This relates to Joel’s class on personal revelation: the Torah’s text itself lets you learn from it.
But ‘c’ is the most important point, as Judaism’s ‘take’ on the world isn’t so much about ‘history’ or ‘theology’ or ‘philosophy’ but an integrated worldview based on a foundation of action.
So is Judaism’s take on the world good or not?
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