blogs/rabbi-huberman

How Does the Torah End? 

I would like to introduce you to perhaps one of the simplest yet controversial passages in the entire Torah. We will recite it this Monday night, as we complete our reading of the Torah on the holiday of Simchat Torah.

It inspires us to ask the question, "Who wrote the Torah?"

I began pondering this question about fifteen years ago, as I considered a career in the rabbinate.

One afternoon, as a small group of adult students in our Canadian congregation met to study the weekly Torah portion, I asked our rabbi, "Who wrote the Torah?"

"There are two views," he replied. "One view holds that the Torah represents a combination of scrolls edited by Ezra the Scribe -- and the other is that it is dictated directly by God."

"Which one do you believe in?" I asked.

"I can't say," he replied.

"Can't or won't say?" I challenged. There was silence.

Perhaps there is no issue which divides Orthodox and liberal Judaism more than the issue of Torah authorship.

If we believe that the Torah was dictated to Moses by God, then each word is holy, and each concept must be turned, examined and absorbed.

But, if we maintain that the Torah was inspired, interpreted, and written within a historical, economic, and political lens, its texts must be examined with a more critical eye. We call this approach to Torah study "Biblical Criticism".

Today I want to include you in the debate. It begins for me with a statement, only a few hundred words from the end of the Torah.

At  the close of the Torah's final chapter, Moses dies. God lifts Moses from Mount Nebo and buries him quietly in a private and unmarked location.

Our Sages surmise that God kept the place of Moses's burial a secret so that his final resting place would not turn into a shrine. The Torah then informs us that Joshua assumed the leadership of the Jewish people.

But in its final paragraph, the Torah offers a perplexing statement:

"Never again did there arise a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to display in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land, and for all the mighty acts and awesome sights that Moses displayed in the sight of all Israel. (Deut. 34:10-12)

End of Torah.

And so we're left with a mystery. How is it possible that Moses wrote the Torah, if we are told "never again did there arise a prophet in Israel like Moses"?

Could Moses see into the future? If so, wouldn't it be uncharacteristic of Moses, known for his humility, to exalt himself as Israel's greatest prophet?

Was it perhaps Joshua who took the pen from Moses and wrote these words? And is the text referring to future prophets within Israel, or among all other nations?

These are issues with which rabbis and other scholars have struggled for many generations.

On April 1, 1925, the Hebrew University officially opened in Jerusalem and one of the guest speakers was Israel's most prominent rabbi, Rav Abraham Isaac Kook. Accounts leading up to that day indicate that Rav Kook only agreed to speak if university board agreed not to include Biblical Criticism within its suite of courses.

But that ultimately did not occur, contributing to the ongoing conflict within Israel between secular and "religious" leaders.

Proponents of the Biblical Criticism approach point to various anomalies within the Torah. They note different writing styles. They cite nations mentioned which may not have existed until many centuries after the Jews' arrival in Israel.

In contrast, Orthodox Judaism accounts for these anomalies - through explanations attributed to the "oral tradition".

And so the discussion continues.

At the beginning of my rabbinical career, I once asked my mentor Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz (z'l') whether he believed the world was created -- according to the actual Biblical account -- in seven days.

And he answered, "that's a great question, but I will only answer it if agree to put a time limit on the discussion. Many of these biblical accounts defy logic, and in truth, we do not know. So let's discuss for awhile - and afterwards, let's go perform a mitzvah and make the world better."

And so we did.

The Torah's authorship and its accuracy have fuelled so much discord and disagreement over the years. Indeed, no one knows for sure. Was the Torah written by a combination of human authors or by God through the hand of Moses?

Does it matter?

What matters more is that we use the Torah's stories, lessons and inherent values to, as the great Vilna Gaon stated more than two hundred years ago, "to make ourselves and the world into something better."

As we complete the reading of the Torah this week, let us be inspired again this year to interpret, update and elevate the Torah to new levels of understanding, ethical behavior and social justice.

The Talmud reminds us that God clothed Adam and Eve at the beginning of the Torah, and buried Moses at the end of the Torah. Therefore says the Talmud, "the Torah begins with kindness, and ends with kindness."

That's all we really need to know.

So let us continue to discuss debate and disagree as we challenge ourselves and others in pursuit of our truths.

However, let us never become so entrenched within one idea or interpretation that we fail to remember one of the Talmud's most important messages; Eilu V'Eilu Divrei Elohim Chaim: "These words and these words are the words of the living God."

In other words, respect within Judaism for all heartfelt points of view must always trump our insistence on being right.

Indeed, as a people, Judaism's ongoing debates and disputes are central to who we are. I believe that this lack of absolutism is what has kept the Jewish people alive.

Indeed, our Sages teach us that peace often must override truth.

The Talmud teaches that ultimately kindness, understanding and respect must bless our conversations, discussions and even our differences.

As the great Rabbi Hillel taught, honor and respect for each other rest within the heart of Judaism.

All the rest is commentary.

Chag Sameach (Happy Holidays) v'Shabbat shalom,

 Rabbi Irwin Huberman