The following may be helpful, even though they are dissimilar:
[
morethodoxy.org]
[
joshyuter.com]
Additionally, permit me to say the following: Two years ago, I attended a conference sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at which some 40 academic scholars presented papers on various aspects of source criticism of the Torah. NO TWO PAPERS AGREED WITH EACH OTHER. That is a fact easily verifiable, since the papers have now all been published in a single, large volume. This is not to say that higher criticism does not present significant challenges to the Orthodox understanding of the entire Torah as Divinely communicated to Moshe (the exceptions mentioned in Marc Shapiro's important work, The Limits of Orthodox Theology, are attributed by medieval rabbis to revelation - even if to later prophets). Even if one rejects the documentary hypothesis, modern academic studies have shown that well-known ancient texts - such as the Gilgamesh Epic - underwent accretions in the course of time, which has become a new academic model for seeing human development of the Torah.
However, would it make any difference how the Torah was composed or who wrote it if it was simply something as mundane as a record of items bought and sold (which may well consist of the majority of inscriptions found in Mesopotamia)? May I suggest that the significance of the Torah is in what it says and means. The fact that the Torah represents (among other things, certainly) an ethical revolution against the civilizations of the ancient Near East, and that it attributes this revolution to the revelation of the only God, who is both supernatural and good (the subject of my recent book, Justice for All: How the Jewish Bible Revolutionized Ethics), is of unparalleled importance in human history. If that aspect alone was taught in our schools, it would go a long way to lessening the impact of any future secular presentation of Biblical criticism to which our students may be exposed.
Respectfully,
Jeremiah Unterman
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2017 11:38AM by mlb.
