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Five Articles for those of you who want to learn more |
Who wrote the Bible?
Our sages tell
us that the Law was given to 
Moses
by G-d at Mount Sinai, that over the rest of his life he wrote down
a portion (the written Torah, called the Five Books of Moses) and
the remainder he passed on orally (the Oral torah). Subsequent to
Moses’ death other authors added portions
and recorded the Oral Torah.
As early as the 3rd Century AD, Bible scholars had questioned the authorship of portions of the Bible, particularly the Five Books of Moses. The early scholars expressing these opinions were discredited and even imprisoned.
Through the centuries, the arguments became more convincing
to the point that the introduction to the Etz Chaim Chumash stated
that "(the
conservative movement) views the Torah as the product of generations
of inspired Prophets, Priests and Teachers, beginning with the time
of Moses, but not reaching its present form until the post Exilic age
in the 6th or 5th Century BCE.”
At the time of its publication
the Etz Chaim Chumash was condemned by the ultra orthodox community.
In his book “Who Wrote the Bible”, Richard Elliot Friedman addresses the question of the authorship of the Bible, particularly the Five Books of Moses. He concludes by saying “for those of us who hold the Bible as sacred, (knowledge of the actual writers) can mean a new awe before the great chain of events, persons and centuries that came together so intricately to produce an incomparable book of teachings.”
What is the Documentary Hypothesis? Click here to learn more!
On May 15th, 1:00 PM at BSKI, Richard Friedman’s book “Who
Wrote the Bible” (Harper SanFrancisco, HarperCollinsPublishers)
will be discussed.
Copies of the book are being held for
Book Club members at Borders in Creve Coeur. The cost is approx.
$15 per copy. We have asked them to hold five copies there.
I have Rabbi Miller’s assurance
that those attending will not be discredited, condemned or imprisoned.
"It is a strange fact that we have never known with certainty who produced the book that has played such a central role in our civilization," writes Friedman, a foremost Bible scholar. From this point he begins an investigation and analysis that reads as compellingly as a good detective story. Focusing on the central books of the Old Testament--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--he draws upon biblical and archaeological evidence to make a convincing argument for the identities of their authors. In the process he paints a vivid picture of the world of the Bible--its politics, history, and personalities. The result is a marvel of scholarship that sheds a new and enriching light on our understanding of the Bible as literature, history, and sacred text".
Five Articles of interest for those who want to learn more:
-
What Does "the Torah of Moses" Mean?
-
Different Perspectives on the Authorship of the Torah
-
Did God Write the Bible?
- Overview: What is the Torah? Five books of story, law, and poetry
Richard Elliott Friedman, a world-renowned biblical scholar, is Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of The Hidden Face of God and the bestselling Who Wrote the Bible?
Another Book of interest is "The Bible with Sources Revealed", also by Richard Elliot Friedman
This book is a companion book to "Who Wrote The Bible?" and is printed with the various sources' texts in corresponding fonts and colors.
