This is a regular feature on IsraelSeen by Dr. Yitzkak Hayut-Man. An innovator, futurist, visionary and Bible scholar. I have the utmost respect for the man I consider a friend. He is among the few that is courageous enough to allow the “open source” of the Torah-Bible to be presented in new and interesting ways for our greater understanding. Enjoy.
By Dr. Yitzhak Hayut-Man
So far we have tried to contend with the challenge posed by the scientific-physical research to the authority of the Torah. Can we also contend with the challenge posed by the historic-philological scientific research concerning the authorship of the Torah? Was the whole Torah authored by Moses, as the tradition asserts? Or was it written and by different sects of priest-scribes until the destruction of the First Temple, and its final editing perhaps even in the times of ?zra the Scribe (as asserted by Bible criticism, including also by many Israeli scholars)?
For whoever is ready to relate to the work of the Bible critics, there appear considerable claims that the times of the Biblical texts are later than claimed by tradition. But the revulsion is also clear: leaving the sacred scriptures to the operating table of objective textual analysis might kill them. How could a collection of passages written by mere humans be a sacred living instruction? Yet the conception of their co-creation through collective prophetic holy work, in which the holy spirit in the Jerusalem Temple guides the scribes and inspires them to form the multifaceted material out of “the Letters through which Heaven and Earth were formed” and through primal templates, reclaims the Torah and makes it the most exalted allegory of the possibilities of human sacred work.
Let us clarify first how much agreement there may be between the apparently-contradictory assertions. The earlier date is that the whole Torah was written by Moses about 3,500 years ago; whereas the later date is that the Torah was edited in its final form about 2,500 years ago. From our contemporary perspective, the difference is not all that large. In either way it is claimed that the writing and/or editing of the Torah was done right in the middle period – between “the Creation of the World” as we have explained above, and the realization of the purpose of the Torah – the actualization of the six-thousand years “World Plan” of which the Torah is its code. The Torah regards the world, therefore, with two faces, backwards to the far past, and forward to an equally distant future. The scribes of the Torah knew the people among whom they dwelled and recognized that the historic opportunities were still far from enabling the actualization of the ideals which they aspired for. (Whether they were written by Moses or by later temple scribes, the chastisement to the people and the frustration from an immediate and speedy fulfillment of the expectations of the Torah is evident from almost every chapter, and is particularly strong at the Ha’azinu portion (at the end of Deuteronomy).
The writing – or editing – of the Torah among the scribes of the temple must have been the very pinnacle of the holy work of Israel. The high status of the scribes is recognized and clearly mentioned in the Torah and the Talmud. The scribes who were copying the Torah were cautioned (Bavly, ?ruvin 13) that whoever adds or subtracts a single letter is “destroying the whole world”, which means that the realization of the very purpose of the world is dependent on the exactness of the writing, and that negligence will bring about the dreaded destruction of the world, for because of it the aim of the Torah may not be actualize. Not only the high priest who entered the innermost place of the temple needed purification and ritual immersion, but even the scribes who copy ordinary Torah scrolls and Mezuzot, so most probably all the more so the priest-scribes who resided deep within the temple sanctuary, far from the people and close to the holy of hollies and the divine inspiration. The Torah descriptions of the giving of the Torah injunctions to Moses at the Mishkan must have been most meaningful for the priest-scribes who were concealed within the temple cells.[9] The prophetic Holy Spirit which inspired the prophets and the scribes of the first temple, and which is so well described in the books of the prophets, must have been felt especially in and around the temple.
But, as noted, even then, at the golden age of Israel from the times of Moses to the destruction of the first temple, still the People of Israel were not regarded by the Torah and its writer(s) as virtuous and good as they were, but as some kind of raw material (in fact a kind of ?rev Rav – “mixed multitudes”) that need processing and refinement – according to the patterns set in the Torah, through protracted processes which proceed – as noted – till our own times.
The stories of the Book of Genesis – about the cycles of relationship between God and men and about the patriarchs – were originally composed – and brought to our awareness – with the intention and purpose of serving the rectification of the people and the reconstruction of all humankind. It is this original intention of the Torah which is becoming evident nowadays, which are, as noted, the Sixth Day – the age of the construction of Adam.
And it is through this that we arrive at the possibility of settling the apparent contradiction between the traditional approach – that the whole Torah which is in our hands today was written by Moses – and the approach of Bible criticism according to which the Torah was edited – or even written – in the hands of the first-temple scribes. The settlement of this conflict seems important for preventing contempt of the Torah.
Even the sages agree that “the Torah was given scroll by scroll” (Shmot Rabba 5:22), which implies that the scribes had to combine and add them together. If we see these original Megilot (scrolls) as Megalot (revealing) the Word of the Lord, then the editing work of the temple scribes was a kind of Kibbu? Giluyim (gathering of revelations; a word-play on Kibbu? Galuyot – “the gathering of the exiles”) of the words of the Lord to the people of Israel as they had been preserved in the different tabernacles and temples – in the desert, at Shiloh and Nov, in Jerusalem, in Shomron (Samaria) and at Dan. Our approach seeks to integrate between the apparently-contradictory approaches which are current in Israel nowadays – just in the manner that those scrolls did. There are reasons why it is precisely the perspective of the scribes of the first temple that could have made the writing of the Torah to a prophetic holy work which is particularly valid for our times.
If writing about the creation of Adam and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, for example, could intend to herald the approaching Babylonian exile and the gathering of the exiled due after it, then in writing about Noah who builds an ark in which to save the remnant of humankind – they could allegorize their own work, the writing of the Torah (whose place is in the box/holy Ark – Aron haQodesh) – a means that if the worst happen and destruction and exile come – it would remind the people to remember to return in due course (perhaps together with the ten formerly-exiled tribes) to the Land of Israel and to the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem.
Therefore, from our viewpoint, it may be that the version of the Bible criticism will give us a preferred perspective for regarding the Torah as particularly geared for our times – times of the Return to Zion and the resurgence of Israel. The scribes of the temple lived in a period of preparation for the exile and for the re-gathering of the exiles of the First Temple (and a final redaction in the times of Ezra would mean precisely guidance for the reconstruction). It is possible that they themselves could not consciously envision the messages for times well beyond this first Shivat ?ion (Return to Zion), like the renewal of modern Zionism. But through their entry into the inwardness of the Torah and by being charged with prophetic inspiration (no less than the great prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah), they could penetrate the archetypical and eternal primal patterns of Exile and Redemption, and to aim in their editing work even for the times of the second Shivat ?ion and of the reconstruction, or rectification, of all of humankind in our times.
According to the most ancient book of Qabbalah – the Sefer Ye?irah – the Lord created His world through “Sefer, sofer veSipur” (generally “Book, Author and Narrative” – but see next [10]). This creative triad can be read in many ways, and can also be compared with the three versions of the Book of Genesis of Creation-Formation-Making, or its three sagas – of the Descendents of Adam, of No’ah and of Abraham.
In the first part we learn of the Sofer – Author, namely God – (creator of the multi-dimensional space) who becomes “YHWH-Elohim” through His contact with Adam; in the second part there are formed and occur the fascinating Sipurim – narratives – about Adam and Eve and the Trees of Life and of Knowledge and the struggles of Cain and Ebel; whereas the third version we are at the Sefar – fringe area – of ha?lam haZeh – This World, which are Sefurim – counted – and measured in its 6,000 years duration.
It is fair to say that the point of view of this Re-Genesis Exegesis is “The ?ion Point”[11], namely Jerusalem, and from this point of perception the differences among the twelve main religions of the “Children of Abraham” are seen as repairable.
