The Incunabular Approach To The Torah’s Divine Origin
THE TORAH’S CLAIM ABOUT NATIONAL PROPHECY IS EITHER TRUE OR FALSE
IF FALSE - THE INITIAL LIE TOOK ONE OF THREE FORMS
1) PAST YOUR ANCESTORS HEARD GOD SPEAK…
WHY IS THERE NO EXPLICIT RECORD OF THE GREATEST CRISIS IN JEWISH HISTORY (THE FORGETTING OF THE “FACT” OF THE NATIONAL PROPHECY AT SINAI)? AND WHY IS THERE NO RECORD OF THE 2ND MOST IMPORT ANT HERO OF JEWISH HISTORY (THE MAN WHO REMINDED JEWRY OF THEIR HISTORY)?
2) FUTURE YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL HEAR GOD SPEAK…
THE JEWISH TRADITION WOULD BE THAT SOMEDAY GOD WILL SPEAK TO JEWRY… YET BEFORE THE FOUNDING
OF THE REFORM MOVEMENT 200 YEARS AGO, EVERY GROUP OF JEWS ON EARTH BELIEVED THAT LONG AGO GOD SPOKE TO THEIR ANCESTORS.
3) PRESENT YOU HEARD GOD SPEAK, AND HERE IS HIS TORAH…
WOULD-BE FOLLOWERS WOULD KNOW THEY HADN’T HEARD GOD SPEAK AND MIGHT BE HESITANT TO TAKE ON PAINFUL OR SUICIDAL OBSERVANCES.
* PERHAPS THE JEWS WERE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED, CHARMED BY MOSES’ CHARISMA, ON DRUGS, FOOLED BY A THUNDERSTORM, THE MYTHOLOGY EVOLVED SO SLOWLY Y THAT NO ONE NOTICED, ETC…
* Applewhite Theorem: (a) People are gullible and will believe anything, even claims that demand painful or suicidal observances; (b) as long as the claim cannot be checked.
**NATURAL PHENOMENA HAPPEN MORE THAN ONCE. IF IT IS NATURAL FOR A GROUP OF PEOPLE TO THINK THAT THEIR ANCESTORS HEARD GOD SPEAK, WHY DIDN’T ANY OTHER GROUP IN 4,000 YEARS OF RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY COME TO THIS CONCLUSION?
** 1st Empirical Law: Because the laws of nature are constant, non-esoteric, natural phenomena will occur repeatedly.
THE TORAH’S REPORT OF NATIONAL PROPHECY IS PROBABLY TRUE.
Back to “A Rational Approach to the Torah’s Divine Origin”
by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen
Posted in: Jewish Beliefs & Philosophy
