Emma Tingey

Homework – 2nd October 2007

Explain why some Jews question the authority of the Torah. (10)

The question of Jewish authorship of the Torah is one that divides the Jewish community. Throughout the generations, Jews have treated the Torah as a whole, as a revelation of God to Moses on Mount Sinai, delivered to the Israelites. Traditionally the Torah was thought to be literally dictated to Moses from God so every word true. All Jews followed the 613 mitzvot because God had instructed them to. The Torah is God’s instruction on how those who place their trust in him are to live, so that ‘all will be well with them.’ (Deuteronomy 4.40). However since the nineteenth century many scholars have claimed that the Torah is a collection of traditions composed at different times, which is why the authority of the Torah is questioned.

There are three main areas that highlight why Jews may question the authorship of the Torah. They are Biblical Criticism, textual studies of ancient Manu scriptures and the influences of other cultures. The view of the biblical criticism is that the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Torah, is composed from different sources. The explanation was first put forward around the 16th century. Spinoza is concluded that Moses was told to read the Book of Law to the people. This indicates it must have been much shorter otherwise it would have taken a longer time to dictate. ‘This must mean that in the book in question was much shorter than the Pentateuch’ written by (Spinoza, Cohn – Sherbok).

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There were two German scholars that came up with similar theories, Karl Heinrich Graf and Julius Wellhausen put forward the idea that four independent sources were used when the Pentateuch was compiled. Each source JEDP differs from each other in some way. Julius Wellhausen thought that there should be a sixth book included within the Pentateuch, so it would be a Hexateuch to include Joshuah. The book of Deuteronomy is thought to stand alone as the law, and the ‘Elohist’ document is thought to be the original material of Moses. ‘It is more accurate to speak the Hexateuch than ...

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