How the Torah was Written

Excerpted From file "Add to Chumash, collected from emails"

 (approx the first 25 or so pages of a 200 page file)

File: “Add to Chumash, collected from emails”

Oct 09.doc, July 27 2016, Feb 2017  

Chumash material: From nyu.edu my email:

Emails from all years, subject heading “chumash” or ‘vort’ 

...

Editors: 

• Ezra Hartmann recommended Yakov Blinder. I spoke to him, he remembered me well, and said he had read a few of my chumash parsha sheets I emailed a few years ago, he would ocnsider doing the whole project, for a good salary, but only when he's not so busy, now is his busiest season, nexth statrts the lesser busy but still busy, but in a few months he may have time. H: 580-8030, his office: 580-2041   blinder@netmedia.net.il

• Y Blinder recommended Moshe Lieber. 651-2284. Put out books, big talmid chochom, lots of wide-ranging knowledge. I called, he asked me which Rabinowitz, I said not Munkatch,not England, then I said Da'as Sofrim etc, he said of course he knows. He had just landed returning from US, I should cal Tuesday afternoon.

• I spoke to the Machlises, he recommended a specific person who sometimes teaches at Bar Ilan, he'll speak to him.

• Also: speak to various women in Arzei who have written books.

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TOC of the file from which this was taken ("English material")

·         The last 37 pages are re Hagadah, and the Megillas

 ·         First 5 pages are list of emails & files etc

·         Then about 45 pages of themes.

·         Then some pages of Parshas Breishis, gan eden etc.

·         Then about 60 pages misc which needs to be organized, but some is ordered according to parshos: 

• • end shmos (which is already printed long ago), 

  • Vayikra, some bamidbar, 

  • the first few parshos of dvorim.

  • Then 50 pages of: Haggadah + Megillas Esther/Purim

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Newly-discovered Sites which quote my material: quote my Yomm Kippur vort, and my ‘Adam/Eve not cursed’ vort

• woman's blog site: http://pathoftorah.com/2015/09/20/yom-kippur/     quotes my Y Kippur vort, probably because it supports the rabbinic inuyim without their reasoning, she leans to karaism and own interpretaiton.http://pathoftorah.com/about/

• https://www.facebook.com/pathoftorah/?ref=hl

• they have source but dead link? should be http://www.ottmall.com/mj_ht_arch/v37/mj_v37i16.html#CEK

• article, paper for sale to students? re my Adam/Eve not cursed: http://samples.assignmentlab.com/essays/view/the-curses-of-adam-and-eve/

• my WAIS post on this subject: https://webservicecenter.net/go.jsp?id=02a&objectType=post&o=11714&objectTypeId=5964&topicId=152

• http://waisworld.org/go.jsp?id=02a&o=11714

• ://www.shoresh.org.il/hidush/search.asp?inuser=מידי אביר

•  http://www.shoresh.org.il/hidush/search.asp?inuser=אבי רבינוביץ

…….

JBQ Author Search Results: Search key was: Rabinowitz: 

Author- RABINOWITZ, AVI

1.      Dynamics of the Divine/Human Interaction XVI 51

2.      Moses' Three Signs: Symbol and Augury XX 115

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_model  see ref to my article (in footnotes 

informativ und aufschlussreich ("informative and explanatory-rich") 

in New Heavens and a New Earth: The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought By Jeremy Brown

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this guy posted two of my articles http://www.yurttutan.info/  (i wrote to him to thank him)

i guess they jmust have copied from him? http://www.faceyourfuturetoday.com/category/free-mind/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur  my innuyim chiddush, see ref to my article (in footnotes)

http://pathoftorah.com/2015/09/20/yom-kippur/  quotes from wikipedia, 

original article on MailJewish

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Tajalli wa-Ru'ya: A Study of Anthropomorphic Theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an and Early Sunni Islam Reference to one of my published chumash articles

 i have begun to appreciate more the few references to my stuff, and will try to communicate with anyone who does so and thank them...

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My old Prayer article , and here 

Free will (there used to be several sites referencing it, 

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There’s a large folder: C:\Documents and Settings\Abie\Desktop\Chumash, Imrei Shefer, Torah notebooks, Sha'ar blatts etc\Chumash 2011 .  I inserted below the relevant files from the “end shmos”, and ”Vayikra Bamidbar Dvorim” subfolders

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diff jewish and Christian understanding of chumash, amount of psukim in torah, etc

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Search “Chumash” on Arzei PC

Chumash: Given to R Mordechai Machlis Oct 09: Green transparent binder with printouts of files:

·         "Edited Oct 09. Combining several files including Sent by shuvi Kaplan typing chumash"

·         "Chumash …sent by shuvi. 2nd file" : re gan eden

·         "Midei Abir(in Hebrew font)English excerpted from combined"

·         "Breishis, Noach 09, English with phil material'  Had "given to R Machlis" in older name

·         "Cain and Abel excerpted from combined"

·         "Noah and the flood excerpted from combined

Files: 

·         Breishis, Noach 09, for R. Machlis

·         Kaplan typing chumash

·         Chumash, sent by shuvi

·         Sent by shuvi Kaplan typing chumash

·         Chumash le ovdo

·         Chumash. First 30 pages of combined version

·         ChumashCompleteNov03EngHeb

 …………

·         The Writing of the Torah: 24:4 MR wrote “vayichtov” all the words of God   24:7 MR took the book “sefer (haBris)” ;When were the creation accounts and stories of the Avot written down by Moshe Rabbenu?; Historical Records available to Moshe;Revelation vs human records of events: The added value of the Torah’s ‘stories’ is that they are told from the divine perspective; The unique perspective of the Biblical accounts:

....

Q: Most of the chumash stories happened to people, and so those people may well have been aware of all that had happened (but of course Eve knew asects re the snake which maybe Adam didn;t etc) and they told it to their descendants. However no-one was around at creation (God kind of says this, to Iyov!), so were there aspects of the creation which were revealed in the written torah for the first time, ie were there details not known to Adam? or to Noah? or to Abraham, etc? Or alternatively, when M"R taught the Torah to the zkenim, did they all know this (and more), and they nodded 'yeah, yeah, we know that....'? Or was it that the way M"R spoke (ie the way God wrote) contained many allusions not in the oral tradition (as passed on to that point)?

....

Why doesn;t it say "Vayomer H el Moshe: breishis barati..." etc. If M"R wrote it all, why is he only mentioned when he is born? Of ocurse he is not mentioned even when he is alive, it doesn;t say "Vayomer H el Moshe: "Vayomer Moshe el Tziporah..." nor " "Vayomer H el Moshe: Vayetzaveh Par'oh el ha'am..."

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The Writing of the Torah

24:4 MR wrote “vayichtov” all the words of God   24:7 MR took the book “sefer (haBris)” 

When were the creation accounts and stories of the Avot written down by Moshe Rabbenu?

According to the Talmud[1], God told Moshe the various sections of the Torah at different times. Then, at the end of the forty years in the desert, Moshe compiled the sections into one unified Torah. According to one view[2], as each section was told to Moshe, he wrote it down exactly, and compiled the Torah from these written records. According to another view[3], the sections were memorized by Moshe as they were given, and were only recorded in writing  when the last section had been given[4]. At that point, Moshe compiled the Torah from the memorized portions.

For example, according to Ramban, Genesis [and more] was recorded by Moshe after he came down from Mt. Sinai. However, the last eight passages of the Torah - dealing with the death of Moshe - were written by Yehoshua.

Ramban notes that Moshe  wrote the Torah anonymously - that is, without saying at the beginning of Genesis something like "these are the words which I Moses have written..."[5]. According to Ramban, this was because the words he wrote in the Torah had already been written before[6], and therefore Moshe was "like a scribe who copies from an old book". 

The book of Deuteronomy records Moshe's words to the Jewish People prior to their entry into the Land of Israel. According to one interpretation, the book was written by Moshe, at God's command, as the record of Moshe's speeches. That is, either the speeches had been recorded at the time of their utterance, and then God commanded that every word be entered into the Torah, or God instructed Moshe to write it down from his [perfect] memory, or God dictated to Moshe a verbatim transcript of Moshe's words.

Historical Records available to Moshe

According to the Midrash the Jews in Egypt used to study special scrolls with material regarding the history of their forefathers[7]. In addition, there are various references in the Bible to works which are seemingly not part of the Bible itself[8], and it is known that at the time that the Bible was canonized, there were many works which were rejected, some for being partially - rather than fully -  of prophetic origin or written under the influence of the divine spirit.

 According to Tradition, the Patriarchs were part of a line of tradition from Adam down to Moshe. One can assume in such a case that Adam knew of some creation account, and that this creation account was transmitted to his descendants as part of an oral or written tradition. At some time, it might also have been written down. Similarly, the account of the flood, and the events which occurred to the Patriarchs, would be recorded by those who experienced these events - all of them being prophets.

For example, as Rambam states[9]:  "There were prophets before Moses, as the patriarchs Shem, Eber, Noakh, Meshuselakh, and Khanokh...."

 These accounts would also perhaps be recorded in written form - if not by the actual protagonists, then at least by their descendants. These accounts would then be added to the existing tradition. 

According to the Midrash[10] the Torah was given in separate scrolls, and the Torah from Genesis up to the giving of the Torah was written already before the giving of the Torah, being events being recorded as they occurred.  The complete tradition would be transmitted to every succeeding generation - at the very least to the leaders and Elders of every generation. Thus, the entire tradition would have become available eventually to Moshe, after the Elders recognized him as God's messenger.

Therefore, the material in the Bible prior to the exodus – or related material - would presumably have been known to Moshe, from the tradition transmitted to him (see Midrash Rabbah, Shmot 5:22). Events from that point on would be known to him as a contemporary, and as the protagonist of most of the events[11]. Thus in effect, even though God dictated to Moshe the entire Torah, it may very well have been physically possible for Moshe to have written the narrative elements of the Torah without God's dictation, by combining the various traditional material at his disposal[12]. However, the choice of what to include, and the method of combining the various elements, would not be self-evident[13]. And, any resulting document would not be a Torah - it would be Moshe's edited version of human origins, and of Jewish history. However, if Moshe included material only at God's express command, in the manner dictated by God[14], with the inclusion of the Divinely mandated laws, then this could become the Torah when it would be re-dictated by God.

This may indeed be the way that God told Moshe to write the Torah. If so, then one should not be surprised at claims that individual accounts are coloured by the perspectives and understandings of the people involved in the recording of the events[15]. Since these accounts were initially recorded not by God, and not via Moshe who had a higher form of prophecy, but by earlier prophets at the time of the events or later, then although they were under the influence of Divine inspiration, the result could still reflect their individual psyches and approaches[16]. Indeed scholars claim that when analyzed as literature the various narratives in the Torah do seem to be presented in varying ‘writing styles’, with seemingly various perceptions of the way that God interacts with humanity, and with varying names for God (or for the manifestation of God): although of course there are many reasons given in Traditional sources for all this, the above may also be offered as a reason. None of this of course detracts from the holiness imbued in each word.   

INCOMPLETE: Relating two odd passages

Don’t ascend on stairs to the mizbeach, not to reveal nakedness.[ final passage of the previous parsha – Yitro – (20:23)]

“they saw the God of Israel and under His feet, like the ….” [Near the end of this week’s parsha (Mishpatim) (24:10):]

……………………………………………………………………..

Contemporary writers: God and Moshe:    vayisaper/sefer, vayichtov/katavti, vayikra/vayikra

24:3 MR told the People “vayisaper” the words of God

24:4     MR wrote “vayichtov” all the words of God

24:7 MR took the book “sefer (haBris)” 

          MR read it “vayikra” to the people

24:12       And God said ..the tablets which I wrote “katavti”…”

24:15       And (God) called “vayikra” to MR”

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Entire content of file , on Arzei PC and on email

Revelation vs human records of events: The added value of the Torah’s ‘stories’ is that they are told from the divine perspective, thus granting the reader access to otherwise-unknown inner motivations of the protagonists. Beyond this very important aspect, it also supplies the truth about events which otherwise were likely contentious amongst the protagonists of the story. (Conversely, there are aspects which were known to the protagonists which are unavailable to us since they are not part of the written or oral Tradition).

The unique perspective of the Biblical accounts: A basic principle when reading chumash is to realize that since it is a divine document, unfiltered through human psyche, (some of) what it tells you is something that humans could not have known. Just as humans could not have been present at the creation, yet it tells of that (and tells things that even if a human were present they could not have known), so too it tells us what was in human hearts and minds during some event (eg the brothers reaction to Joseph’s receiving the coat and telling of the dreams) that not only would we not have known if we were witnessing the event, but even the protagonists were not aware of their own feelings and thoughts as described by the torah (the jealousy and hatered that the brothers had in their hearts towards Joseph). A newspaper account or historian’s analysis could be very different.

Going through the Torah’s accounts from the Garden of Eden to the very end of the sojourn in the desert, one can list many events involving several protagonists in which central aspects were perhaps not known to all involved.

1.       The Garden of Eden account: Did God tell Adam before the split into two that the reason was that given to us in the Torah (‘lo tov…kenegdo’)? Was this perhaps only known to later prophets, or only revealed when the Torah was? Did Adam know what the snake told Eve? Did Eve tell Adam, and did he believe her, and did Adam overhear what Eve answered God when asked why she had eaten?  And so on and so forth for all the stories.

2.       The flood is an account of an event as seen by God. It is not what would have been seen by humans, ie there are events some see as miraculous but have a natural explanation. A description can be given from either perspective. The Torah often gives us the miraculous one, even though someone present at the event might not have seen it as miracle and would therefore have described it very differently. 

3.       The prophets and writings: Often these mention details about a Biblical event that are not in the Biblical account, presenting either further information or insight or even a type of prophetic commentary (see my “perush hatanach latanach” [“perush hanevi’im lachumash” etc). (Note: In many cases it is the Tradition rather than the text which presents the words  as referring to a Biblical event.)

4.       Yoseph and the Exodus: It was not until they received the Torah in the desert that the Bney Yisrael knew the truth of what had happened in the story of Joseph. Being descended from the protagonists, it is only natural that the tribes of Reuven, Shimon, Levi etc, and the descendants of Yosef, all had different perceptions of what had transpired, and what had been the motives of those involved. The biblical account made it clear that the brothers had hatred and jealousy in their hearts, something that probably they never admitted even to themselves, let alone transmitted as part of the story possessed by their descendants.  

Of course the Bible’s telling of the story makes clear many other aspects which may well have been still disputed by the descendants of those involved: that Yoseph’s dreams were from on high rather than delusions of grandeur, that his brothers misinterpreted the dreams, that Joseph was innocent of the accusation leveled by his employer’s wife, that Joseph was crying when his brothers spoke, that he bore no grudge towards them, and that the command of their fathers which they conveyed to Joseph - meant to grant them immunity after their father’s death – was most likely fabricated. From the Biblical account it seems pretty clear that even at the very end the brothers did not understand Joseph and were dishonest, fabricating a command of their fathers to him (meant to grant them immunity after their father’s death) in complete obliviousness to Joseph’s righteousness and lack of intent to punish them. All of this might well have been a very significant revelation to the Bney Yisroel when receiving “the five books of Moses” in the desert, and perhaps somewhat unsettling. But it provided a final opportunity to close the circle: Yosef’s bones were carried by the Bney Yisrael out of Egypt at his express command, and those bones and the living descendants all present at Sinai and when the contents of the five books were transmitted, revealing the true story of Joseph.

It would be interesting to analyze the events in the desert according to the tribes of the protagonists, to see whether there was some influence of this revelation, or if there were events which motivated God to reveal this then.

Another example: Moshe Rabbenu was told what his brother Ahron was thinking.

That Sarah laughs ‘bekirbah’ means the narrator has access: either God, or by Avraham via God, or was told by Sarah later. 

Was God in this way trying to tell Avraham and Sarah something aobut God’s abilities?

Make list of such, eg Esav, but was told to Rivka (vayugad), but no mention of who told her. Does the story with Sarah provide a methodological hint about this?

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The shvatim were sure they were acting lishmah, chazal present reasons for a sanhedrin to judge Yosef and apply the death penalty. But hashem tells us in the chumash something that no-one else could know, that the shvatim themselves were not consciously aware of (and that maybe was first revealed to humanity at the time the chumash was given) - that they were motivated by hatred and jealousy! They would have laughed at anyone accusing them of such a childish and base motivation. And they would have felt themselves sincere in that. But Hashem knows our inner heart and motivation. And Hashem tells us the Pinchas's motive was purely leshem shamayim. 

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Some parts of the torah are prophetic records incorporated by God into the torah, so they are visions as seen by a prophet. 

Perhaps the flood account too is a description of a vision induced by God in a human prophet.

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