The tip of the DH iceberg

Benjamin Sommer Two Introductions to Scripture JQR 100.1

Here are two quotes that I pulled from this article by Benjamin Sommer in the most recent JQR which lambasted James Kugel who is famous for his recent How to Read the Bible book. According to some, he has become pop culture's biblical critic. He is an Orthodox Jew who has brought much of his brand of biblical criticism to the forefront of people's minds by publishing his very interesting book and subsequently being the subject of discussions at shabbos table's round the country.

Sommer's article was refreshing as he described how we can synthesize what we know about revalation and the divine authorship of the Torah. As a few of you may know, this blog is partially dedicated to synthesis NOT dividing our brains into two compartments, our religious observance and our academic pursuits, like James Kugel does (see this response to the one sided molestation of his book). This is something that Louis Jacobs described in the Intro to his classic "We Have Reason to Believe" where he makes this exact point. We can not and will not, divide our brains, forcing ourselves to think one thing in the classroom but another in shul. This is bad and maybe the exact definition of hypocrisy.

On that note, here are Sommer's thoughts.

"Oral Torah mixes divine elements revealed at Sinai with human elements that react to revelation, extrapolate from it, interpret it, and at times misinterpret or distort it. In light of the centrality of Oral Torah in rabbinic Judaism, the implication of the Bible’s varied authorship is not that the Bible can no longer be considered sacred; in Judaism, something holy can also be flawed and partially human. Rather, the implication is that the Bible, including even the Pentateuch itself, is really another form of Oral Torah. Consequently, for Jews who accept
biblical criticism’s conclusions there is really no such category as Written Torah. Now, that may be a radical implication; it may change fundamental issues in Jewish thought and practice. But it is very different thing to say, ‘‘Biblical criticism forces us to re-evaluate important aspects of Jewish teaching,’’ and ‘‘Biblical criticism is incompatible with Jewish teaching." pg 168


"It is the law, then, that comes first. The role of the Bible and biblical interpreters is to tell us what the law is and to encourage us to obey it. It follows, I think, that scholars can never damage the basic religious function of Scripture for Jews. A modern biblical critic can speculate about a biblical passage’s origins, note its affinities to ancient Mesopotamian texts, or identify its likely function and setting in ancient Israel; an ancient sage can link together verses from various books to weave an entirely new narrative that is not spelled out in any biblical text; a medieval or modern scholar can point out differences between a biblical verse and the rabbinic law based on it or can show how the latter grows organically from the former; but none of these can disturb the basic charge of the
entire Jewish tradition, which is to serve God." pg 180

To me, Sommers basically says that if we take DH and Biblical critique at face value, then the divinity of the Torah is destroyed. But does that actually destroy Judaism? Our religion is based on tradition anyways. The Rabbis have been given a certain amount of authority anyway. So, isnt it possible that there was a tradition of stories, laws and expectations that was only written down later by different people. Does that change the core of our religion? No! Our rabbis still have power because we gave it to them long ago. (See the post about Rav Kook.) Our religion is still about us and God, (see last post as quoted by S. Schechter.) and trying to dig down deep to see what He really wants of us.

Does this upset you? Let it mull over in your mind and see how it tastes. Is is heretical? Maybe, but Sommers never claimed to be Orthodox.(Not that Orthodoxy has a claim to setting standards for heresy)

If you've never thought about this stuff, maybe itll rock the boat a little but thats never a bad thing, unless you completely chuck it. So think about it, comment on the post and maybe together we can figure this out.