Q&A: Was the Pentateuch we have in our hands really written by Moses our teacher?
Was the Pentateuch we have in our hands really written by Moses our teacher?
Question
After all, the Torah says that he wrote “this Torah,” which implies that it was a different text — that is what he wrote and placed in the Ark of the Covenant. But how could he place in the Ark a book that had not yet been written… ?
“And Moses wrote this Torah, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time of the Sabbatical year, during the festival of Sukkot. 11 When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place that He shall choose, you shall read this Torah before all Israel in their hearing.
Answer
I don’t see why that expression means there was a different Torah. He also gave the Torah to the sons of Levi, who are the bearers of the Ark, but that does not necessarily mean it was given to them in order to place it in the Ark. Besides, it is possible that he was commanded to write it and place it in the Ark after the writing was completed, not immediately.
In any case, even if none of that is correct, there are rabbinic midrashim that say the Torah was written scroll by scroll, since it refers to events that happened after Mount Sinai, and so it is reasonable that they were not written until they occurred (apart from all the homiletic interpretations).