Q&A: The Complexity of the Torah
The Complexity of the Torah
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi, thank you for your enlightening words!
Is it possible to prove from the Torah itself that it is divine? From its complexity, perfection, or any other reason (something like the physico-theological argument from creation)? At the first stage I am asking about the Written Torah and the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). Can it be proven from them themselves that they express something divine and not just ordinary things? If so, what are the reasons to think that?
A second question: can one prove from the Oral Torah itself that it is divine, or uniquely special in one way or another? If it is uniquely special, must we assume that it is divine? True, regarding the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) there is better reason to think it is not especially complex, and therefore there is no evidence there of a divine creation, but דווקא in the Talmud and afterward there may perhaps be evidence of something perfect and enormous, from which one can prove that the One who gave the Torah…?
A third question I would be glad if you would answer: why do Torah matters keep becoming more complex and deeper over the generations? Doesn’t that point in the opposite direction from what I said earlier, namely that it is human?
From the depth found in the Torah, is it evident that it is deeper and broader than all other branches of wisdom?
Answer
I do not know of any way to prove this, and I suspect there is none. In my opinion, there is nothing here that indicates extraordinary wisdom or divinity. But the fact that something develops over time does not prove anything. If the fact were that other things do not develop over time, that would mean that some kind of wisdom is inherently embedded in this thing from the outset. But that is hypothetical, because in my opinion that is not the case. At least not in a way that proves divinity.
Discussion on Answer
I assume I have some acquaintance with the scope of the Talmud. I’ve heard a few things about it once. If you want me to copy again what I wrote, that seems unnecessary to me. Maybe you can copy it again yourself for your own enjoyment.
It is brought: “The Torah of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is faithful, making wise the simple” (Psalms 19:8).
And so it is brought in Lamentations Rabbah (Vilna edition), Petichta: “And Rabbi Yirmiyah said in the name of Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba: It is written, ‘They have forsaken Me and have not kept My Torah’ (Jeremiah 16). Would that they had forsaken Me but kept My Torah, for by occupying themselves with it, the light within it would bring them back to the good path. Rav Huna said: Let a person study Torah even not for its own sake, for from not for its own sake one comes to do it for its own sake.”
And the meaning in Lamentations Rabbah (Vilna edition), Petichta,
“And Rabbi Yirmiyah said in the name of Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba: It is written, ‘They have forsaken Me and have not kept My Torah.’ Would that they had forsaken Me but kept My Torah, for by occupying themselves with it, the light within it would bring them back to the good path. Rav Huna said: Let a person study Torah even not for its own sake, for from not for its own sake one comes to do it for its own sake,”
that they would study Torah without interruption, even not for its own sake, because in the end they would succeed and be saved. And see Metzudat David on Jeremiah 9:12.
And our Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, of blessed memory, wrote in Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy chapter 11: “For one who hears the words of the living God, the Torah improves his soul and straightens him, for it contains an elixir of life, as our sages said (opening of Eichah Rabbati), ‘the light within it brings him back to the good path.’ Therefore he made everything depend on hearing.”
Thank you! But it is known that the Talmudic corpus is very exceptional and the greatest of its time. Does that prove the point?