Q&A: Was the Torah given according to the science of that time?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Was the Torah given according to the science of that time?
Question
In the Mishnah, in Oholot, 248 limbs are listed—that is, 248 bones. Science determines that a human being has only 206 bones. Does that mean that God commanded Moses to treat as a bone even things that are not actually bones, because the science of that time considered them bones? In other words, that God gave Moses a count of bones according to the science of that time even though He knew it was incorrect? Or is there another explanation for this?
Answer
The Torah did not count the bones. That was the Sages. And so too regarding almost all Torah-level Jewish laws: they are all products of the Sages’ interpretation.
Isn’t the number of bones included in “measurements, interpositions, and partitions are a law given to Moses at Sinai”? Or does the Rabbi also hold that these too were not said to Moses at Sinai in the literal sense?