Q&A: More on the debate with the heretic
More on the debate with the heretic
Question
I was glad that the debate was published, and that the thinness of his arguments is apparent there.
At the same time, I thought of another direction in response to his claims, and I’d be happy to hear your opinion.
Regarding morality in the Torah: in my view, the Torah does deal with morality (and the commandments between one person and another are along those lines), but it is simply a matter of the evolution of human morality over the generations. In their time, the permission regarding a beautiful captive woman was gentle and considerate relative to what was accepted then. The same goes for the laws of slavery.
As for factual errors (historical or scientific) in the Torah: the Torah was given to Moses through prophecy. To the extent that we can understand what prophecy is, it involves some kind of inner intuition and a certain state of consciousness, and of course we believe that the Holy One sent whatever information He wanted to reach the prophet. If so, it should not be surprising if it is based on the scientific information that was available to that prophet, even if it was mistaken. That could also explain the duplications and contradictions in the Torah.
I’d be happy to hear your opinion.
Answer
Even if that helps in the case of the beautiful captive woman (and even there I find it hard to accept), there are other cases that are immoral by any standard. And in general, I do not accept the assumption that the Torah guides us toward only partial morality. Regarding Jewish law and morality, you can search here on the site for columns on that topic. There I explain my position.
The Torah was not transmitted to a prophet; rather, it was written by Moses at the dictation of the Divine.