What Does
"the Torah of Moses" Mean?
Although modern traditionalist Judaism uniformly affirms the divinity of
the Torah, classical sources disagree on what role Moses had in the actual
production of the Torah.
By Jeffrey Spitzer
The Bible uses the phrase "the Torah of Moses"
over a dozen times, frequently in contexts where it is clear that the later
Biblical book is referring to the five books of the Torah. An exploration of
various classical sources dealing with the Moses' role in writing down the Torah
results in partial agreement about what the relevant questions are. There is,
however, much less agreement among the sources on what the answers might be.
"VeZot haTorah—This is the Torah that Moses set
before the people Israel--by the mouth of God, through the hand of Moses."
These phrases, merged from Deuteronomy 4:4 and Numbers 9:23, are recited by
traditional Jews each time the Torah is raised to be returned to the Aron
Kodesh (Holy Ark). To emphasize the significance of the statement, one
frequently sees Jews point at the Torah. "This is it," traditionalist
Jews proclaim, "admittedly a copy written by a scribe, but word for word
and letter for letter identical with the one transcribed by Moses as God
dictated it."
But how and when did this happen? The Talmud asks a very
basic question about Moses' role, starting with a quote from Deuteronomy:
"'So Moses, God's servant, died there' (Deuteronomy
34:5). But is it possible that Moses wrote 'So Moses died' while he was still
alive?!' Rather, Moses wrote up to this point, and from here on, Joshua the son
of Nun wrote—these are the words of R. Judah…[R. Shimon raises an alternative:]
Up to this point, God spoke and Moses repeated and wrote; after this point, God
spoke and Moses wrote in tears" (Menachot 30a).
Based on this text, Moses wrote all of the Torah, with the
exception, perhaps, of the final eight verses.
Did God give all of the Torah at one time, on Mount Sinai,
and did Moses write it down on Mt. Sinai? Traditional understandings vary. A
famous dispute in the Talmud states that R. Yochanan held that the Torah was
given scroll by scroll, while his study partner, Resh Lakish, held that the
Torah was given in its entirety. And according to R. Levi, a variety of
passages from Leviticus and Numbers were written up prior to the rest of the
Torah, on the day when the Tabernacle was erected, because the various laws
were needed for its proper functioning (Gittin 60a-b). Interestingly, according
to Rashi, Resh Lakish is not implying that the entire Torah was given all at
once on Mt. Sinai, but rather, as each passage was told to Moses, Moses wrote
it down, and in line with the passage from Menachot quoted above, at the end of
the 40 years of travel through the desert, Moses compiled them and sewed them
all together (s.v. megillah megillah nitnah).
What, then, was given at Sinai? Traditionally, Jews have
believed that God spoke the Ten Commandments clearly so that all of Israel
could hear or that even just the first two commandments were recited before the
people. According to the Galician Hasidic master Menahem Mendel of Rymanov (d.
1815), all God actually said was the first letter of the first word, Aleph,
which actually makes no sound alone at all (as reported by his student Naphtali
Zevi Ropshitzer, Zera Kodesh, on Shavuot). What the people heard,
however, is not the same as what was revealed to Moses.
The Midrash assumes that during the forty days and nights
which Moses spent on Mount Sinai, God revealed the entire Bible, as well as the
Mishnah, the Talmud, and the Aggadah (Exodus Rabbah 47:1 on Exodus 34:27). Many
of the Bible commentators, however, seem to describe a more nuanced process,
both with respect to the revelation and to the ultimate writing of the text of
the Torah. According to the thirteenth century Spanish rabbi Ramban, (also
known as Nachmanides):
"When Moses came down from the
mountain, he wrote from the beginning of the Torah until the end of the story
of the Tabernacle, and the conclusion of the Torah he wrote at the end of the
fortieth year…this is according to the one who says the Torah was given scroll
by scroll. But according to the one who says it was given complete, the entire
thing was written in the 40th year" (Ramban, preface to his Torah
commentary).
This accords well with what what the 12th century
commentator Rashbam had written about the revelation of the book of Leviticus.
According to Rashbam, Leviticus was not given on Mount Sinai but in the
wilderness of Sinai, in the portable Tent of Meeting (commentary on Numbers
1:1).
Rabbi Meir Simchah haKohen of Dvinsk (1843-1926) minimizes
the difference between Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish:
"For the one who says it was
given scroll by scroll, … each statement was written on its own, and Moses
wrote it on parchment with ink and gave it the children of Israel and taught
them the Torah. But for the one who says that the Torah was given complete… as
soon as it was said to Moses from God's mouth, it was said to the children of
Israel, … and after forty years, it was written, and even though it was written
a long time after it was spoken by God, faithful are its words for there was no
change or diminishment or addition based on Moses' own intellect" (Meshekh
Hokhmah, Exodus 20:2).
According to this early modern commentator, both of the
Talmudic rabbis understand a gradual revelation, but according to Rabbi
Yochanan, each statement was immediately transcribed and taught, whereas Resh
Lakish would say that each statement was published immediately through oral
teaching and then written all at once. According to some commentators, however,
the transcribed materials were not "sources" from which the Torah was
compiled. Exodus 24:7--"And Moses took the scroll of the covenant and read
it aloud to the people"--implies that scrolls and written materials
existed prior to a complete writing of the Torah. Rashba (R. Solomon Adret, 13th
century Spain) explains this in terms of an educational purpose:
"Moses did not write each
passage at the time it was said to him, but rather, he ordered them orally
until the end of the Torah. But passages which were necessary at the time, he
would write down so that the people could see them and learn them from a
written text" (Hiddushei haRashba on Gittin 60a).
Nevertheless, Rashba seems clear that Moses did not use the
written text of the scroll of the covenant in composing the Torah later on.
What should we make, however, of the book of Deuteronomy?
"Moses wanted to clarify the
Torah for them, and it is stated thus ['Moses undertook'] to make it known that
he saw it necessary to do so on his own, and that God did not command him in
this…" (Ramban, Deuteronomy 1:1).
Ramban divides Deuteronomy into two parts: the commandments
that had not been mentioned previously were, at this point, proclaimed by God.
The commandments that were repeated from earlier in the Torah and the curses in
Deuteronomy 28 were Moses' own words, spoken at his own initiative.
Nachmanide's approach is puzzling; the Talmud itself states, "One who
says: This verse Moses himself said, as if speaking from himself, has no part
in the world to come" (Sanhedrin 99a). Nevertheless, many commentators
agree; R. Hayyim ibn Attar even goes farther: "These are the words"
(Deuteronomy 1:1) means that all of Deuteronomy is from Moses, but that none of
the previous four books are. They are entirely from God" (Or haHayyim, Deuteronomy
1:1).
What do these classical sources reveal? There are,
apparently, a wide variety of opinions of how the Torah was written. Working
through the Torah consecutively we have the following opinions:
Genesis: Perhaps it was entirely written at the end of the
40 years or perhaps Moses wrote it immediately upon descending from Sinai. Some
laws, like the commandment about Jews not eating the sciatic nerve (Genesis
32:33), may have been given to the patriarchs prior to Sinai, or the law may
have been given at Sinai but Moses inserted the law in its place in order to
connect the law with its source (see Talmud Hullin 101b).
Exodus: Perhaps it was entirely written at the end of the 40
years, or perhaps the portion through the laws of the Tabernacle were written
by Moses immediately upon descending from Sinai. Some of these materials, like
the book of the Covenant were written as texts before they were written into
the Torah itself.
Leviticus and Numbers: Leviticus might have only been
revealed in the Tent of Meeting after the revelation at Mt. Sinai. All of this
material might have been written at the end of the 40 years. Perhaps Moses wrote certain passages
concerning the Tabernacle immediately upon descending from Sinai. Perhaps other
passages were spoken by God and they were written down immediately, or they
were remembered orally until the Torah's composition.
Deuteronomy: Perhaps Moses wrote all of it as God dictated,
writing the last eight verses in tears, or perhaps Joshua wrote those last eight
verses. Perhaps the new material is from God, but the repeated material and the
curses are from Moses, or perhaps the whole book is from Moses.
Traditional sources definitely help define the issues in
understanding the question of how God's Torah was written down and when, but
the variety of approaches leaves answers somewhat less clear.
Jeffrey Spitzer is the senior educator at Jewish Family & Life! and a
contributing editor of MyJewishLearning.com.
