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Why do we believe the Torah was given by G-d?

by Mrs. Sarah Levi

  

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We know that the Torah was given by G-d via historical fact, just like we know that George Washington, Christopher Columbus, Charlemagne, or Plato lived because of the existing historical evidence.

The fact is that the Torah was given through a Divine revelation to approximately 3,000,000 eyewitnesses who transmitted their experience to their children and so on down through the ages.1


Once we believe that the Torah is divine, we must also understand that the entire Torah is divine. This means that picking and choosing which parts of the Torah to follow is unreasonable, and that mankind has not the moral authority to negate even one letter of the Torah.

Footnotes

  • 1. Incidentally, Judaism is the ONLY religion that makes the claim that it started with 3 plus million people seeing one event. No other religion makes such a claim. Why not? Because you cannot convince 3 million people that they experienced something they didn't. That would be way beyond a conspiracy.

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COMMENTS

Why do We Believe the Torah was Given by God?

Posted by: Mike on Oct 25, 2004

Though an important question, I found Sarah Levi's answer to be unsatisfying. Her reasoning is that 3,000,000 people witness this event, ergo it is a historical fact just like any other. However, this conclusion is not a logical one because the only source that states this statistic is the Torah itself! Sarah Levi has committed the fallacy of 'Begging the Question' by assuming the veracity of the Torah in order to prove it's own validity! Her second reason acknowledges that an assumption, namely that of God, is being made.

Editor's Comment

To Mike

Posted by: Anonymous, Palo Alto, CA on Jun 22, 2006

I would agree with you if the decendents of those 3 milion eye witnesses which have had both the written torah and oral tradition passed down the generations, not be alive today. Considering that the farther back you go, the closer you are to those eye witnesses, and since the decendents of those eye witnesses are alive today, and still pass on the tradition -- unmodified for thousands of years -- Put yourself in their shoes, passing down the torah as it is today, to their children, teaching them g-d's command of passing the torah-unmodified -- for the rest of the generations to come, including the oral tradition. As generations change, the torah is transmitted from one to the next - and you get to where we are today. A situation where an entire nation has a tradition claiming that their ancestors who were 3 milion in number - eye witnessed such an incredible event, can only be explained if the event has actually taken place -- burden of proof is on you, if you claim otherwise.

ambiguous and misleading?

Posted by: Zeek on Jul 09, 2006

the author of this answer simply states that "The Torah was given by G-d..."

That statement is misleading because "Torah" is not exactly defined. it implies that the Jews received the Chumash at Har Sinai which certainly could not have happened because otherwise the Jews would know their own future conquest of the land of Israel before they started to conquer it.

Much the same principle as seen in "Space Balls"

(If you've seen the movie, you know what i mean)

Editor's Comment
Torah
Torah is G–d’s teaching to man. In general terms, we refer to the Five Books of Moses as “The Torah.” But in truth, all Jewish beliefs and laws are part of the Torah.
G-d
It is forbidden to erase or deface the name of G-d. It is therefore customary to insert a dash in middle of G-d's name, allowing us to erase or discard the paper it is written on if necessary.