Transcription
A lot of people who come to MGE, um, I see this a lot. Believe in God, but not necessarily that God wrote the Torah. Um, what's, what do you say to people? I know you give talks about this. I know this is a concern for you. What, what is your best argument? Um, if we can, if you can sort of share it on one foot, if you don't mind.
Sure. Um, as it turns out, well over, more than one out of two people who share our planet, more than half the world's population, although many of them are not crazy about us, believe that our Torah is the word of God. Muslims do not believe the New Testament's a word of God. They don't even like it. And Christians do not like the Quran. They just don't, for whatever reason. It's not important. But the one thing they can agree on, regardless of what they think about Jews, is that Torah is divinely inspired. And their religions are all predicated on the Torah of Moses. Moses, in Islam, is considered the highest rasul, only second to, I mean, Moses is way up there, and his revelation is the highest. And Christians believe the same thing.
And the question is, why? And this is what I would say to every, any Jew who's wondering about his faith. Why is it that the nations of the world are so rapt by the Torah? And what is so unique about it? And as it turns out, the Torah predicts it. In Deuteronomy chapter 4, the Torah says, "Look, this is what's going to happen. All the nations are going to say, 'What a wise nation this is,' speaking about the Jewish people, the children of Israel, 'that has such a wise law.'" So the Torah, written in the Bronze Age, predicts that the world will be enraptured with the Jewish people and the Torah of the Jew, of the law of the Jew. However, the same chapter says, "Be aware that despite this, they're going to exile you, and you will be in all nations, remaining few in number." (Deuteronomy 4:27).
What is going on here? So the author of the text is saying something very complicated. Saying they're going to love your Torah, but you're going to be a problem. They're going to exile you. Why is the Torah so attractive? What is so unique about the Jewish claim that the whole world latches onto it? And that is the, the, the type of revelation. We, the revelation is one of a national revelation. It's completely unique. That is our formidable event. We believe in Abraham, in his encounter with three angels in Genesis 18, on based on faith. We have no evidence for that. The foundation of our faith is the event that occurred at Mount Sinai, a little more than 3,300 years ago, when an unprecedented revelation took place, where the entire nation, every Jew present, heard the voice of God.
Moreover, I submit this to you. We, we're now between holidays. Every Jewish holiday is based on an event that affected the entire nation. Passover, celebrating in Exodus, miracles that occurred on a national scale. We all experienced it. Passing through the Red Sea on dry land, receiving Torah at Mount Sinai, which we are going to celebrate in just a few weeks from now. The Festival of Tabernacles, a national event where God preserved our people for 40 years in a wilderness. All Hanukkah, all of our holidays are very public. And, and, and what would you, the whole nation was there. What would you say then, you know, which obviously is in contrast to the Christian view of, like, Easter, like, who was there? Like two, two ladies. I mean, right? Every other one is different.
There's one exception, Rabbi. I just want to share this one thing with you. There's only one other type of holiday that is a national, that celebrates national events, and that's secular American holidays. When you celebrate July 4th, the reason why Americans celebrate is because of a national event that occurred to the, the people of the United States of America. Isn't that interesting? But all the other religious holidays, no matter which one, celebrates some event that you, you take their word for it or don't take their word for it, but it's never a national revelation.
And thank you. And what do you then say to someone who's listening to this and says, "Okay, that's great. If I was one of those people who lived thousands of years ago and I was part of witnessing that great event, the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah at Sinai, it wasn't just to a few disciples, it was to everyone. But I wasn't there. And you're asking me to just simply believe that this event took place. What, what's the response to that? What's the next step then?"
Right. So think this through very carefully. There's a lot at stake here. What are the origins of the Torah? Is it divine or human? Someone wrote it, right? Either God is behind it, or just a bunch of men who lived three thousand during the Bronze Age are behind it. The consequences are staggering, right? I mean, obviously, if it's God, I did it, then I should do it. If men just thought pork was a bad idea, well, that was good then, but that doesn't apply to bacon today. So like, there's God behind this. That, that's the.
So here now, listen and think very carefully. If men invented this, wrote this book, and they made it up, they made up the stories, they then present at some point, someone wrote it. Somebody wrote it thousands of years ago, and then it's given to a people and told, "Here is your history." Right? What would the people then ask? If it never happened, there was no Egypt, no Joshua, no Moses, they'd go, "What? Like, how come no one told us about this?" That means the book is not being a claim that some prophet met an angel in some remote area. This is, this happened to you, to your forefathers. So the people would have to respond, if this was invented, this is a human document, then how come no one told me? And then what would you do? You'd have to say it was some big secret? No one was supposed to tell anybody, right? You'd have to say something. You'd have to explain, like, if it never happened, like, how did, if it happened, why didn't anyone tell me about this?
But as it turns out, the author of The, that's the story. In other words, the story we've been telling, it's a story of your history, story of our history, is that these Jews were gathered around a mountain, they had been slaves. So let's say it was written by a human being. That human being would then have to somehow convince a nation that they were these descendants of these people that were enslaved or stood at Sinai. But that big of an event, I mean, this is what you're arguing, I just want to clarify it. That big of an event had to have been heard by somebody, right? It can't, it can't just be made up and then, right, right, in a hundred years from now. I mean, if people made, if 9/11 never happened, a hundred years from now, someone just made it up, you'll go, "Well, 9/11, such a cataclysmic event, like, why didn't anybody say anything about this? Not one individual. You take his word for it and not take his word for it." Exactly.
So the text would have to be buried into the text would have to have a, a, um, a method, a device, a plot device to explain this way, because this would be the, because the book is saying this is your history. And as it turns out, so the book would have to say, "Your parents don't know about it because there's some secret." But it's the very reverse. And this is why it's so compelling about Torah. It's not just Jews have discovered that the world has. And that is the text says the following. The author of the book says, "Look, you have questions. I'm going to tell you what I want you to do." Deuteronomy chapter 32. "If you have questions, ask your daddy, he knows all about it. Ask your elders, they'll respond." And I want you to do the following. Every year, I want you to gather together, and you should tell your children. And your children will ask, and you tell them.
The author of the book had no such concern. It's just the opposite. The author of the book says, "If you want to know more about this event that happened to you, not to Eskimos, but to you, this is your history. Go to your grandparents, they know all about it." Therefore, the book actually locks that in. So therefore, only the origins must have been divine. It must have actually occurred to our people. Moreover, Deuteronomy chapter 32 says, excuse me, Deuteronomy chapter 4 says that this is a one-time event in history. No Torah is one event was one time. You have been shown this that you may know, not have faith, why that I am God. Has there ever been, the text asks the question. The, the Torah, the author of the book is speaking to you and is saying, "Think back through all time in history. Has there ever been any other nation that has had a national revelation and survived? That has been delivered on a national scale and is here to talk about it?" The answer is no.
Is the response to that? It never happened. My friends, my friends, the Torah is so delicious, as Mish Mal says, words that are so high, so delicious. And the text, God understands you. He loves you. You're created in His image. So the Torah is pregnant with information so that you can know the origins are divine, not human, because the text is saying, "Go to your people, they know all about it." And that's why this is what's so delicious about the relationship between God and the Jews. We're really married. The Jewish people are a witness people who bear testimony to the Torah. Conversely, the Torah bears testimony to the uniqueness of Israel as being a light to nations. And that's why Isaiah tells us, "You are my witnesses," declares the Lord. My servant, I. So God calls to the Jewish people to be His witnesses, to bear testimony. Testimony to what? If it never happened? And conversely, the text, so that's why the text, um, the text stands as a testimony to the people, and the people, the Jewish people, bear witness to the authenticity of the text. It's a beautiful marriage made in heaven.