Divine Authorship of Devarim

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  1. Mishneh Torah - The Book of Second Chances

    Rabbi Yehuda Shaviv

    This article offers an overview of Sefer Devarim, and surveys a myriad of issues raised throughout the book, including: the Divine authorship of Devarim; the centrality of repentance; new Mitzvot that have not yet been commanded; and the role of the community in Mitzvot and in repentance.

  2. The Tragedy of Yoshiyahu

    Rabbi Alex Israel

    Yoshiyahu's dramatic religious revolution led him to two erroneous conclusions, giving him the confidence to confront Pharaoh Nekho who lead his army through Israel in order to confront the emerging Babylonian empire. Firstly, he believed that the religious level that was achieved was one that would make God support him against an idolatrous king. Secondly, he believed that the revolution was sincere and accepted among the people, when in fact in the short amount of time since the major change it was imposiible to uproot norms and beliefs that had set in over such a long period. This folly decision led to his death by the archers' arrows ending abruptly the reign of a righteous king. The lack of real change among the people means that wheels of Hurban that were set in motion by Menashe were not stopped - though they might have had the chage been sincere.

    Modern Biblical scholars claim that Devarim was the Sefer Torah that Yoshiyahu discovered and it was written in his time and not by Moshe. The claim of the 7th century authorship is refuted by a series of simple proofs.

  3. Mishneh Torah: The Book of Second Chances

    Rabbi Yehuda Shaviv | 14 minutes

    We survey a variety of issues raised throughout the book of Devarim, including: the Divine authorship of Devarim; the centrality of repentance; new mitzvot that have not yet been commanded; and the roles of the community in mitzvot and in repentance (teshuva).

  4. Duplication and Contradiction

    Part 1

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    The awareness that the Torah contains many instances of duplication, as well as contradictions between different sources, has always existed. Chazal address these phenomena in many places, and note them. Many contradictions have been debated over the generations and various explanations have been proposed. However, in many instances the solutions are less than satisfactory, since they interpret the text in a manner that does not sit well with the plain meaning; one who seeks to understand the literal meaning of the text has trouble reconciling the various explanations with the plain meaning. Additionally, it is necessary to address this phenomenon from a broader and more all-encompassing perspective and not merely answer each case individually.

    An overview of Documentary Hypothesis, a theory that views the authorship of the Torah as a combination of different sources, is presented. According to this theory, the Torah is neither Divine, nor authored by Moshe.

  5. Duplication and Contradiction

    Part 2 - Historical Claims of Documentary Hypothesis

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    The prevalent view in academic circles, has been that the major part of the Book of Devarim was written in the 7th century B.C.E., as part of the battle waged by Chizkiyahu and Yoshiyahu for centralized ritual worship. This assertion is based mainly on the argument that Devarim is the only Book of the Torah which speaks of the selection of a single location for Divine service, and rejects worship outside of this location. A series of questions and proofs are brought against this theory, leading to the conclusion that the central argument for the claim of late authorship of Devarim has multiple and serious flaws.

  6. Duplication and Contradiction

    Part 5 - Breuer's Aspects Theory

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    Rav Breuer’s fundamental insight should be seen as highlighting the Torah's tendency to express the complexity of various concepts and narratives through repetition, ambiguity, and contradiction. 

    In light of this, there is no need to appeal to the "aspects approach" when discussing the contradictions between Devarim and other parts of the Torah, for it would be unwarranted to expect that a story told from an objective standpoint would be identical to a subjective account offered by someone who was part of that story.

  7. Moshe Began to Explain

    Rabbanit Dr. Michal Tikochinsky

  8. Who Wrote Devarim? Abarbanel's Approach

    Rabbi David Silverberg

  9. Authorship of Devarim

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

  10. Breuer’s Aspects Theory part 2

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak