How Thomas Paine Forgot Sinai

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Artwork: Portrait of Thomas Paine, by Laurent Dabos

How Thomas Paine Forgot Sinai

In 1794 Thomas Paine published his pro-Deism anti-religion book, The Age of Reason. Quite early on in the book he sets forth his refutation of "Divine revelation." He begins by affirming the centrality of revelation in the three major religions. 

Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as if the way to God was not open to every man alike. 

Each of those churches show certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say, that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all. 

So far, so good. Next, he defines the term "revelation" and, on the basis of this definition, states that something can only be considered a "revelation" by the direct recipient of the communication.

As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I proceed further into the subject, offer some other observations on the word revelation. Revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man. 

No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it. 

It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.

Also good. This is why we reject the authority of any religion based on one, two, or several individuals who claim to have received a divine revelation. There is no way to verify such a claim, and no reason to trust those who make it.

But then he makes an egregious factual error about Judaism's revelation claim:

When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables of the commandments from the hands of God, they were not obliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than some historian telling me so. The commandments carry no internal evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral precepts, such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver, or a legislator, could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention.

Thomas Paine completely missed the one claim which sets Judaism apart from all other religions: the claim of public revelation - that the entire nation of Israel heard God speak to Moshe at Sinai. 

The Torah explicitly makes this claim in a number of places:

Hashem said to Moshe, "Behold! I will come to you in the thickness of the cloud, in order that the people hear when I speak with you, and they will also believe in you forever." (Shemos 19:9)

Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your heart all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and your children’s children – the day that you stood before Hashem, your God, at Horeb, when Hashem said to me, “Gather the people to Me and I shall let them hear My words, so that they shall learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and they shall teach their children” So you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of heaven, darkness, cloud, and thick cloud. Hashem spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a likeness, only a sound. He told you of His covenant that He commanded you to observe, the Ten Declarations, and He inscribed them on two stone Tablets. (Devarim 4:9-13) 

For inquire now regarding the early days that preceded you, from the day when God created man on the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other end of heaven: Has there ever been anything like this great thing or has anything like it been heard? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard, and survived? Or has any god ever miraculously come to take for himself a nation from amidst a nation, with challenges, with signs, and with wonders, and with war, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with greatly awesome deeds, such as everything that Hashem, your God, did for you in Egypt before your eyes? You have been shown in order to know that Hashem, He is the God! There is none beside Him! From heaven He caused you to hear His voice in order to teach you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire, because He loved your forefathers, and He chose his offspring after him, and took you out before Himself with His great strength from Egypt; to drive away from before you nations that are greater and mightier than you, to bring you, to give you their land as an inheritance, as this very day. (ibid. 4:32-37) 

These words Hashem spoke to your entire congregation on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick cloud – a great voice, never to be repeated – and He inscribed them on two stone Tablets and gave them to me. It happened that when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness and the mountain was burning in fire, that you – all the heads of your tribes and your elders – approached me. They said, “Behold! Hashem, our God, has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; this day we saw that Hashem will speak to a person and he can live. But now, why should we die when this great fire consumes us? If we continue to hear the voice of Hashem, our God, any longer, we will die! For is there any human that has heard the voice of the Living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? You should approach and hear whatever Hashem, our God, will say, and you should speak to us whatever Hashem, our God, will speak to you – then we shall hear and we shall do.” (ibid. 5:19-23)

So I made an Ark of cedarwood and I carved out two stone Tablets like the first ones; then I ascended the mountain with the two Tablets in my hand. He inscribed on the Tablets according to the first script, the Ten Statements that Hashem spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire, on the day of the congregation, and Hashem gave them to me. I turned and descended from the mountain, and I placed the Tablets in the Ark that I had made, and they remained there as Hashem had commanded me. (Devarim 10:3-5) 

This was my first reading of Paine's The Age of Reason, and I must say that he severely undermined his own credibility by not even bothering to do a fact-check on the source-text of the religion he intends to debunk! He even stated earlier that "the Jews say, that their word of God was given by God to Moses, face to face." Apparently, he didn't believe that we take our own claim seriously!

But it gets better! In the next chapter Paine sets up an argument about the evidence needed to believe in miracles. As we'll see, if he applied this line of reasoning to what Judaism actually claims, this would lead him to the conclusion that the Torah was given at Sinai. Paine writes:

When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven and brought to Mahomet by an angel, the account comes too near the same kind of hearsay evidence and second-hand authority as the former. I did not see the angel myself, and, therefore, I have a right not to believe it. 

When also I am told that a woman called the Virgin Mary, said, or gave out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with a man, and that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told him so, I have a right to believe them or not; such a circumstance required a much stronger evidence than their bare word for it; but we have not even this — for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such matter themselves; it is only reported by others that they said so — it is hearsay upon hearsay, and I do not choose to rest my belief upon such evidence ... 

The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told exceeds every thing that went before it. The first part, that of the miraculous conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; and therefore the tellers of this part of the story had this advantage, that though they might not be credited, they could not be detected. They could not be expected to prove it, because it was not one of those things that admitted of proof, and it was impossible that the person of whom it was told could prove it himself. 

But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his ascension through the air, is a thing very different as to the evidence it admits of, to the invisible conception of a child in the womb. The resurrection and ascension, supposing them to have taken place, admitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of the ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon-day, to all Jerusalem at least. A thing which everybody is required to believe, requires that the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal; and as the public visibility of this last related act was the only evidence that could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it falls to the ground, because that evidence never was given. Instead of this, a small number of persons, not more than eight or nine, are introduced as proxies for the whole world, to say they saw it, and all the rest of the world are called upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did not believe the resurrection, and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration himself. So neither will I, and the reason is equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas. 

It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The story, so far as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of fraud and imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors of it is as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to be assured that the books in which the account is related were written by the persons whose names they bear; the best surviving evidence we now have respecting that affair is the Jews. They are regularly descended from the people who lived in the times this resurrection and ascension is said to have happened, and they say, it is not true. It has long appeared to me a strange inconsistency to cite the Jews as a proof of the truth of the story. It is just the same as if a man were to say, I will prove the truth of what I have told you by producing the people who say it is false.

To summarize, Paine's criteria for believing in a miraculous phenomenon are three in number:

(1) the miracle would have to be publicly visible ("admitting to public and oracular demonstration ... like that of the ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon-day") 

(2) it would have to have been witnessed by a large group of people (not "a small number of persons, not more than eight or nine ... introduced as proxies for the whole world" and "to all Jerusalem at least") 

(3) these witnesses would have to be identifiable (not "impossible for us to now know"), so that their testimony could be corroborated by non-witnesses 

Paine even acknowledges that the descendants of the alleged witnesses to a public miracle would be sufficient to establish its historicity, writing that "[the Jews] are regularly descended from the people who lived in the times this resurrection and ascension is said to have happened, and they say it is not true" - implying that if they did say that these miracles happened, then we would believe them.

Guess which miraculous event meets these three criteria? The Giving of the Torah at Sinai! If you haven't yet read the entitled Torah from Sinai, then I recommend you drop everything and read it as soon as possible. For those who have read it, I will quote the passage that speaks most directly to Thomas Paine:

We are now in a position to determine what [sort of miraculous] event could be performed that would retain its validity for future generations. Since future generations cannot observe the event directly, it would have to be an event that rules out in its process of communication the causes of doubt due to the ignorance of the communicators and due to fabrication. A simple event grasped easily by the senses that occurs before a mass of people who later attest to its occurrence would fulfill the requirements. Such an event would have all the credibility of the most accepted historical fact. If we doubt either a simple event attested to by masses of people or a complex event attested to by qualified individuals, we would ipso facto have to doubt almost all the knowledge we have acquired in all the sciences, all the humanities, and in all the different disciplines existing today. Moreover we would have to desist from consulting with physicians, dentists, lawyers, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, or specialists in any field who work from an accepted body of knowledge. 

The event at Sinai fulfills the above requirements. The events witnessed as described were of a simple perceptual nature so that ordinary people could apprehend them. The event at Sinai was structured with the same built-in ingredients that cause us to accept any historical fact or any kind of secondhand knowledge ...

Someone may ask how we know that these events were as described in the Torah, clearly visible, and that they transpired before the entire nation. Perhaps this itself is a fabrication? The answer to this question is obvious. We accept a simple fact attested to by numerous observers because we consider mass conspiracy absurd. For the very same reason no public event can be fabricated, for we would have to assume a mass conspiracy of silence with regard to the occurrence of that event. If someone were to tell us that an atomic bomb was detonated over New York City fifty years ago, we would not accept it as true because we would assume that we would have certainly heard about it, had it actually occurred. The very factors which compel us to accept as true an account of an event of public proportion safeguards us against fabrication of such an event. 

Were this not so all of history could have been fabricated. Had the event at Sinai not actually occurred anyone fabricating it at any point in time would have met with the stiff refutation of the people, "had a mass event of that proportion ever occurred we surely would have heard of it." Fabrication of an event of public proportion is not within the realm of credibility. 

History corroborates this point. In spite of the strong religious instinct in man, no modern religion in over two thousand years has been able to base itself on public revelation. A modern religion demands some kind of verifiable occurrence in order to be accepted. For this reason the two major Western religions, Christianity and Islam, make recourse to the revelation at Sinai. Were it not for this need and the impossibility of manufacturing such evidence, they certainly would not have based their religions on another religion's revelation. 

[I cannot emphasize this enough: if you haven't read the aforementioned essay - or this version of the same argument, or this one - then I urge you to do so.]

This isn't the first time we've seen a great mind spell out the Torah mi'Sinai argument step by step, only to stop short of the logical conclusion which follows. Several years ago we wrote about how Sigmund Freud did just that in his Introductory Letters on Psychoanalysis (1916). Just this summer we wrote about how Mortimer Adler also glossed over Judaism's unique revelation claim in his Truth in Religion (1992).

I guess this just goes to show that just because someone is great thinker who lives in The Age of Reason and advocates for a Life of Reason doesn’t necessarily mean that he will reach the conclusions dictated by Reason.

Parashas Vaeschanan: Which Souls Were at Sinai?

In truth this is more of a dvar Torah on Parashas Nitzavim. I was going to save this for Parashas Nitzavim itself, but that time of year is usually occupied with other important ideas to write about, so I decided to go for it this week. 

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Artwork: Spectral Gateguards, by Wayne England

Parashas Vaeschanan: Which Souls Were at Sinai?

The Impetus for This Post

Earlier this week I participated in a Facebook discussion on the various forms of subtle discrimination against geirim (converts) which persist in the Jewish community. I mentioned that one of my personal pet peeves is when born-Jews hear that I am a ger and say something like, "Your neshamah (soul) was definitely at Sinai!" I casually remarked that I don't believe in "Jewish souls" (a topic I intend to write about next week), and even if I did, I don't believe that the souls of geirim were present at Maamad Har Sinai (the Revelation at Sinai).

In response to this statement someone asked, "So you don't believe that your soul was at Mt. Sinai with all the other Jewish souls (including those of geirim), when the Torah was given?" to which I replied with an emphatic: "No - nor do I believe that the souls of all Jews were at Sinai."

That's when I decided to write a blog post on this topic. 

Souls at Sinai

In Parashas Nitzavim the Torah says: 

"Not with you alone do I seal this covenant and this imprecation, but with whoever is here, standing with us today before Hashem, our God, and with whoever is not here with us today." (Devarim 29:13-14)

The Abravanel [1] raises a major question:

Who gave the Dor ha'Midbar (Generation of the Wilderness), who stood at Har Sinai, the power to obligate their children who would come after them by saying, "naaseh v'nishmah - we will do and we will obey" (Shemos 24:7), thereby causing [their offspring] to enter into the covenant with Hashem and making them swear upon their souls that they would not violate it forever, to the point where they obligated them in all the words of the Torah and the covenant which they sealed, and to punish their offspring after them?

My students often ask this question in a slightly different way: "Why don't we get a choice whether or not to be Jewish? How is it fair that our ancestors accepted the Torah for us?"

We will not take up the Abravanel's answer to this question in this post. My apologies for those who were interested in what he has to say. The only reason I brought up the Abravanel's question is so that I can quote his refutation of the incorrect answer he's heard. He writes: 

It is not proper to allow ourselves to be appeased by what the Early Sages (of blessed memory) said, that all of the souls who would ever exist until the end of all generations  - all of them were at Sinai, and all of them affirmed and accepted this covenant [upon themselves] with an imprecation and an oath. 

Why doesn't the Abravanel accept Chazal's answer at face value? He explains:

It is difficult for the intellect to believe this. How could there be souls [that were present at Sinai] without bodies? Mitzvos are only obligatory upon a soul combined with a body, which we refer to as "man," as it is stated: "that man should do [the mitzvos] and live by them" (Vayikra 18:5). And the dead are free [from obligation in mitzvos], because when their souls separate from their bodies, they are no longer "man." Moreover, mitzvos are a chovas ha'guf (obligation that is incumbent upon the person himself), and we cannot obligate someone who isn't present. 

It's also not enough to answer like the one who says that this group of 600,000 people included all [possible] forms and appearances and all possible [personality] dispositions, and from that point and onward, it is impossible to find a person in the latter generations whose appearance and form were not present [at Sinai] in body and in soul. This would not explain how any man could have sworn an oath at Har Sinai. 

It is difficult for the intellect to accept [these answers], and they are conceptually and inherently weak.

Undoubtedly, the Abravanel's dismantling of this answer will be jaw-dropping for those who have been raised to take this midrash literally. This is a great example of how quick people are to unthinkingly embrace midrashic explanations which cater to the imagination. The difficulties raised by the Abravanel are obvious: How can souls be "present" without bodies? How can a bodiless soul accept mitzvos which were given to human beings? How could such an oath be halachically binding? Yet, these questions don't even occur to most people because the notion of all Jewish souls gathered at Sinai - past, present, and future - is so emotionally appealing.

Before we attempt to figure out what Chazal meant, let's review the major sources inside.

The Midrashim

As far as I can tell, there are three major sources of the notion that "all Jews were at Sinai" in the classic midrashic literature. The first two sources are very similar, and will be examined as one; the third midrash has a different focus, and will be addressed later.

The first source can be found in Shemos Rabbah 28:6:

"And God spoke all of these words, saying etc." (Shemos 20:1). R' Yitzchak said: Everything that neviim (prophets) would prophesy in future generations was received at Har Sinai, for Moshe said to Israel: "with whoever is here, standing with us today before Hashem, our God, and with whoever is not here with us today." It does not say "whoever is not standing here with us today," but "whoever is not with us today." These are the souls that would be created in the future, which do not have substance, and therefore cannot be said to "stand." Even though they were not present at that time, each and every one of them received what was his ... and even the chachamim (wise men) in each and every generation received what was his at Sinai.

A cursory reading might lead one to jump to conclusions: "Ha! You see? Even those souls who were yet to be created were present at Sinai, even though they didn't have bodies!" But upon careful reading we see that Chazal make a distinction: these unborn souls "were not present at that time," and yet, "each and every one of them received what was his" - just as all future neviim received their prophecies, and just as all future chachamim received their wisdom. This needs to be understood. What do Chazal mean? You're telling me that all nevuah and all chochmah was given at Sinai?

To further complicate things, there's a sparser version of this midrash in Midrash Tanchuma (Nitzavim 8) which states:

"not with you alone (Devarim 29:13) - but even the future generations to come were present [at Sinai], as it is stated, "with whoever is here, standing with us ... and with whoever is not here with us today." Why did it say "whoever is here" and "whoever is not here"? Because all souls were there, but the body [corresponding to each soul] had not yet been created; therefore, it didn't say "standing."

This is probably the source that the Abravanel was referring to, since it mentions the issue of souls without bodies. And this midrash explicitly states that all future souls were actually present at Sinai, without bodies.

Nevertheless, we see that this didn't stop the Abravanel from disagreeing. He didn't accept this midrash at face value, due to the difficulties he enumerated.

The question for us is: What do these midrashim mean? Unless you believe that unborn souls can float around at Har Sinai, accept mitzvos, and enter into legally binding oaths and covenants, then what idea are Chazal teaching us in these cryptic statements?

The Idea

I discussed this question with my Mishlei rebbi this morning. He said he'd have to think about it some more, but he gave me his first impression. He suggested that Chazal are teaching a fundamental idea: the basis for our acceptance of the Torah is the Revelation at Sinai, and this basis is open and accessible to all human beings. When Hashem told Moshe: "Behold! I will come to you in the thickness of the cloud, so that the people will hear as I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever" (Shemos 19:9), He was acknowledging that the Revelation at Sinai would serve as a rational basis for accepting nevuas Moshe (Mosaic prophecy) for all people, in all future generations.

At first I dismissed this interpretation as being overly simple. I thought: "Really? These midrashim are just telling us that Sinai is for everyone? That's it?"

But then I realized the profound implications of this idea. In other religions, the basis of acceptance is only accessible to a select group. In some cases it is the individual priests or prophets who have a special relationship with the god(s) or spirits, and the average person can only connect to the divine through these elite leaders. In other cases the average person must undergo a special "spiritual experience" or attain a transcendental state to establish a foundation for their faith. 

In Judaism, however, the basis of our acceptance is open to everyone with a tzelem Elokim (intellect). There is no special spiritual experience, no listening to mystical inner voices, and no blind faith or divine grace - just the human mind. Using the same criteria by which we evaluate all secondhand knowledge and all historical events, we can rationally demonstrate the historicity of the Revelation at Sinai - and with it, all the contents of Torah.

This also explains what the midrash means when it says that all prophecies of the neviim and all wisdom of the chachamim was given at Sinai. The Rambam [2] and the Ramban [3] explain at length that the only reason we accept other people as neviim is because of the criteria spelled out in the Torah. In other words, we only accept someone as a navi because of the Revelation at Sinai. It is in this sense that all nevuah was "given" at Sinai, since Sinai is the only reason we accept any subsequent nevuah.

So too, the chochmas ha'Torah (Torah wisdom) that our chachamim possess is predicated upon the acceptance of the Revelation at Sinai. When the midrash says "chochmah" it's not talking about the type of chochmah that can be derived outside of Torah - as Chazal say: "If someone tells you that there is chochmah among the goyim, believe him" (Eichah Rabbah 2:13). Rather, the "chochmah" that our midrash is referring to is specifically chochmas ha'Torah, which we only accept because of Sinai. 

This also explains the midrashic sources which use our pasuk in Nitzavim to explain the inclusion of geirim in the acceptance of Torah. For example, the Tosefta (Sotah 7:5) says:

We only [have a proof that] "you [Jews]" accepted Torah. How do we know that the generations that will come after you and convert are also included? Because it is stated: "Not with you alone [do I seal this covenant]" but "with whoever is not here with us today."

One can imagine a religion in which native born Jews are considered to have a special connection to Hashem because their ancestors stood at Sinai, but geirim are relegated to a lower status. That is not how our religion works. When it comes to the Revelation at Sinai and the acceptance of the Covenant, the Jew and the ger are on equal footing.

While this doesn't answer the Abravanel's question about how our ancestors could have accepted the Torah to obligate future generations, it does provide a good explanation for the notion that "all future generations of Jews were present at Maamad Har Sinai."

Snake at Sinai

Another midrash about who was present at Sinai appears in several places in the writings of Chazal (Yevamos 103b, Avodah Zarah 22b, Yalkut Shimoni Bereishis 28, and more). The most complete version can be found in Shabbos 145b-146a:

Why are idolaters mezuhamim (lustful / sexually unrestrained)? Because they didn't stand at Har Sinai, for at the time that the nachash (snake) approached Chava it injected zuhamah (lustfulness / lack of sexual restraint) into her. As for the Jews who stood at Sinai - their zuhamah departed; as for the idolaters who did not stand at Sinai - their zuhamah did not depart. Rav Acha the son of Rava asked Rav Ashi: "What about the geirim?" He responded: "Even though they weren't there, their mazalos (lit. "constellations" or "natural forces") were there, as it is written: 'with whoever is here, standing with us today before Hashem, our God, and with whoever is not here with us today' (Devarim 29:14)."

Note that this midrash differentiates between Jews who WERE at Sinai (or whose ancestors were at Sinai), and geirim, who were NOT at Sinai. If it were true that geirim have Jewish souls, or that the souls of geirim were at Sinai, then the midrash wouldn't need to say that the mazalos of geirim were at Sinai (whatever that means). Either the Gemara wouldn't have mentioned geirim at all (since they would be included with the rest of the Jews), or it would have simply said that the neshamos (souls) of geirim were at Sinai.

The interesting thing about this midrash is that it isn't dealing with the topic of kabbalas ha'mitzvos (acceptance of the commandments), or Hashem's covenant with the Jews. Rather, the midrash is dealing with the difference in dispositions between Jews and idolaters insofar as sexual immorality is concerned. The version of this midrash in Avodah Zarah 22b follows it up by listing deviant sexual practices which were common among idolaters but not found among the Jewish people. It is in this context that the Gemara raises the question about geirim: What about people who descended from idolaters, but have joined the Jewish people? Do they partake of this strain of zuhamah or not - and if not, then how did they remove it? What idea is this midrash teaching us?

The premise of this midrash is that zuhamah has been a part of human nature ever since the cheit of Adam and Chava. [4] When the midrash says that the nachash injected zuhamah into Chava, this is a reference to the transformation of human nature which occurred as a result of the cheit (sin), as I wrote about in Adam ha'Rishon and Tishah b'Av. As a result of this transformation, human beings became encumbered by an overpowering sexual taavah (lust), which was strengthened by the desires and fantasies that resulted from the cheit. 

On the basis of this understanding, a friend of mine suggested the following interpretation:

Jews have an inherent edge over non-Jews in controlling taavah because of the impact Torah has on our lives by bringing us an awareness of God (I think that's what it means "who stood at Har Sinai"). The Gemara is trying to figure out how it is possible that geirim even exist. How is it possible that some people are drawn to Torah without having the structure of Torah built into the fabric of their family lives (i.e. Mesorah) like we do?

The answer to this question must be that God made it that even non-Jews were endowed with a faculty that can be attracted to truth. So although they didn't "stand at Har Sinai" themselves and are not the direct beneficiaries of a built in system of Torah, they were given a faculty that has the potential to be attracted to Torah. Maybe that's it means that their mazal was there - mazal as in constellation/nature.

I don't know whether this is a valid interpretation of "mazal" (since I understood "mazal" to refer to specific external conditions which affect human behavior, rather than the nature of man as a tzelem Elokim), but I definitely like the approach.

Conclusion

The misguided belief that "all Jewish souls - even the souls of geirim - were at Sinai" is as prevalent (if not more prevalent) than knowledge of what the pesukim say happened at Sinai. I find this to be very sad. This belief perpetuates false ideas about the soul, solidifies harmful prejudices against geirim, and sets students up for midrashic betrayal. Worst of all, it dilutes the potency of Maamad Har Sinai by infusing the Torah's historical account with a mythological aura. The more the popular conception of Maamad Har Sinai deviates from the account stated in the pesukim, the more endangered the proof of Torah mi'Sinai becomes.

Some popular midrashim do little harm, and should be left alone. Not this one. Even if we don't understand what Chazal were teaching in these midrashim, the Abravanel's objections should be popularized to counteract the prevailing view.

[1] Don Yitzchak Abravanel, Commentary on Sefer Devarim: Questions on Parashas Nitzavim

[2] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Mishneh Torah: Sefer ha'Mada, Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah Chapter 8

[3] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides), Commentary on Sefer Devarim 13:2-4

[4] It is interesting to note that according to this midrash, the zuhamah was injected into Adam and Chava before she ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. This fits in with our understanding of the cheit, and how it affected mankind.

A Visual Representation of Science and Torah

Disclaimer: In my high school classes, I strive to craft my lessons to fit the minds of the particular students I'm teaching. When I learn one-on-one with a student, my lessons are extremely tailor-made. 

Since this blog post originated in one-on-one learning with a student, I wasn't sure whether it would be worthwhile to write it up, since I designed it specifically for that student. Ultimately, I decided that it would be good to write it out for the sake of my own clarity, and once I was doing that, I figured I might as well share it as a blog post. Maybe others will find it valuable.

Click here for a printer-friendly version of this blog post.

A Visual Representation of Science and Torah

I recently had a discussion with a science-savvy student of mine who asked the following question - in more or less these words:

In science, when scientists find something that doesn't make sense based on their current understanding of the world, they keep thinking about it and theorizing and experimenting; eventually they realize that they need to either modify or abandon their prior theory and come up with a new theory in order to solve the problem. 

In Torah, however, we don't do this. Even if we see something that seems crazy, irrational, or morally objectionable, we don't reject Torah or Judaism. Why not? What's the difference between Judaism and science? And how many problems in the Torah would you have to see in order to conclude that the whole thing is false?

I immediately recognized the flawed premises of this student's reasoning, and I almost responded with the first answer that popped into my head. But I caught myself. I sensed that this student was touching upon something important - and that if I could extract that kernel of truth AND show him where his analogy fell short AND answer his question, then he would emerge with a clearer understanding of both Torah and science. 

I spent a few days thinking about how to approach this student's question and finally - while I was proctoring my Gemara final - I had an epiphany. I realized that if I could come up with a visual depiction of how science works and compare it side-by-side with a visual depiction of how Torah works, then I could show him (a) how these two ways of gaining knowledge of reality are far more similar than he realized, and (b) I can answer his question in a way that would satisfy his scientific mind. 

A Visual Depiction of Science

Here's what I came up with for science. I'll walk you through it below:

Here's what each part means:

Reality: at the top of the diagram we have "reality" (i.e. that which exists), which is what we are trying to know and understand through science; strictly speaking, the "reality" part in the science diagram should say "physical reality" since science doesn't go beyond the physical - but for the sake of consistency, I labeled this part as "reality" on both diagrams

Horizon of Ignorance: this represents the gap between our understanding of reality and reality itself, - a gap which science continually strives to diminish and eventually close.

The Senses / The Mind: at the very bottom of the diagram we have "the senses" (the five senses of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste according to the traditional count, plus some or all of the non-traditional senses according to our modern understanding) and "the mind" (i.e. our ability to think logically and rationally); these constitute the epistemological foundation of the scientific method; if one maintained that either the senses or the mind were incapable of giving us knowledge about reality, then all scientific knowledge would be null and void. 

Empirical Data: from the day we are born, we are bombarded with loads of sensory data, but this empirical information is only a surface-level knowledge of reality.

Scientific Thinking: the scientist is the one who seeks out the lawfulness underlying the myriad particulars; instead of attempting to write an entire discourse on scientific thinking, I'll just quote from my Gemara rebbi's eloquent explanation in his essay on Scientific and Halachic Thought:

In the scientific method every particular is viewed as an expression of a universal principle - not as a separate localized reality. An apple falling from a tree to the ground is not an apple-ground phenomenon but an interaction between their underlying substances. We look for the simplest explanations of the widest range of events, not for a complex patchwork of explanations each fitting a single event. Thus explanations based on the particulars of apple and earth are rejected in favor of explanations based on the universal matter each possesses. This method naturally leads to simpler principles that unify more and more particular cases. As Einstein and Infeld state in the Evolution of Physics, (which is an excellent book on the subject of scientific thought and methodology), "[The scientist] certainly believes that, as his knowledge increases, his picture of reality will become simpler and simpler and will explain a wider and wider range of his sensuous impressions (P. 31).” ... 

What is the basis for this approach? It is the belief that all of the universe is composed of fundamental building blocks under the influence of fundamental forces with all of the observable phenomena being their various expressions. It is this search for what lies beneath that demands a universal law of nature, the law of the fundamentals, with each advance striking deeper. ... 

The scientific process is one of moving from the concrete to the abstract, from the particular to the universal, from a strange chaotic world to a system of laws governing outcomes in a clearly predictable way.  

This is what I mean by "scientific thinking" - not the particular theories about the universe that are developed in each successive generation of scientists, but the general way of thinking about the universe which gives rise to those theories. 

Scientific Theories: these are the particular theories that emerge from scientific thinking and aim to explain reality, in whole or in part; there "macro theories" which attempt to explain the foundations of the universe (e.g. Newtonian "classical mechanics," Einstein's theory of relativity, Planck's quantum mechanics) as well as the "micro theories" which aim to explain localized phenomena (e.g. Kepler's laws of planetary motion, Darwin's theory of natural selection, the theory of climate change).

Conceptual Understanding: the aim of these theories is to give us a conceptual understanding of reality, thereby pushing back the Horizon of Ignorance and bringing us closer to objective truth.

New Empirical Data: in many cases, these scientific theories will also help us discover new empirical facts and/or new methods of uncovering more new empirical facts.

New Questions and Difficulties: while these scientific theories enlighten our minds, solve problems, and push back the Horizon of Influence, they (along with the new empirical data) raise new questions and difficulties of which we were previously unaware; at first, scientists will attempt to solve these problems within their current theoretical framework, but eventually ...

Scientific Life-cycle: ... these questions and difficulties will prompt scientists to come up with new theories, and the entire cycle will begin again. My Gemara rebbi described this process as follows:

Something interesting occurs near the end of a philosophic regime. The idea that was an intellectual boon to science at its inception, allowing for new freedoms of thought, can become in its decline an intellectual shackle forcing every phenomenon to conform to its terms. To the conventional thinkers it is no longer a tool of new insights and fresh ideas rather it becomes an ideology of its own. The loyal rally around it and craft creative if not brilliant ways of fitting the unruly phenomena into the old terms no matter how tenuous or far fetched. Ironically, this is the opposite approach of the methodology that spawned the very idea they are defending. Whereas the original breakthrough started with a set of problems from which were derived a new universal, this method starts with a universal and insist on particular kinds of solutions which are in line with the philosophy. Eventually a new breakthrough is needed to once again reduce the complexity created.

The questions and difficulties which prompt this rethinking of the prevailing scientific theories will also, in many cases, lead to a reconsideration of the empirical data, since scientists will realize that their perception of that data was biased or clouded by the reigning scientific framework. For example, when it was believed that the earth was the center of the solar system, all empirical observations of the heavens were tainted by this bias; when people believed in spontaneous generation, their empirical observations supported their belief that maggots were generated out of putrid flesh. These beliefs were eventually disproved, and when that happened, the empirical data had to be reconsidered in light of the new theoretical model.

Step #1 of My Answer: The statements on the left and right of the diagram constitute Step #1 (out of 3) of my answer to the question asked by my student:

• Questions and difficulties compel us to modify or eliminate the very scientific theories which yielded them in the first place, thereby continuing the life-cycle of scientific understanding.
• Although these questions and difficulties will force us to reject particular scientific theories, they do NOT cause us to doubt or deny the general approach of scientific thinking as a whole.

For example, classical mechanics was dethroned as "a theory of everything" by the theory of relativity; the limitations of the theory of relativity were brought to light by quantum - but at no point did the problems with these particular scientific theories cause scientist to doubt or question the validity of scientific thinking as a whole. To the contrary - the fact that scientific thinking led to the discovery of these theories AND the questions and difficulties AND enabled new theories to arise is evidence of the validity of scientific thinking.

And that is my visual depiction of science. I'm sure there are imperfections with my diagram, but it served my purposes just fine.

A Visual Depiction of Torah

Here's what I came up with for Torah:

Here's what each part means:

Reality: at the top of the diagram we have "reality" - not just physical reality, but metaphysical reality as well.

Horizon of Ignorance: see explanation above; according to the Ralbag, this Horizon of Ignorance exists in our understanding of Torah in the same way that it does in science; I wrote about this at length in The Limits of Our Understanding of Torah.

The Senses / The Mind: the senses and the mind constitute the epistemological foundation of Torah - the same as in science; this point is explained very clearly in the essay Torah from Sinai.

Contents of Torah: for the sake of simplicity, we will say that "Contents of Torah" refers to the Torah she'bi'Chsav (Written Torah) and Torah she'baal Peh (Oral Torah) that were given to Moshe at Sinai, plus the Neviim (Prophets) and Kesuvim (Writings); in truth, there is more included here than just that, but we'll stick with this definition to avoid complications.

The Revelation at Sinai: our basis for accepting the Contents of Torah as Divinely authored is the historicity of the Revelation at Sinai; our acceptance of this event is based on a rational argument that was best explained in the essay Torah from Sinai; Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb also wrote a version of this argument in Living Up to the Truth: Chapter 6 and Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen wrote an essay version of this entitled A Rational Approach to the Torah's Divine Origin, in addition to his book Permission to Receive.

Rational/Scientific Thinking: in the same way that scientific thinking is applied to empirical data to generate scientific theories, so too, rational thinking is applied to the "data" of the Torah's contents to generate Torah theories; I refer to this as "rational/scientific thinking" to emphasize that the type of conceptual understanding we are looking for is similar to that in science.

Torah Theories: by "Torah theories" I am referring to a conceptual understanding of reality that is arrived at via the contents of Torah; I refer to these as "theories" because they are the product of human thinking, which is fallible and incomplete (again, I refer you to my post: The Limits of Our Understanding of Torah).

Conceptual Understanding: as is the case in science, our goal in learning Torah is to arrive at the most accurate conceptual understanding of reality that is humanly possible.

New Understanding of Torah's Contents: here we see a major difference between science and Torah; in science new theories lead to the discovery of brand new facts, but in Torah, there are no "new facts"; however, our new understanding sometimes leads to a total reevaluation of the Torah's contents, to the point where the factual data we once worked with is completely reinterpreted.

A great example of this is the Ramban's interpretation of the rainbow in Parashas Noach. He acknowledges that a literal reading of the pesukim would lead us to believe that rainbows weren't created until after the flood. But then he says:

But we are compelled to believe the words of the Greek [scientists] that rainbows are a natural phenomenon resulting from the sun’s rays passing through moist air, for in [any] container of water that is [set] before sunlight there can be seen something that resembles a rainbow.

The Ramban then goes and reinterprets the pesukim in light of our "updated" understanding of how rainbows work. To my mind, this is an example of how the "facts" of Torah are not set in stone, but are still subject to change in light of advances in our understanding of reality. We will never receive new pesukim or new Torah she'baal Peh from Hashem, but our understanding of what He gave us continues to evolve as our knowledge of Torah and the universe continues to grow.

New Questions and Difficulties: our new understanding of reality and the contents of Torah will raise new questions and difficulties - just as in science; in some cases we will be able to answer these by developing our current Torah theories, but in other cases ...

Life-cycle of Torah Understanding: ... these questions and difficulties will prompt us to go back to the proverbial drawing board, and come up with new theories which address the problems. Unlike in the scientific community, where this life-cycle plays out on a community-wide level with a very small percentage of individuals pioneering new major theories, the life-cycle of Torah understanding plays out on a community-wide AND individual level. The great baalei Mesorah have made contributions of Torah theories which have shaped all of Klal Yisrael's understanding of Torah - but at the same time, each individual Jew goes through his or her personal odyssey of understanding Torah as well.

Step #2 of My Answer: The statements on the left and right of the diagram constitute Step #2 (out of 3) of my answer to the question asked by my student:

• Questions and difficulties might compel us to modify or eliminate parts of our theoretical understanding of Torah and its content.
• Although these questions and difficulties will force us to reject particular Torah theories, they do NOT cause us to doubt or deny the basis of the Revelation at Sinai or the veracity of the Torah's contents. 

This is the crux of my answer. For example, let us say that a person was bothered by the story of Adam and Chava in Gan Eden. A few hundred years ago, there would be no problem saying that the first human beings were Adam and Chava, that they were the progenitors of the human species, and they lived 5,777 years ago. However, in light of what we now know about anthropology and evolution, it is difficult to accept the Torah's account at face value.

In the premise of my student's question, he voiced the possibility that a problem like this would cause us to doubt or deny the authenticity of the Torah as a whole. I disagree. At most, this difficulty would cause us to modify or reject our current theoretical understanding of those pesukim in the Torah - perhaps even going so far as to say (like some Rishonim who shall remain unnamed) that the Gan Eden story is a mashal. But this problem would not shake or undermine the basis of our acceptance of Torah, which is the Revelation at Sinai. 

Step #3 of My Answer: I happened to have been sitting near my Gemara rebbi when I made these diagrams. I showed them to him and asked what he would change or add. He approved of my diagram and explanation, but added an important point. 

Generally speaking it's true that the questions and difficulties which emerge from scientific advancements will not undermine scientific thinking as a whole. However, on rare occasions, thinkers will come to the realization that there are problems with the paradigm of scientific thinking as a whole. This will lead to a total revolution in the way we approach science. When this happens, nearly all of the knowledge and understanding that was arrived at through the former paradigm will be rendered invalid. 

For example, Aristotelian thought dominated science (a.k.a. "natural philosophy") for over a thousand years. The way that Aristotle and the other "natural philosophers" thought about the world and the types of theories they came up with bear almost no resemblance to the scientific theories of the scientific thinkers after the scientific revolution. The Aristotelian paradigm was so off base that we now reject all of this theories about the physical world as non-scientific. If Aristotle was right about anything in science, it was by accident. 

What would be the equivalent of this type of "scientific revolution" in Torah? As we said, it wouldn't come about through particular questions or difficulties in our theoretical understanding of the Torah's contents. Rather, such a revolution could only stem from problems with the rational basis of our acceptance of the Revelation at Sinai itself. If one had a valid reason for rejecting the historicity of the Revelation at Sinai, then this would undermine the validity of all our Torah knowledge. 

This is one of the reasons why I favor the Torah from Sinai version of this "proof of Torah mi'Sinai" over the others, since the author demonstrates that if we deny the historicity of the Revelation at Sinai, we would ipso facto have to deny all of historical knowledge - and indeed, all secondhand knowledge as well. In my opinion, he makes a valid argument.

Summary and Conclusion

My student asked why we don't reject Judaism when we encounter problems in the same way that we reject scientific theories when we encounter problems with them. My answer essentially boils down to the fact that there is a distinction between scientific thinking and scientific theories; problems only cause us to reject scientific theories - but we do not reject the scientific way of thinking which enabled us to come up with those theories. So too in Torah: problems may cause us to reject particular Torah theories, but they would not cause us to reject the historicity of the Revelation at Sinai, which is the basis of our acceptance of the Torah. 

My student was satisfied with this answer. I hope you found value in it as well!

Parashas Vaeschanan: The Place of the Proof of Torah mi'Sinai

This dvar Torah looks like it was inspired by the parashas ha'shavua, when in actuality, it was inspired by the fact that I am going over the proof of Torah mi'Sinai with a student, and have been thinking about the role that it plays, and ought to play. 

Disclaimer: Unlike most of my blog posts, in which I make every effort to explain everything so that every reader can follow every step, this post will assume that the reader is familiar with the proof of Torah mi'Sinai. If you are not familiar with the proof, then you might not be able to follow this post. I have included links to three presentations of this proof within the post. I encourage you to check them out, whether or not you read this post.

Parashas Vaeschanan: The Place of the Proof of Torah mi'Sinai

In this week's parashah Moshe Rabbeinu urges the generation that is about to enter Eretz Yisrael not to forget about what they and their ancestors witnessed at Maamad Har Sinai (the Revelation at Sinai): 

Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your hear all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and your children's children - the day that you stood before Hashem, your God, at Horeb, when Hashem said to me, "Gather the people to Me and I shall let them hear My words, so that they shall learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and they shall teach their children." 

So you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of heaven, darkness, cloud, and thick cloud. Hashem spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a form, only a sound. He told you of His covenant that He commanded you to observe, the Ten Declarations, and He inscribed them on two stone Tablets. Hashem commanded me at that time to teach you decrees and ordinances, that you shall perform them in the Land to which you cross, to possess it ... 

For inquire now regarding the early days that preceded you, from the day when Hashem created man on the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other end of heaven: Has there ever been anything like this great thing or has anything like it been heard? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard and survived? Or has any god ever miraculously come to take for himself a nation from amidst a nation, with challenges, with sings, and with wonders, and with war, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with greatly awesome deeds, such as everything that Hashem, your God, did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 

You have been shown in order to know that Hashem, He is the God! There is none beside Him! From heaven He caused you to hear His voice in order to teach you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire, because He loved your forefathers, and He chose his offspring after him, and took you out before Himself with His great strength from Egypt; to drive away before you nations that are greater and mightier than you, to bring you, to give you their land as an inheritance, as this very day. You shall know this day and take to your heart that Hashem, He is the God - in heaven above and on the earth below - there is none other. You shall observe His decrees and His commandments that I command you this day, so that He will do good to you and to your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days on the Land that Hashem, your God, gives you, for all the days.

Why did Hashem reveal Himself through such a momentous, public spectacle, and why did Moshe Rabbeinu see fit to exhort Bnei Yisrael to teach their children about the revelation? The answer is explicitly stated prior to the Torah's initial account of this event. Although Bnei Yisrael "believed in Hashem and in [the word of] Moshe, His servant" (Shemos 14:31) after Moshe took them out of Egypt, he was still concerned that they didn't fully believe in his prophecy. In response to this concern, Hashem promised Moshe that the Revelation at Sinai would remove any doubt about the legitimacy of his prophecy:

Hashem said to Moshe, "Behold! I will come to you in the thickness of the cloud, so that the people will hear as I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever" (ibid. 19:9).

In other words, the primary purpose of Maamad Har Sinai was to establish nevuas Moshe (Mosaic prophecy) as authentic, thereby proving the Divine Authorship of the Torah. 

If this sounds like a big deal, that's because it is. The Rambam cites the "proof of Torah mi'Sinai" as the basis for our belief in nevuas Moshe, and our rejection of any other prophet. [1] The Ramban maintains that the Torah obligates us to teach this proof to our children. The Kuzari wrote at length about this topic - so much so, that this proof is often referred to as "the Kuzari principle." Contemporary authors have also written presentations of this proof. In my opinion, the best presentations are:

• Torah from Sinai
• Living Up to the Truth: Chapter 6
• A Rational Argument for the Divine Origin of Torah

Much ink has been spilled about the validity of this "proof" (or "rational demonstration," to be more accurate). Some maintain that is valid; others disagree. This discussion is beyond the scope of this blog post. 

Suffice it to say, my position is that this proof is valid, and is compelling to those who understand it. Be that as it may, I have grown increasingly doubtful as to how prominent of a role it should play in Jewish education. 

When I converted to Judaism and began my Jewish education in 11th grade, my Mishlei rebbi was of the opinion that it was essential for all students to be taught the proof of Torah mi'Sinai as the foundation of their Judaism. He taught it to my class, and I gained tremendously from it. When I started teaching, I took the same stance - both because this was the way that I had been taught, and because it seemed to me that it is impossible to have true emunah (conviction) in the Divine Authorship of Torah without it.

But over time, my Mishlei rebbi changed his tune. He argued that although the proof might be convincing on an intellectual level, it is unlikely to actually change any student's mind. Since the proof hinges on a clear categorization of how people assess secondhand knowledge, and since most people don't think in these terms (and don't rigorously analyze secondhand knowledge before accepting it), then this proof will not be real to the average student's mind, and will not affect him or her on an emotional level. 

When I first heard my rebbi express this objection, I disagreed. I dismissed his opinion as overly pessimistic, and chalked it up to the dim view of human nature that he has been trending towards over the past ten years. 

But the more experience I have had teaching this proof to students, the more I am inclined to agree with my rebbi. Although I have had some students who claim that Torah mi'Sinai changed their lives, this is definitely not the norm. Most students have never even been exposed to a philosophical proof, so the whole exercise feels artificial to them. Others have a difficult time thinking about hypothetical scenarios, which interferes with their ability to follow the proof. Many high school students are poor judges of how plausible or implausible a hypothetical scenario is, which leads them to lend undue weight to unlikely possibilities. And some students just don't have the patience to work through each step of the proof and get each step clear. 

The biggest problem with the proof is that at the end of the day, most people just aren't motivated by logical arguments. Even students who accept the proof and have no objections tend to go about their lives in the same manner as they did before they heard the proof. It simply doesn't affect them.

Being that this has been my experience, I find myself wondering: Is there a benefit in teaching the proof of Torah mi'Sinai? If so, what is that benefit?

As present, I believe that there are two benefits which make Torah mi'Sinai worth teaching, despite these difficulties. The most important reason for teaching Torah mi'Sinai to students is to show them that Judaism is fundamentally different from other religions. Whereas other religions demand blind faith, Judaism demands proof. It was not enough for Bnei Yisrael to merely have faith in Moshe's prophecy; they needed proof, and so should we. The Rashba identifies this need for proof as a hallmark of our nation:

Yisrael are the inheritors of the true religion; they are the children of Yaakov, the man of truth; they are all offspring of truth who are willing to endure the yoke of exile and that which befalls them, rather than to believe anything until after they have subjected it to intensive analysis - analysis after analysis - in order to remove all impurities from that which is said to them … Even the Jews who were enslaved with the harshest labor doubted Moshe when Moshe was commanded to bring them good news [of their imminent redemption]; in spite of this, he said, “They will not believe me,” and it was necessary for him to bring many signs [of his prophecy]. This is the true sign of our nation, the Nation of Hashem: that we do not allow ourselves to be seduced by anything until after we have arrived at its truth by way of intensive, complete analysis.

Even if students aren't moved or motivated by the proof, it is important for them to know that Judaism claims something that no other religion claims, namely, that our God spoke to our prophet in front of the entire nation, leaving no room to doubt the legitimacy of his prophecy. 

The second benefit of the proof of Torah mi'Sinai is that it takes away the excuse of "Judaism has no basis." There are many Jews who justify their turning away from Judaism by telling themselves that the whole religion is baseless. I believe that it is important to at least attempt to show these Jews that this assumption is false. Of course, not everyone will heed this point, but those who understand the proof and are intellectually honest will be forced to confront the fact that their excuse for abandoning Judaism isn't valid. Even if the proof doesn't emotionally motivate them to embrace Judaism, at least it will negate the intellectual basis of their rejection of Judaism.

That is where I stand, as of now. I suspect that my view will continue to change the more I teach and review the proof of Torah mi'Sinai. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

[1] See Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Mishneh Torah: Sefer ha'Mada, Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah Chapter 8. The secondary purpose of Maamad Har Sinai is to prevent people from being taken in by a navi sheker (false prophet), as the Torah states in Parashas Re'eh:

The entire word that I command you, that you shall observe to do; you shall not add to it and you shall not subtract from it. If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes about of which he spoke to you, saying: "Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we shall worship them!" - do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for Hashem, your God, is testing you to know whether you love Hashem, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul. Hashem, your God, you shall follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments you shall observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave. And that prophet and that dreamer of a dream shall be put to death, for he had spoken perversion against Hashem, your God - Who takes you out of the land of Egypt, and Who redeems you from the house of slavery - to make you stray from the path on which Hashem, your God, has commanded you to go; and you shall destroy the evil from your midst (Devarim 13:2-6)

We do not believe in Moshe Rabbeinu's nevuah (prophecy) because of the miracles he did. We only believe in it because of Maamad Har Sinai. Furthermore, we only believe the nevuah of another (alleged) navi based on the criteria outlined by Moshe Rabbeinu in the Torah. Thus, if someone else comes along, performs miracles, and claims to speak words of prophecy which contradict the Torah of Moshe, then we know that this prophet is a navi sheker. 

I am including this in a footnote because it is implicit in the primary purpose of Torah, but is worthwhile to mention as a separate point nonetheless.

[2] Rabbeinu Shlomo ben Aderes (Rasha), Shailos u'Tshuvos 1:548

Initial Readings of the Krias ha'Torah of Tishah b'Av

Introduction

This post was initially written two years ago on Tishah b'Av. I wrote it in an attempt to understand the import of the krias ha'Torah for Tishah b'Av (Devarim 4:25-40). Originally I was going to rewrite the post for this year, since I've taken up the analysis afresh, but I liked the old post so much that I decided to just clean it up and repost it.

I decided to analyze these pesukim within the context of Moshe Rabbeinu's speech, which starts at the beginning of the perek. The format of this post is unusual in that I decided to capture as much of my analysis as possible. The post begins with a "First Set of Readings," which consists of the translation of the pesukim. This is followed by a "Second Set of Readings," in which I attempt to identify the themes of the pesukim. Next is a "Third Set of Readings," in which I summarize the entire text in my own words. In my "Fourth Set of Readings" I point out certain observations that I made as I read, which I felt might be significant. The post concludes with the major questions and problems. God-willing, I will attempt to answer some or all of these questions on Tishah b'Av itself, depending on how much energy I have and how far I get in my analysis.

(Note: As you'll see from the conclusion, I originally wrote this post at in the wee hours of Tishah b'Av - hence its more conversational, "thinking aloud" tone.)

First Set of Readings: Getting the Facts

Here is the Artscroll translation of the entire 40 pesukim, divided only where the Torah itself makes a division:

Now, O Israel, listen to the decrees and to the ordinances that I teach you to perform, so that you may live, and you will come and possess the Land that Hashem, the God of your forefathers, gives you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor shall you subtract from it, to observe the commandments of Hashem, your God, that I command you. Your eyes have seen what Hashem did with Baal-peor, for every man that followed Baal-peor - Hashem, your God, destroyed him from your midst. But you who cling to Hashem, your God - you are all alive today. See I have taught you decrees and ordinances, as Hashem, my God, has commanded me, to do so in the midst of the Land to which you come, to possess it. You shall safeguard and perform them, for it is your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of the peoples, who shall hear all these decrees and who shall say, "Surely a wise and discerning people is this great nation!" For which is a great nation that has a God Who is close to it, as is Hashem, our God, whenever we call to Him? And which is a great nation that has righteous decrees and ordinances, such as this entire Torah that I place before you this day? Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your hear all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and your children's children - the day that you stood before Hashem, your God, at Horeb, when Hashem said to me, "Gather the people to Me and I shall let them hear My words, so that they shall learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and they shall teach their children." So you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of heaven, darkness, cloud, and thick cloud. Hashem spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a form, only a sound. He told you of His covenant that He commanded you to observe, the Ten Declarations, and He inscribed them on two stone Tablets. Hashem commanded me at that time to teach you decrees and ordinances, that you shall perform them in the Land to which you cross, to possess it. But you shall greatly beware for your souls, for you did not see any likeness on the day Hashem spoke to you at Horeb, from the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make yourselves a carved image, a likeness of any shape; a form of a male or a female; a form of any animal on the earth; a form of any winged bird that flies in the heaven; a form of anything that creeps on the ground, a form of any fish that is in the water under the earth; and lest you raise your eyes to heaven and you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars - the entire legion of heaven - and you be drawn away and bow to them and worship them, which Hashem, your God, has apportioned to all the peoples under the entire heaven! But Hashem has taken you and withdrawn you from the iron crucible, from Egypt, to be a nation of heritage for Him, as this very day. Hashem became angry with me because of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and not come to the good Land that Hashem, your God, gives you as a heritage. For I will die in this land; I am not crossing the Jordan - but you are crossing and you shall possess this good Land. Beware for yourselves lest you forget the covenant of Hashem, your God, that He has sealed with you, and you make yourselves a carved image, a likeness of anything, as Hashem, your God, has commanded you. For Hashem, your God - He is a consuming fire - a jealous God. 

When you beget children and grandchildren and will have been long in the Land, you will grow corrupt and make a carved image of anything, and you will do evil in the eyes of Hashem, your God, to anger Him. I appoint heaven and earth this day to bear witness against you that you will surely perish quickly from the Land to which you are crossing the Jordan to possess; you shall not have lengthy days upon it, for you will be destroyed. Hashem will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Hashem will lead you. There you will serve gods, the handiwork of man, of wood and stone, which do not see, and do not hear, and do not eat, and do not smell. From there you will seek Hashem, your God, and you will find Him, if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have befallen you, at the end of days, you will return unto Hashem, your God, and hearken to His voice. For Hashem, your God, is a merciful God, He will not abandon you nor destroy you, and He will not forget the covenant of your forefathers that He swore to them. For inquire now regarding the early days that preceded you, from the day when Hashem created man on the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other end of heaven: Has there ever been anything like this great thing or has anything like it been heard? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard and survived? Or has any god ever miraculously come to take for himself a nation from amidst a nation, with challenges, with sings, and with wonders, and with war, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with greatly awesome deeds, such as everything that Hashem, your God, did for you in Egypt before your eyes? You have been shown in order to know that Hashem, He is the God! There is none beside Him! From heaven He caused you to hear His voice in order to teach you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire, because He loved your forefathers, and He chose his offspring after him, and took you out before Himself with His great strength from Egypt; to drive away before you nations that are greater and mightier than you, to bring you, to give you their land as an inheritance, as this very day. You shall know this day and take to your heart that Hashem, He is the God - in heaven above and on the earth below - there is none other. You shall observe His decrees and His commandments that I command you this day, so that He will do good to you and to your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days on the Land that Hashem, your God, gives you, for all the days. 

In my experience, the first step to learning any area of Torah she'bi'Chsav is to just read it several times and let it roll around in your mind. Eventually, you'll start to notice certain themes - or, if you're really lucky, some semblance of order. As you read, note the questions and problems that arise.

Second Set of Readings: Identifying Themes

After reading this several times, I began to notice some distinct themes. By my count, there are seven:

1. Shmiras ha'Mitzvos: exhortations to keep the mitzvos and statements about their character
2. Eretz Yisrael: possessing the Land, living in the Land, and being exiled from the Land
3. Yesodei ha'Torah: reinforcing true ideas about Hashem and uprooting Avodah zarah
4. Ahm ha'Nivchar: Hashem's relationship with Bnei Yisrael and the Avos
5. Maamad Har Sinai: the Revelation at Sinai and its importance
6. Yetzias Mitzrayim: the significance of the events
7. Teshuvah: describing and predicting Bnei Yisrael's eventual teshuvah

Having said that, here is the entire excerpt again - this time, with the themes color-coded (based on the above scheme), and the text broken up into smaller paragraphs based on . 

Now, O Israel, listen to the decrees and to the ordinances that I teach you to perform, so that you may live, and you will come and possess the Land that Hashem, the God of your forefathers, gives you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor shall you subtract from it, to observe the commandments of Hashem, your God, that I command you. Your eyes have seen what Hashem did with Baal-peor, for every man that followed Baal-peor - Hashem, your God, destroyed him from your midst. But you who cling to Hashem, your God - you are all alive today.  See I have taught you decrees and ordinances, as Hashem, my God, has commanded me, to do so in the midst of the Land to which you come, to possess it. You shall safeguard and perform them, for it is your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of the peoples, who shall hear all these decrees and who shall say, "Surely a wise and discerning people is this great nation!" For which is a great nation that has a God Who is close to it, as is Hashem, our God, whenever we call to Him? And which is a great nation that has righteous decrees and ordinances, such as this entire Torah that I place before you this day?  

Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your hear all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and your children's children - the day that you stood before Hashem, your God, at Horeb, when Hashem said to me, "Gather the people to Me and I shall let them hear My words, so that they shall learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and they shall teach their children." So you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of heaven, darkness, cloud, and thick cloud. Hashem spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a form, only a sound. He told you of His covenant that He commanded you to observe, the Ten Declarations, and He inscribed them on two stone Tablets. Hashem commanded me at that time to teach you decrees and ordinances, that you shall perform them in the Land to which you cross, to possess it.  But you shall greatly beware for your souls, for you did not see any likeness on the day Hashem spoke to you at Horeb, from the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make yourselves a carved image, a likeness of any shape; a form of a male or a female; a form of any animal on the earth; a form of any winged bird that flies in the heaven; a form of anything that creeps on the ground, a form of any fish that is in the water under the earth; and lest you raise your eyes to heaven and you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars - the entire legion of heaven - and you be drawn away and bow to them and worship them, which Hashem, your God, has apportioned to all the peoples under the entire heaven! But Hashem has taken you and withdrawn you from the iron crucible, from Egypt, to be a nation of heritage for Him, as this very day. Hashem became angry with me because of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and not come to the good Land that Hashem, your God, gives you as a heritage. For I will die in this land; I am not crossing the Jordan - but you are crossing and you shall possess this good Land. Beware for yourselves lest you forget the covenant of Hashem, your God, that He has sealed with you, and you make yourselves a carved image, a likeness of anything, as Hashem, your God, has commanded you. For Hashem, your God - He is a consuming fire - a jealous God. 

When you beget children and grandchildren and will have been long in the Land, you will grow corrupt and make a carved image of anything, and you will do evil in the eyes of Hashem, your God, to anger Him. I appoint heaven and earth this day to bear witness against you that you will surely perish quickly from the Land to which you are crossing the Jordan to possess; you shall not have lengthy days upon it, for you will be destroyed. Hashem will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Hashem will lead you. There you will serve gods, the handiwork of man, of wood and stone, which do not see, and do not hear, and do not eat, and do not smell.From there you will seek Hashem, your God, and you will find Him, if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have befallen you, at the end of days, you will return unto Hashem, your God, and hearken to His voice. For Hashem, your God, is a merciful God, He will not abandon you nor destroy you, and He will not forget the covenant of your forefathers that He swore to them.  

For inquire now regarding the early days that preceded you, from the day when Hashem created man on the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other end of heaven: Has there ever been anything like this great thing or has anything like it been heard? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard and survived? Or has any god ever miraculously come to take for himself a nation from amidst a nation, with challenges, with sings, and with wonders, and with war, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with greatly awesome deeds, such as everything that Hashem, your God, did for you in Egypt before your eyes? You have been shown in order to know that Hashem, He is the God! There is none beside Him! From heaven He caused you to hear His voice in order to teach you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire, because He loved your forefathers, and He chose his offspring after him, and took you out before Himself with His great strength from Egypt; to drive away before you nations that are greater and mightier than you, to bring you, to give you their land as an inheritance, as this very day. You shall know this day and take to your heart that Hashem, He is the God - in heaven above and on the earth below - there is none other. You shall observe His decrees and His commandments that I command you this day, so that He will do good to you and to your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days on the Land that Hashem, your God, gives you, for all the days. 

I'm sure my breakdown of the themes is arguable, as is my highlighting of the text. That doesn't really matter. The main thing is to notice that there are definitely some major themes going on here.

Third Set of Readings: Getting the Flow

In order to solidify the flow of the pesukim in my mind, I like to write my own summary:

Keep the mitzvos of Hashem, without adding or subtracting, so that you may live. Your observance of the mitzvos will cause you to inherit the Land that He gives you. There you will be viewed as a wise, understanding, and righteous nation who is close to God.

Do not forget, nor let your children forget, the Revelation at Sinai. Hashem spoke to the entire nation in order that they may fear Him for all generations. The entire nation heard Him speak, but saw no image. He sealed the covenant of the Ten Declarations with them and He gave them His mitzvos to observe in the Land. Beware, for you did not see any likeness, nor may you make images of any created being. I will not be crossing over into the Land with you. Beware lest you forget Hashem's covenant and make carved images.

When you have been in the Land for many generations, you will grow corrupt and you will make carved images to anger Hashem. He will drive you out from the Land and scatter you among the nations, where you will worship other gods. From there you will seek Hashem and return to Him. He will not abandon you nor destroy you, nor will He forget the covenant He made with your forefathers.

Inquire about the singular events in your history: the Revelation at Sinai and Exodus from Egypt, which demonstrate the Truth and Uniqueness of Hashem's Existence, as well as His relationship to your forefathers and their offspring. Keep His mitzvos so that He will grant you and your children a good life in the Land that He gives you.

I'm pretty sure that captures the major points.

Fourth Set of Readings: Initial Observations

I knew that the first Mikdash was destroyed because of avodah zarah, but I always assumed that the avodah zarah epidemic had its roots in the stereotypical cause: Bnei Yisrael being enticed to worship elohim acherim and avodah zarah like the goyim. According to these pesukim, it seems that this was not the case.

Moshe Rabbeinu begins by presenting the ideal shmiras ha'mitzvos: keeping the entire Torah, without adding or subtracting, in a manner of wisdom and understanding - to the extent that the goyim around us see us as a wise and understanding nation with a close relationship to God, founded on righteous decrees and ordinances. That is the ideal that we, as a nation, are striving (or ought to be striving) to achieve.

Now, where does that go wrong? The answer lies in Moshe Rabbeinu's warning. Here he does not warn Bnei Yisrael against being drawn into the worship of elohim acherim directly, or even being tempted by the practices of avodah zarah. Rather, he warns them not to forget the Revelation at Sinai, and to teach the principles of Sinai to their children and grandchildren. Moshe helps elaborates by specifying the key elements of the event. He begins with the fact that the entire nation gathered at Sinai to hear the word of Hashem. He then states the purpose of this national revelation, which is to instill a yiras Hashem which will be perpetuated for all generations. Next, he reviews the particulars of the event: what they perceived (fire, darkness, cloud, thick cloud, the sound of words), what they didn't perceive (an image), and what they received (the covenant of the Ten Declarations, the stone tablets, and the mitzvos to observe in the land).

Then Moshe takes a curious turn. He goes into great deal warning the Jews not to erroneously believe that they saw a likeness at Sinai. He then warns them regarding (again, not about the actual worship of avodah zarah, but) the prohibition to make carved images of any created being - not only the terrestrial beings, but the heavenly bodies as well. Moshe reminds them that he will not be crossing over into Israel with them, and - presumably for this very reason - they must be extra careful to keep the covenant of the Ten Declarations and to not make any carved images (again, the emphasis on carved images, as opposed to actual worship of avodah zarah).

Now Moshe prophesies what will happen to them after many generations. Guess which sin they will stumble in? Again, not actual avodah zarah, but making a carved image. This will cause them to be exiled from the Land and scattered among the other nations. It is at this point where Moshe says that the Jews will worship man-made elohim. 

All of a sudden, BAM: teshuvah. Without any real explanation as to the cause, Moshe Rabbeinu says that "from there" - that is, from our place in exile, steeped in avodah zarah, amid distress and destruction - we will seek out Hashem and find Him, if we seek with all of our heart and all of our soul. Hashem will have mercy on us and not abandon us, nor will He forget the covenant He made with the Avos.

In his conclusion, Moshe Rabbeinu goes back to the Revelation at Sinai. He urges Bnei Yisrael to investigate the events of Maamad Har Sinai and Yetzias Mitzrayim as the basis for establishing our conviction in the Truth of Hashem's Existence, our rejection of avodah zarah, and our shmiras ha'mitzvos which will bring us good, long life in the Land which He gives us.

In other words, it seems that everything comes back to Sinai. If we are careful not to forget Sinai, we will succeed in keeping the mitzvos in the ideal manner, as described at the beginning of the speech. But if we do forget Sinai, the first thing that goes will be our concept of Hashem. We will associate Him (in some way) with a physical likeness. This will lead to us making carved images, and (presumably) incorporating these images into our worship. As a result of this, Hashem will exile us and scatter us among the goyim, where we will pick up hardcore avodah zarah habits and bring upon ourselves a whole host of bad things. From there,  we will somehow do teshuvah. Moshe ends his speech by urging the present generation to brush up on the principles of Sinai (and yetzias mitzrayim) and make sure that our yesodei ha'Torah are solid.

Questions

This leaves me with several questions, which I'll ask in a crude form now and which I may reformulate later:

1. What causes us to "forget" Sinai?
2. Why is associating a physical likeness with Hashem the first symptom (or step) of our undoing?
3. What are the premises and implications of making carved images?
4. What type of yiras Hashem was Maamad Har Sinai intended to instill, and how does the lack of that yiras Hashem lead to our downfall? 
5. How will we seek out Hashem "from there"? What will cause us to do so? How will we be able to do so, considering the dire circumstances? 
6. Practically speaking, what is the proper manner of relating to the events at Sinai which would prevent us from getting into this whole mess?
7. What does all of this have to do with the theme of Tishah b'Av? In other words, why is this the krias ha'Torah for Tishah b'Av, as opposed to, say, the account of the Meraglim?

Yeah, so it's now 2:24am. I can tell by the sloppiness (and probably incompleteness) of my questions that it's time for me to go to sleep. Perhaps I'll continue working on this tomorrow. If not, at least I got it all down in writing so that we can pick up on it sometime in the future.