You won't see this in your Artscroll Chumash

3 March 2006

As every good Orthodox Jew knows, the Documentary Hypothesis, the idea that “R” wrote the Torah by editing and amending previous writings by “J”, “E”, “P”, and “D”, is contrary to Jewish doctrine.

(You can find commentaries by famous rabbis that argue against the Documentary Hypothesis at great length. I never quite understood the point; since God is capable of writing in whatever combination of styles He wants, a proof that the Torah resembles an anthology does not disprove God’s authorship. But I digress.)

Most good Orthodox Jews probably don’t know, however, that another hypothesis, stating that God wrote the Torah by editing and amending previous writings by Adam, Noah, Abraham, and some of Abraham’s descendants, has been proposed by an impeccably kosher source.

P.S.: Best comment to that blog posting:

The patriarchs wrote scrolls?! In what language, might I ask?

Yiddish, of course. Duh.

• Later: Let us raise our voices in his honor....
• Earlier: Fight fiercely, Harvard