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Modern Orthodoxy and the Divinity of the Torah

Luke Ford had a very interesting interview last week with novelist Tova Mirvis. Mirvis was criticized by Wendy Shalit in Shalit's Times Book Review piece last Sunday, and responded in the Forward.

Luke is a superb interviewer, and successfully lulled Mirvis into a discussion of her personal beliefs. She told Ford:

"I am an Orthodox Jew. I've been part of a Modern Orthodox community my entire life. I went to [Jewish] day school, yeshiva high school [Orthodox], spent a year studying in a yeshiva in Israel. I've davened every week in an Orthodox shul and I send my kids to an Orthodox day school."

Later, she and Ford had this exchange:

Luke: "Do you believe in God?"

Tova: "Yes."

Luke: "Do you believe God gave the Torah?"

Tova: "I do. I think it's more complicated... I don't believe in the fundamentalist notion that he wrote it down and handed it off but I believe in an evolving dynamic chain of tradition. It has formed my life. It is complicated. I would guess that I don't believe in it in the same terms that Wendy Shalit does."

Luke: "How about in the terms that Maimonidies formulates in his eighth of thirteen required beliefs [the Jewish prayer Yigdal, which translated into English reads: 'I believe with complete faith that the entire Torah now in our hands is the same one that was given to Moses, our teacher, peace be upon him.']"

Tova: "Remind me."

Luke: "That the Torah is divine. That every word of it is divine. And if a person was to say that a single word in the Torah is not divine, that that is outside permitted belief."

Tova: "I don't know. That's a good question. Part of my Orthodoxy is that you don't have to know all the answers. I don't know. It's a good question."

I am sure that if asked, many people who identify as modern Orthodox would answer Luke's question about whether G-d gave the Torah in a manner similar to Mirvis' response. They certainly do not see themselves as holding heretical beliefs; most simply have never given serious thought to the issue, and would give an answer that sounds moderate.

At the same time, while there have been and likely are today a few rabbis who accept some form of biblical criticism, I believe that there is little theological difference among the large majority of contemporary Orthodox rabbis - ranging from Satmar to Edah - on the subject, with all sectors of Orthodoxy affirming the Torah's absolute divine origin.

I don't know what the implications of this are, though I suppose that for one thing, it's that many modern Orthodox Jews who recite the Yigdal prayer every morning do not believe in the contents of that prayer.
posted on 2/07/2005