Behar
At the heart of Judaism is our faith that the Torah is the eternal word of Hashem Creator of the universe.
The 8th and 9th of the 13 principles of faith articulated by Maimonides address this.
they are:
8. The belief in the divine origin of the Torah.
9. The belief in the immutability of the Torah.
Yet some question of the Divine origin of the Torah and find it difficult to accept.
The question gnaws away at their hearts even God forbid affecting and eroding their observance or love for their Judaism. Perhaps Moses a most intelligent man wrote the Torah?
[Note: Judaism welcomes questions. After all God created us with intellects and so it is also important to create an intellectual framework for our faith. However it always important to remember that underlying motivation for our observance of Mitzvos should not be dependent on understanding. Rather we observe Mitvzos due to our deep seated faith in God which is unshakable. This faith derives from our soul which is a part of God Himself.]
There are actually many pieces of evidence and arguments that can help us appreciate the divine origin of the Torah but I will share just one from this week’s Parsha which is quite powerful:
In Parshas Behar, (towards the end of Leviticus), the Torah instructs us to refrain from working the land on the sabbatical year (no ploughing planting etc although there are some limited activities allowed). Then the Torah states, if you say, what are we going to eat that year, if we don’t plant and harvest? The verse continues “I will give my blessing and the earth will produce the year prior to the Sabbatical year, enough grain to last until you are ready to harvest the following years produce”.
Meaning, it will take care of the needs of the 6th year, the sabbatical (7th) year, and the beginning of the first year of the new cycle (8th year). That is three years worth of crop harvested in one season!
Now which man, especially a wise man would make such a promise for generations to come. Everyone realizes and knows that things can happen that are beyond our control; a drought or flood can create havoc, and then they will be proven false if there was no miraculous bumper crop. So no intelligent person would intentionally set themselves up for failure and ridicule. Moses would be risking the entire enterprise of the Torah as if the Sabbatical project fails then what is the basis for listening to the rest of the Torah.
Remember in the ancient world Israel was surrounded by enemies who may well have refused to to export produce to Israel during this period and so the people would simply starve.
Therefore, the only one that has the ability to make this statement and give this guarantee, is the Creator Himself. And just as the Shemittah crops is a truth that lasted throughout the generations, so too is everything else in the Torah an everlasting truth!
How fortunate we are to have the Torah that guides our lives toward the Godly!
Shabbat Shalom!