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To This Very Day: Fundamental Questions in the Bible Study
In recent generations, there has been a renaissance of Tanakh study among Jewry in general, and in the study halls of the Religious-Zionist community in particular. This return to in-depth study of the plain text has brought with it new challenges. How should one respond to the complex questions raised by close textual reading, by new methodology, and by recent discoveries? This work portrays the unique approach that has arisen in the current generation of Bible scholars, who come to Tanakh study with deep, serious belief in the holiness and divine nature of the books, on the one hand, and on the other, the understanding that new discoveries in the scholarly world need neither be rejected out of hand nor adopted in their entirety.
492 pages, Hardcover
Published February 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 21, 2024
Very good survey, but some of the conclusions are challenging.
For example, the last chapter of the books deals with the question of whether biblical figures sinned. The survey reviews talmudic views through rishonim and aharonim. The traditional view is to ignore or limit the sins on the biblical figures. However, the survey reveals that some of the earliest commentators acknowledged the great sins of characters like Reuven (and his father's concubine, Bilhah), Yehuda (and his son's wife, Tamar) and of course David and Batsheva.
This demonstrates the good survey elements of the book.
What conclusion does Bazak draw from the fact that the biblical author included human foibles in the text. He suggests that this demonstrates divine authorship, because it is hard to imagine a human author revealing these details and what purpose these details would serve at the hands of a human author.
This is such a weak argument, it throws the value of the book in doubt.
Plenty of human authors record human weaknesses in novels, biographies and the like. Furthermore, one could easily imagine a human author ostensibly writing an authoritative and regime backed account of a certain episode, while simultaneously undermining the credibility of the main character by describing human character flaws.
In any event, I read the book to practice my Hebrew...
For example, the last chapter of the books deals with the question of whether biblical figures sinned. The survey reviews talmudic views through rishonim and aharonim. The traditional view is to ignore or limit the sins on the biblical figures. However, the survey reveals that some of the earliest commentators acknowledged the great sins of characters like Reuven (and his father's concubine, Bilhah), Yehuda (and his son's wife, Tamar) and of course David and Batsheva.
This demonstrates the good survey elements of the book.
What conclusion does Bazak draw from the fact that the biblical author included human foibles in the text. He suggests that this demonstrates divine authorship, because it is hard to imagine a human author revealing these details and what purpose these details would serve at the hands of a human author.
This is such a weak argument, it throws the value of the book in doubt.
Plenty of human authors record human weaknesses in novels, biographies and the like. Furthermore, one could easily imagine a human author ostensibly writing an authoritative and regime backed account of a certain episode, while simultaneously undermining the credibility of the main character by describing human character flaws.
In any event, I read the book to practice my Hebrew...
Read
April 7, 2020In a Twilight Zone episode titled Nothing in the Dark, the protagonist Wanda Dunn is an old woman who has an irrational fear of death. She thinks that everyone coming to her door is a potential angel of death. She spends her life in a dark basement apartment in an abandoned tenement, shutting the world out.
She eventually allows in a wounded police officer who pleads for her help. Played by a young and handsome Robert Redford, the older woman finds out that the kind and dashing man is, in fact, the angel of death. He tells her that it is not him she is afraid of; instead, she is afraid of the unknown. And that, in fact, she should not be afraid.
That episode, with the theme of confronting one’s worst fear, is a fitting metaphor for To This Very Day: Fundamental Questions in Bible Study, an extraordinary book that deals with many theological notions that people are often terrified to deal with.
In this English translation of his original book, Rabbi Amnon Bazak of Yeshiva Har Etzion deals with many questions that have been raised within the field of academic Bible study. Many within the Orthodox world equate academic Bible study with the documentary hypothesis. While that is only partially true, there is much more to of academic Bible study than the theories originated by Julius Wellhausen.
The book aims to portray the unique approach that has arisen in the current generation among Bible scholars, who come to Tanach study with deep, serious belief, on the one hand, and according to the prevailing methodology of Bible criticism, on the other hand.
The term Bible criticism is enough to make many Orthodox Jews apoplectic. However, as Bazak writes, while these writer’s opinions may not fall within normative Jewish thought, they nonetheless raise legitimate questions. In fact, many of these questions have been dealt with in traditional sources, often going as far back as Ramban, Ramban, ibn-Ezra, Ralbag, and others. While many of these questions go back a thousand years, what Bazak has masterfully done is to gather all of these views into a single collection.
From that, there are two approaches to deal with Bible criticism – either condemn it as forbidden or engage it directly in order to answer their questions, which in turn can give a person a much deeper and more appreciative understanding of Tanach. Even for those that are not bothered by the questions from Bible criticism, they likely know someone who is and may be able to engage them in an honest discussion.
The critical point that must be understood is that the challenges posed by critical Bible theory are not a threat to the believer. Instead, as Bazak astutely writes, it is a means for a more in-depth understanding of God’s words as revealed in the Bible.
Each of the twelve chapters shows that Bazak is a man of intense and deep faith and brilliance. He tackles numerous challenging questions and answers them in a most sophisticated manner. Never having to resort to apologetics, or ad hominem attacks on those who challenge traditional Jewish beliefs, Bazak provides sophisticated answers to these challenging questions.
Some of the topics include - the authorship of the Torah and Tanach, verses added to the Torah at a later date, Tanach and archeology, Tanach and literature of the ancient near east, the reliability of the Masoretic Text, the sins of Biblical figures, and more.
Every chapter in the book is brimming with fascinating insights, but the chapter on Torah and archeology is particularly enlightening. One frequent complaint from the Bible critics is that there is no evidence of the Jews in Egypt, leaving Egypt, or of their sojourn in the Sinai desert. For most people, it is a difficult question to answer, given that most of us lack a thorough understanding of Biblical archeology and Egyptian history.
Bazak shows that theories based on argumentum ad ignorantiam - an argument from ignorance, which asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false or a proposition is false because it has not yet been proven right must be treated with some reservation.
He shows how in fact, in the last generation, several studies have appeared that noted a very close correlation between the Torah’s description of slavery in Egypt and the Exodus and what we know of Egyptian culture at the time. Furthermore, the biblical account of the slavery in Egypt extensively uses words and expressions that archeological discoveries have made familiar. Bazak concludes that rather than being a challenge to the Torah, archeology can nonetheless contribute to an understanding of and an appreciation for Tanach.
There are two ways to deal with external challenges to our faith. One can be afraid and insular like Wanda Dunn, or one can engage with these challenges. Bazak has shown that rather than be terrified and dismissive of academic Bible study, one can encounter it, and like our forefather Yaakov, come out of the battle victorious.
She eventually allows in a wounded police officer who pleads for her help. Played by a young and handsome Robert Redford, the older woman finds out that the kind and dashing man is, in fact, the angel of death. He tells her that it is not him she is afraid of; instead, she is afraid of the unknown. And that, in fact, she should not be afraid.
That episode, with the theme of confronting one’s worst fear, is a fitting metaphor for To This Very Day: Fundamental Questions in Bible Study, an extraordinary book that deals with many theological notions that people are often terrified to deal with.
In this English translation of his original book, Rabbi Amnon Bazak of Yeshiva Har Etzion deals with many questions that have been raised within the field of academic Bible study. Many within the Orthodox world equate academic Bible study with the documentary hypothesis. While that is only partially true, there is much more to of academic Bible study than the theories originated by Julius Wellhausen.
The book aims to portray the unique approach that has arisen in the current generation among Bible scholars, who come to Tanach study with deep, serious belief, on the one hand, and according to the prevailing methodology of Bible criticism, on the other hand.
The term Bible criticism is enough to make many Orthodox Jews apoplectic. However, as Bazak writes, while these writer’s opinions may not fall within normative Jewish thought, they nonetheless raise legitimate questions. In fact, many of these questions have been dealt with in traditional sources, often going as far back as Ramban, Ramban, ibn-Ezra, Ralbag, and others. While many of these questions go back a thousand years, what Bazak has masterfully done is to gather all of these views into a single collection.
From that, there are two approaches to deal with Bible criticism – either condemn it as forbidden or engage it directly in order to answer their questions, which in turn can give a person a much deeper and more appreciative understanding of Tanach. Even for those that are not bothered by the questions from Bible criticism, they likely know someone who is and may be able to engage them in an honest discussion.
The critical point that must be understood is that the challenges posed by critical Bible theory are not a threat to the believer. Instead, as Bazak astutely writes, it is a means for a more in-depth understanding of God’s words as revealed in the Bible.
Each of the twelve chapters shows that Bazak is a man of intense and deep faith and brilliance. He tackles numerous challenging questions and answers them in a most sophisticated manner. Never having to resort to apologetics, or ad hominem attacks on those who challenge traditional Jewish beliefs, Bazak provides sophisticated answers to these challenging questions.
Some of the topics include - the authorship of the Torah and Tanach, verses added to the Torah at a later date, Tanach and archeology, Tanach and literature of the ancient near east, the reliability of the Masoretic Text, the sins of Biblical figures, and more.
Every chapter in the book is brimming with fascinating insights, but the chapter on Torah and archeology is particularly enlightening. One frequent complaint from the Bible critics is that there is no evidence of the Jews in Egypt, leaving Egypt, or of their sojourn in the Sinai desert. For most people, it is a difficult question to answer, given that most of us lack a thorough understanding of Biblical archeology and Egyptian history.
Bazak shows that theories based on argumentum ad ignorantiam - an argument from ignorance, which asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false or a proposition is false because it has not yet been proven right must be treated with some reservation.
He shows how in fact, in the last generation, several studies have appeared that noted a very close correlation between the Torah’s description of slavery in Egypt and the Exodus and what we know of Egyptian culture at the time. Furthermore, the biblical account of the slavery in Egypt extensively uses words and expressions that archeological discoveries have made familiar. Bazak concludes that rather than being a challenge to the Torah, archeology can nonetheless contribute to an understanding of and an appreciation for Tanach.
There are two ways to deal with external challenges to our faith. One can be afraid and insular like Wanda Dunn, or one can engage with these challenges. Bazak has shown that rather than be terrified and dismissive of academic Bible study, one can encounter it, and like our forefather Yaakov, come out of the battle victorious.
April 12, 2020
It is only in recent times that Yeshivas (post-high-school religious schools) began again to teach Bible. The problem that the rabbis faced was that enlightenment scholars raised multiple questions about the Bible, questions that seemed to show that God did not write or inspire the Bible, but that it was composed by many different authors with different agendas, some of whom made mistakes. The Yeshiva rabbis did not know how to respond to the attacks. So, the rabbis stopped teaching Bible and told students that if they wanted to study the Torah they should do so on their own. Instead, the rabbis taught only Talmud and ethical books. This situation existed when I attended a prominent Yeshiva in the 1950s.
Today, many Yeshiva’s have scholars of their own, rabbis with a well-grounded knowledge of secular books. Amnon Bazak is a leading figure in the renaissance of Tanakh (Bible) study. He offers a very readable yet sophisticated understanding of Tanakh rooted in a firm belief in the sanctity of the Bible while examining it from the perspective of science, archeology, and logic.
“To This Very Day, Fundamental Questions in Bible Study” is published by Maggid Books, a division of the prestigious Koren Publishers Jerusalem and is part of the Maggid Studies in Tanakh series. The series examines the text, themes, and personalities of the various books of the bible using an approach that incorporates traditional rabbinic interpretations with scholarly literary techniques, both Jewish and non-Jewish, reflecting the view of Maimonides (1138-1204) that the truth is the truth no matter what its source. Maggid has published more than a half dozen of these splendid books so far. Rabbi Bazak reveals many understandings about the Bible that most people do not know as well as ideas that are true despite they being contrary to what many people believe is good traditions. The following are some examples of issues examined by Rabbi Bazak.
The word Torah appears in the first five books of the Torah, but it generally refers to the observance of a single commandment; only one or two incidences could possibly refer to the entire five books but this is debatable. Thus, the Five Books of Moses does not say that God dictated the Torah. II Kings 22:8 describes that a book of the Torah was found, but scholars and Rashi state this was only the book of Deuteronomy or parts of it. There is no way of knowing how, when, and by whom the Five Books of the Torah were committed to writing. For many centuries, the Five Books were called “The Books of Moses” and “The Torah of Moses,” not the Books of God. It was not until the beginning of the Second Temple Era that the idea arose that God dictated the Torah to Moses; the Torah itself does not make this claim. According to Midrash Exodus Rabba, God did not dictate the Torah, but trusted Moses to write it in accordance with God’s will.
Some rabbis, such as Rashbam, Bekhor Shor, Yehuda HaHasid and collections of midrashim believe that Moses wrote the narrative parts in the Five Books of Moses along with the entire book of Deuteronomy of his own accord, while only the laws and commands were written by Moses at God’s command. There are midrashim that recognize that the statement in the Torah “Until this day” as well as many other statements indicate that these sections were composed after Moses’ death. There are many different opinions among the sages on how the Torah was written.
These are just a small sampling of the many fascinating discussions that Amnon Bazak has in his very interesting book.
Today, many Yeshiva’s have scholars of their own, rabbis with a well-grounded knowledge of secular books. Amnon Bazak is a leading figure in the renaissance of Tanakh (Bible) study. He offers a very readable yet sophisticated understanding of Tanakh rooted in a firm belief in the sanctity of the Bible while examining it from the perspective of science, archeology, and logic.
“To This Very Day, Fundamental Questions in Bible Study” is published by Maggid Books, a division of the prestigious Koren Publishers Jerusalem and is part of the Maggid Studies in Tanakh series. The series examines the text, themes, and personalities of the various books of the bible using an approach that incorporates traditional rabbinic interpretations with scholarly literary techniques, both Jewish and non-Jewish, reflecting the view of Maimonides (1138-1204) that the truth is the truth no matter what its source. Maggid has published more than a half dozen of these splendid books so far. Rabbi Bazak reveals many understandings about the Bible that most people do not know as well as ideas that are true despite they being contrary to what many people believe is good traditions. The following are some examples of issues examined by Rabbi Bazak.
The word Torah appears in the first five books of the Torah, but it generally refers to the observance of a single commandment; only one or two incidences could possibly refer to the entire five books but this is debatable. Thus, the Five Books of Moses does not say that God dictated the Torah. II Kings 22:8 describes that a book of the Torah was found, but scholars and Rashi state this was only the book of Deuteronomy or parts of it. There is no way of knowing how, when, and by whom the Five Books of the Torah were committed to writing. For many centuries, the Five Books were called “The Books of Moses” and “The Torah of Moses,” not the Books of God. It was not until the beginning of the Second Temple Era that the idea arose that God dictated the Torah to Moses; the Torah itself does not make this claim. According to Midrash Exodus Rabba, God did not dictate the Torah, but trusted Moses to write it in accordance with God’s will.
Some rabbis, such as Rashbam, Bekhor Shor, Yehuda HaHasid and collections of midrashim believe that Moses wrote the narrative parts in the Five Books of Moses along with the entire book of Deuteronomy of his own accord, while only the laws and commands were written by Moses at God’s command. There are midrashim that recognize that the statement in the Torah “Until this day” as well as many other statements indicate that these sections were composed after Moses’ death. There are many different opinions among the sages on how the Torah was written.
These are just a small sampling of the many fascinating discussions that Amnon Bazak has in his very interesting book.
January 4, 2025
To This Very Day is somewhat all over the place. It attempts to contend with a wide range of meta-questions about the Bible of very different natures.
About 70% of the book is devoted to considering the bible with a certain openness to an outsider’s perspective – trying to understand the bible’s authorship, inconsistencies and its different versions in the context of history, archaeology, parallel literature, as well in the context of Jewish tradition. This was the part of the book that was most meaningful for me. While some of the Jewish and non-Jewish sources described in this part of the book were very familiar (whether Gilgamesh or Rabbi Bruer’s exegesis for inconsistencies) , there as still what to learn. My favorite part was probably the section devoted to the accuracy of the Masoretic text. For example, it was fascinating to learn that according to the Sifrei in Deuteronomy there were three bibles in the Temple because of small differences wording between each of the three versions. There were many arguments and texts thrown in together and it wasn’t always easy to know what accuracy could be given to each of the explanation R’ Bazak provided, but I enjoyed his writing nonetheless.
The last 30% of the book was less interesting for me: it was very much an ‘insider’s perspective. R’ Bazak dealt with the tension between a ‘plain’ reading of the text versus the reading it through the prism of the Jewish Oral tradition. R’ Bazak makes a very big push for finding value in the plain meaning of the text. He is obviously not a Karaite and is not discounting the value of the Oral Tradition, but rather makes an argument for appreciating the plain meaning of the text while maintaining reverence for the oral tradition. The image that comes to mind for me is of a multi-layered cake: there’s value in each of the cake’s layers even if no layer should be eaten on its own. Each layer is distinct and significant in creating an overall look, feel and taste of the cake, even if it all eventually just blends in one’s mouth. R’ Bazak sees the plain meaning of the text as a layer in the Jewish cake that shouldn’t just be blended into the other ingredients of the Jewish cake but should be examined distinctly even if it ultimately an inseparable from the Jewish Oral Tradition. As someone who always saw value in the plain meaning of the text, I felt that R’ Bazak’s efforts were a little lost on me.
About 70% of the book is devoted to considering the bible with a certain openness to an outsider’s perspective – trying to understand the bible’s authorship, inconsistencies and its different versions in the context of history, archaeology, parallel literature, as well in the context of Jewish tradition. This was the part of the book that was most meaningful for me. While some of the Jewish and non-Jewish sources described in this part of the book were very familiar (whether Gilgamesh or Rabbi Bruer’s exegesis for inconsistencies) , there as still what to learn. My favorite part was probably the section devoted to the accuracy of the Masoretic text. For example, it was fascinating to learn that according to the Sifrei in Deuteronomy there were three bibles in the Temple because of small differences wording between each of the three versions. There were many arguments and texts thrown in together and it wasn’t always easy to know what accuracy could be given to each of the explanation R’ Bazak provided, but I enjoyed his writing nonetheless.
The last 30% of the book was less interesting for me: it was very much an ‘insider’s perspective. R’ Bazak dealt with the tension between a ‘plain’ reading of the text versus the reading it through the prism of the Jewish Oral tradition. R’ Bazak makes a very big push for finding value in the plain meaning of the text. He is obviously not a Karaite and is not discounting the value of the Oral Tradition, but rather makes an argument for appreciating the plain meaning of the text while maintaining reverence for the oral tradition. The image that comes to mind for me is of a multi-layered cake: there’s value in each of the cake’s layers even if no layer should be eaten on its own. Each layer is distinct and significant in creating an overall look, feel and taste of the cake, even if it all eventually just blends in one’s mouth. R’ Bazak sees the plain meaning of the text as a layer in the Jewish cake that shouldn’t just be blended into the other ingredients of the Jewish cake but should be examined distinctly even if it ultimately an inseparable from the Jewish Oral Tradition. As someone who always saw value in the plain meaning of the text, I felt that R’ Bazak’s efforts were a little lost on me.
June 8, 2025
I only read chapter 5. It was quite enlightening. The Sages were aware that there were differences in text from Torah scroll to Torah scroll and there were different editions. Different categories of differences. How they determined what is "authoritative." The difference between "what is most accurate" and "what is halachically binding"
May 18, 2025
4.25 ⭐️
Some chapters were dense to read and others flew through which made this book a challenging reading experience but the actual content was excellent and a very impressive feat.
Really enjoying the maggid series.
Some chapters were dense to read and others flew through which made this book a challenging reading experience but the actual content was excellent and a very impressive feat.
Really enjoying the maggid series.
December 16, 2018
A fantastic and eye-opening book! A must-read for any serious bible student.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews