Many observant Jews have written eloquently of the need to consider the methods and findings of modern biblical scholarship. Although they do not all agree on how this should take place, we share with all of them a conviction that if traditional Judaism is to thrive then it must address biblical criticism.

Here are some of their words:

Not to Confront Modernity is Suicidal

“There are undeniable risks in any such confrontation. Not to confront modernity, however, is more than risky for Orthodoxy, it is suicidal.” — Shnayer Z. Leiman, “A response to Rabbi Breuer,” in Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations (ed. Shalom Carmy; Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1996).

Neglecting This Issue Turns Great Minds Away from Torah

“Defending the faith at all costs turns many people away from tradition, especially people with more scholarly or intellectual bent, who could add much to our understanding of Torah. In ancient and medieval times, the best minds all went into theology. Today we may turn away many great minds from Torah study by insisting on many ‘truths’ which cannot possibly be defended. … The strictly traditional approach, however, especially as it has come to be espoused in our times, is no longer tenable.” — Ben Zion Katz, A Journey Through Torah: A Critique of the Documentary Hypothesis (New York: Urim 2012).

Reason Compels Us to Consider the Claims of Modern Scholarship

“From a scientific perspective, a religious position that rejects the claims of biblical criticism is not irrational because it views those claims as untrue; after all, biblical criticism is not a scientific discipline whose claims can be evaluated in repeatable experiments. Rather, rejecting the claims outright is irrational because it denies even the possibility that they might be true. To be unwilling to even consider that the Torah might be a composite document is no different in principle from holding firm to the belief that the Earth is stationary and that the sun revolves around it. In this sense, attempting to sustain a belief in traditional notions of divine authorship brings science and religion into full conflict.”–Daniel Jackson, “Torah min haShamayim: Conflicts Between Religious Belief and Scientific Thinking,” Conversations 6.

Modern Orthodoxy Cannot Shut out the Modern World  

“It is clear that the challenge of biblical criticism (especially the Documentary Hypothesis) is one that modern Orthodoxy has no option but to confront. Since modern Orthodoxy rejects ex hypothesi the haredi-style shutting out of large swathes of the modern world and its prevalent intellectual trends, battle must be joined.
Does modern Orthodoxy possess any strategies with which to combat biblical criticism beyond—to quote Jacobs’s charge—contriving to ‘blithely ignore or meet in a totally inadequate manner the challenge presented by this branch of secular learning’ (Beyond Reasonable Doubt)?” — Michael J. Harris, Jewish Quarterly Review 203 (Autumn 2006).

Hiding from the Truth Never Succeeds

“Serious engagement with modern scholarship is long overdue. It is true that many people in the past—including many Orthodox Jews—have preferred to ignore the subject. But that stance is becoming increasingly problematic. … Quite apart from the intellectual dishonesty involved in adopting such a stance, it does not have a particularly impressive track record. It has been adopted many times before, and it has always failed. … Indeed, in general, the “Know-Nothing” party has never fared well. It has backed the bishops and cardinals who denounced Copernicus as a heretic and threw Galileo into jail for maintaining that the earth circles around the sun and not vice versa. It has doggedly ignored (indeed, in some places still continues to ignore) dinosaur bones, geology, astrophysics, evolutionary biology, and so forth—without any notable success. It cannot succeed, because in the end, people—all people—simply want to know what’s true and build on that, rather than hide from the truth and build on willful ignorance. One does not need to be a prophet to know that in regard to modern biblical scholarship as well, those who urge us to stick our heads in the sand will ultimately prove to have been on the losing side of the argument.” — James Kugel, “An Open Letter to Professor Moshe Bernstein” (April 3, 2009).

Time to Reevaluate the “Necessary Belief”

 His [Rambam’s] view affirms the exalted and binding status of the Torah—a status that I would certainly never contest. In light of what we have seen, however, it seems to me that the time has come to revive the predominant view of the Rabbis, a view that also emerges from the words of the poskim and is alluded to in the words of the commentators. This view identifies different genres in our Torah that testify to diverse facets of revelation and different levels of importance  – Rabbi David Bigman, “‘I Shall Fear God Alone and Not Show Favor in Torah’”The Torah.com