Why Should the Scientific Study of the Bible Matter to Us?

I am sitting in the gorgeous new National Library of Israel, in Jerusalem, taking a break from my writing, at this most difficult time—and thinking about Shavuot. For me, Shavuot is a time for reflection not on the giving of the Torah—the Torah was developed rather than given—but on the meanings of Torah, and on how it should be taught.

It is also a time for me, as a critical biblical scholar to think about critical biblical studies and Judaism.^[1] Although I have thought about this for many years,^[2] my participation in TheTorah.com has caused me to reflect on it more often and more intentionally. Indeed, as a result of my current academic project, with the Hebrew University professor of Modern Jewish Intellectual History, Edward Breuer, I mull over this issue almost daily. We are tracing the many different attitudes that Jews have had toward critical biblical scholarship from the time of Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) through Jacob Milgrom (1923–2010). As part of this research, I encountered a small pamphlet by Dr. Rabbi Felix Perles.

Felix Perles and Jewish Bible Scholarship in the Early 20^th Century

Born on March 18, 1874 into a prominent rabbinic family in Munich, Felix Perles received his early Jewish education from his father, Rabbi Joseph Perles, a graduate of the Breslau Rabbinic Seminary. Felix Perles studied classical and oriental studies at Munich University and was ordained as rabbi in 1898 from the École Rabbinique in Paris, where he also had the opportunity to study with great Semitist Meyer Lambert.

Perles received his Ph.D. from the Israelitisch-Theologische Lehranstalt in Vienna, where, already a Zionist, he made personal acquaintance with Theodore Herzl. In 1899, Perles was appointed Deputy Rabbi of Königsberg, Prussia (now Kalingrad, Russia), where he spent most of his adult life, until his death in 1933.

Perles delivered a lecture on May 2, 1927, at the recently founded Institute for Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem—well before the Bible Department was established there.^[3] Soon after, the Union of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem published this lecture, titled ?מהו לנו מדע המקרא, as a pamphlet. While its nuance is hard to capture in English, for now, Breuer and I have translated it as: Why Should the Scientific Study of the Bible Matter to Us?

It is hard to imagine the situation of Jewish biblical scholarship from almost a century ago.^[4] At that point, Jews could study, but not teach Bible at European and most American Universities.^[5] The Wissenschaft des Judentums, the scientific study of Judaism that developed in nineteenth Germany largely sidestepped biblical studies. Thus, few Jews were engaged with the way that Bible was being studied and taught in secular universities, and for many, this approach was unknown, or even treif [not kosher].

But the founding of the Hebrew University, and its Institute of Jewish Studies, was a time for reevaluation—what can the methods of critical biblical scholarship offer to the Jewish community in its own homeland? The answers were many and varied—Perles is an especially eloquent, but not the only answer offered, or even representative of the answers offered. But his words are so powerful, they are worth repeating today.

Felix Perles’ Speech at Hebrew University’s Institute for Jewish Studies

Here is the beginning of his address, with footnotes by Breuer and me. Our translation attempts to capture some of the flowery style of the original:

אדוני היושב ראש, חברי המורים, גבירותי ורבותי!

Honorable Chair, Fellow Teachers, Ladies and Gentlemen!

בשעה שאני פותח את שיעורי ע"ד מדע המקרא עולות על לבי התפלות שהיה מתפלל ר' נחוניא בן הקנה בכניסתו לב[ית] המ[דרש] וביציאתו. בכניסתו היה מתפלל שלא תארע תקלה על ידו ביציאתו היה נותן הודיה על חלקו.

As I open my lectures concerning the scientific study of the Bible,^[6] I recall the prayers of R. Nehunya b. Haqanah upon entering and exiting the study hall: upon entering he prayed that he would cause no harm, and upon exiting he gave thanks for his portion [in life].^[7]

אני נותן היום הודאה על חלקי שזכיתי לכבוד הגדול הזה והתמניתי ללמד פה בירושלים במכון זה ובלשון עמנו את המדע שעמלתי בו כל ימי חיי אבל רק בחוץ לארץ ובלשונות זרות.

I give thanks today for my portion, that I have merited this great honor and was appointed to teach here in Jerusalem, in this Institute, and in the language of our^[8] people—[to teach] the science over which I labored my entire life, but until now only outside of the Land of Israel and in foreign languages.

The reference to Hebrew versus other languages was a touchy subject; the previous decade saw the outbreak of the “War of the Languages” in Palestine over the place of Hebrew (rather than German) within the community, especially at the Technion in Haifa.

ומי יתן שלא תכזיבני תקותי שאוכל לרומם קרן מדע זה, ולהראות חשיבותו לכל מי שרוצה לראות. כי כמו שהמקרא הוא היסוד החזק לדתנו ולספרותנו, כן מדע המקרא הוא היסוד לכל מדעי היהדות.

I hope that I will not be disappointed in my desire to elevate the status of this science and to demonstrate its significance to all who want to see. For just as the Bible is the strong foundation of our religion and our literature, so the scientific study of the Bible is the foundation of all Jewish Studies.

ומלבד זאת אני מקוה שאצליח להסיר לכל הפחות קצת מן המכשולים העומדים נגד מדע זה. לא נעלם ממני שעדיין רבים וביניהם אנשי שם חוששים להתעסק במדע המקרא, ולא זאת בלבד אלא שנלחמים נגדו מלחמה גמורה בחשבם שמדע זה עלול להרוס את בנין דתנו.

Moreover, I hope I will succeed in removing at least some of the obstacles that stand before it. I certainly know that there are still many, among them well-known individuals, who are fretful in engaging this science, and even more, who fight a full-scale battle against it because they think that it is liable to destroy the edifice of our religion.

By “well-known individuals,” Perles is likely including the chief Ashkenazic rabbi of Palestine, Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), who deeply opposed the critical study of the Torah (see below).

על כן חובה עלי להוכיח כי מדע זה אינו בא לסתור אלא לבנות ובעשותי כן להחזיר לנו עטרה שניטלה ממנו.

It is therefore incumbent upon me to prove that this science does not come to destroy but to build, and in so doing, to return the crown that has been taken from us.^[9]

Perles here is mixing well-known biblical and rabbinic phrases. He is using imagery from Jeremiah, thereby depicting himself as a modern-day prophet:

^{ירמיה א:י} רְאֵה הִפְקַדְתִּיךָ הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה עַל הַגּוֹיִם וְעַל הַמַּמְלָכוֹת לִנְתוֹשׁ וְלִנְתוֹץ וּלְהַאֲבִיד וְלַהֲרוֹס לִבְנוֹת וְלִנְטוֹעַ.

^{Jer 1:10} See, I appoint you this day over nations and kingdoms: To uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

The imagery of returning the crown to its rightful place is rabbinic. The Men of the Great Assembly (an institution that according to rabbinic sources existed in the Second Temple period) are said to have done so when reinstating the full praise of God in the prayer service (b. Yoma 69b).^[10]

אינני מכחיש שדרך מדע המקרא עוד איננה סלולה ועלי להתפלל שלא תארע תקלה על ידי. אלא הסכנה תלך ותגדל במדה שחכמי ישראל יחשבו למותר להשתתף בחקירת המקרא, ויסתפקו לקרות עליה: "סורו סורו טמא טמא!"

I do not dispute that the path of biblical studies is not yet smoothly paved, and I pray that I do not cause any harm. But the danger will grow ever greater as Jewish scholars consider it a luxury to participate in biblical research, making do by saying “Away! Away! It is impure! Impure!”

This last line reworks a passage from Lamentations for rhetorical emphasis:

^{איכה ד:טו} סוּרוּ טָמֵא קָרְאוּ לָמוֹ סוּרוּ סוּרוּ אַל תִּגָּעוּ כִּי נָצוּ גַּם נָעוּ אָמְרוּ בַּגּוֹיִם לֹא יוֹסִיפוּ לָגוּר.

^{Lam 4:15} “Away! Unclean!” people shouted at them, “Away! Away! Touch not!” So they wandered and wandered again; for the nations had resolved: “They shall stay here no longer.”

אם רצוננו לכתת את חרבות כמה מבקרים קיצונים שבין חכמי הגוים היוצאים לזלזל את תורתנו ולחרף את אלהינו ואת עמנו, יש לנו להזדיין בכל כלי קרב המדעיים,

If we want to beat the swords^[11] of some radical non-Jewish critics who set out to disparage our Torah and dishonor our God^[12] and nation, we must arm ourselves with all the scientific weapons.

Here, Perles makes use of one of the most famous biblical images,

^{מיכה ד:ג} וְשָׁפַט בֵּין עַמִּים רַבִּים וְהוֹכִיחַ לְגוֹיִם עֲצֻמִים עַד רָחוֹק וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבֹתֵיהֶם לְאִתִּים וַחֲנִיתֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת לֹא יִשְׂאוּ גּוֹי אֶל גּוֹי חֶרֶב וְלֹא יִלְמְדוּן עוֹד מִלְחָמָה.

^{Mic 4:3} Thus He will judge among the many peoples, and arbitrate for the multitude of nations, however distant; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war.^[13]

In this case, the beating of the swords is actually an act of aggression, as in Joel 4:10, as opposed to peace.

כי אין ספק שהמרבים לצעוק חמס על מדע המקרא אינם יודעים ומבינים בו כלום ומדברים עליו כדבר העור על הגונים.

For it is without doubt that those who continually decry the damage (literally “violence”) caused by the scientific study of the Bible know and understand nothing about it, and say things with the authority of a blind person speaking about shades of color.

Perles here uses exaggerated imagery from Job to present those who decry biblical scholarship:

^{איוב יט:ז} הֵן אֶצְעַק חָמָס וְלֹא אֵעָנֶה אֲשַׁוַּע וְאֵין מִשְׁפָּט.

^{Job 19:7} I cry, “Violence!” but am not answered; I shout, but can get no justice.

Later in his address, Perles laments:

לדאבוני הגדול, אני מוכרח להודות שמספר חכמי עמנו העובדים בשדה זה עדיין קטן מאד. אני רואה בזה חרפה גדולה והפסד גדול לישראל. אני רואה בזה חרפה גדולה. בימי הבינים יד ישראל רמה במדע המקרא....

To my regret, I must admit that the number of scholars from our nation who work in this field is still very small. I see this as a terrible shame and a great loss to Israel. I see this as a terrible shame. In the Middle Ages, Israel was supreme when it came to scientific study of the Bible…

Noting how the attitude toward the great Maimonides (1138–1204) has changed over time, Perles defends Bible criticism by alluding to the Maimonidean controversies, which in some cases even involved burning his books:

בימי הבינים עמדו גם כן על הרמב"ם וחשדו בו שהוא מבטל את התורה, והיום אין איש נבון בקרבנו יכול להכחיש שהרמב"ם עשה טוב לישראל ביסדו את בנין היהדות ברוח החקירה,

In the Middle Ages, some people rose up against Maimonides and accused him of abrogating the Torah, but today no intelligent individual among us can deny that Maimonides did something positive for Israel by establishing the edifice of Judaism on the spirit of [philosophical] study.

אבל אויביו עשו רעה לישראל וענו את כח רוחו ומי יודע אם לא לעתיד ידונו כן על דורנו ויאמרו על המתנגדים למדע המקרא: "אוי להם שׁהחשׁיכו את עינינו ועשו לתורה שתשתכח מישראל!"

His enemies performed a disservice for Israel by oppressing his spirit, and who knows if in the future people will similarly judge those who oppose the science of biblical studies: “Woe to them who darkened our eyes and caused the Torah to be forgotten from Israel.”

Perles paraphrases a rabbinic dictum (e.g., in b. Baba Metziah 85b); in some medieval Jewish commentary, this phrase is used of the arch-wicked King Manasseh.

He is certain that biblical criticism can have the same fate for the Jewish community as philosophy did after Maimonides. Though initially reviled—the earliest Jewish scholar to explicitly polemicize against biblical criticism was Moses Mendelssohn—it can be constructive.

Writing in Mandatory Palestine, Perles feels that this country must take the lead in encouraging critical biblical studies:

...אין מקצוע בכל המדע בכלל ובמדע היהדות בפרט שא[רץ] י[שראל] מולידה ומצמיחה יותר מן מדע המקרא. חכמינו אמרו (בבא בתרא קנח ע"ב) "אוירא דארץ ישראל מחכים", אולי דבר זה אינו אלא גוזמא. אבל ודאי ארץ ישראל מחכמת ומלמדת אותנו להבין את המקרא. כל מה שאנו רואים פה מסייע לביאורו וכביכול גולל לפנינו פירוש מבהיק אור על סודותיו.

There is no discipline in all of science, and especially in the science of Judaism, that the land of Israel gives birth to and nourishes more than the scientific study of the Bible. Our sages said (b. Baba Batra 148b): “The air of the land of Israel makes one wise;” perhaps this only an exaggeration, but clearly the land of Israel makes us wise and teaches us to better understand the Bible. Everything that we see here helps explain the Bible, and, as it were, provides a commentary that illuminates its secrets.

חיי עם הארץ היושב פה דומים בהרבה ענינים לחיי אבותינו. עודנו נמצא במצב הטבעי שלא נגעה בו התרבות המורדנית, ועל כן יותר קרוב הוא אל אלהים מבני דורנו.

The everyday life of the people who reside here is similar in many ways to the lifestyle of our ancestors. It is still found in a natural state, untouched by modern culture, and thus it is closer to God than to people of our own generation.

This image of the local population of Palestine was a common assumption of the period.^[14]

שש אני על המלאכה הקשה המוטלת על שכמי, ואשתדל בכל כחי לפקוח עינים עורות.

I am delighted at the difficult work that I must shoulder, and I will try with all my might to open the eyes of the blind.

These last words are based on Deutero-Isaiah:

^{ישעיה מב:ז} לִפְקֹחַ עֵינַיִם עִוְרוֹת לְהוֹצִיא מִמַּסְגֵּר אַסִּיר מִבֵּית כֶּלֶא יֹשְׁבֵי חֹשֶׁךְ.

^{Isa 42:7} Opening eyes deprived of light, rescuing prisoners from confinement, from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.^[15]

Perles continues:

הלא אנחנו עומדים פה על הר הצופים הגבוה מכל הסביבה ונותן מראה בלתי מגבל לכל הצדדים. כן יש לנו לקוות שתפקחנה עיני העם גם אודות מדע המקרא שישתקו כל הספקות ושידעו כל הנבונים שיש לנו לעבוד בשדה מדע זה ולהחזיר בעבודה זו את המקרא בפי עמנו ובלבב עמנו.

We are now standing on Mount Scopus, which is higher than anything around it and offers an unlimited view to all sides. We must similarly hope that the eyes of the nation will also open with respect to the scientific study of the Bible, that all the doubts will be allayed, and all who have insight will know that we have work to do in this area of science, so we might through this work return the Bible to both the mouths and hearts of our nation.

והמתנגד לעבודתנו זו למי הוא דומה? לאם שדואגת לבריות ילדה ומרוב חבתה ודאגתה שלא יפגע בו האויר הקר היא כולאה אותו בבית עד שיתנוון כנטיעה הצומחת בבית זכוכית.

The person who objects to our work is like a mother who is so worried about the health of her child that out of the excessive love and worry lest the cold air harm him she closes him up at home until he withers, just like a sapling that grows in a hothouse.

Perles concluded his address:

וזאת תקותי שהנבואה הקדמונה (ישעיה ב:ג, מיכה ד:ב) "כי מציון תצא תורה" תתאמת במובן חדש. כמו שבימי קדם יצאה תורה מישראל כן לעתיד לבוא הבנת המקרא תצא ממכון זה להאיר את כל יושבי תבל באור המדע.

It is my hope that the ancient prophecy (Isa 2:3, Mic 4:2) “Torah[16] shall come forth from Zion” will come true in a new sense. Just as Torah went forth from Israel long ago, so may it be for the future. May the understanding of the Bible come forth from this Institute to illumine all the world’s inhabitants with the light of this science.

Using the “Torah from Zion” verse is an obvious rhetorical move for this grand occasion. In fact, Max Margolis cited the same verse in his speech at the opening of the Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, in December 1924^[17]—as did Judah Magness, who was instrumental in founding the University,^[18] and R. Abraham Kook (see below).

אבל עוד לא בא הזמן, אלא יש לומר "מי עור כעבד ה'."

This has not yet happened—we can now say, “who is as blind as the servant of the LORD.”

The final words paraphrase Deutero-Isaiah:

^{ישעיה מב:יט} מִי עִוֵּר כִּי אִם עַבְדִּי וְחֵרֵשׁ כְּמַלְאָכִי אֶשְׁלָח מִי עִוֵּר כִּמְשֻׁלָּם וְעִוֵּר כְּעֶבֶד יְ־הוָה.

^{Isa 42:19} Who is so blind as My servant, so deaf as the messenger I send? Who is so blind as the chosen one, So blind as the servant of YHWH?

This verse is about the suffering servant, and by using it here, Perles polemically defends the predominant Jewish interpretation of the Servant Songs as referring to corporate Israel. Perles concludes by citing the great Christian Bible scholar, Franz Delitzsch (1813–1890)^[19]:

על כן נתחיל לעבוד יחד בעד עמנו ולהחזירו למקור חייו, כדי שתחול עליו הברכה שברכו אחד מחכמי הגויים זה תשעים שנה "כמו שהמקרא עולה על כל הספרים והיה לספר הספרים, כך ישראל עולה על כן הגוים והיה לעם העמים."

Therefore let us start working together for the sake of our nation, to return it to the source of its life,^[20] so that the blessing of one non-Jewish scholar ninety years ago will befall it: “Just as the Bible is superior to all books, and became the book of books, so Israel is superior to all of the nations, and became the people of peoples.”

Responding to Rav Kook?

In addition to allusions to various biblical and rabbinic passages, a subtler set of references may be imbedded in this essay.^[21] At the opening of the Hebrew University in 1925, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook ended his speech with a prayer paraphrasing Isaiah and Micah:

וישב עמי בנוה שלום ובמנוחות שאננות ובמשכנות מבטחים ונזכה לראות בשמחת גויינו, ובבנין בין מקדשינו ותפארתנו, אשר אליו ינהרו כל הגויים לקחת תורה מציון ודבר ה' מירושלים, אמן.

“Then my people shall dwell in peaceful homes, in secure dwellings, in untroubled places of rest” (Isaiah 32:18). And may we be privileged to witness the joy of our people, the rebuilding of our Temple, our Glory, unto which all the nations shall stream to receive the Torah from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Amen.^[22]

But for him, this verse meant something very different than for Magness, Margolis, and Perles. As R. Kook noted earlier in his speech:

אם נדע שהמכללה לבדה לא תסכם את כל הדרוש לחיינו העממיים, כי אם תהיינה לנו בראש ובראשונה ישיבות של תורה גדולות ואיתנות, אלא שישנן אולה שהולכות להוצר, ובהן אותה הישיבה שהננו מתאמצים בעצרת השם יתברך לכוננה בירושלים, להיות לאור מאיר אורה של תורה בישראל לכל מקצועותיה בהלכה ובאגדה, בחכמת המעשים וחכמת הדעות, ישיבות כשמן, המכוננות כמאז את רוח האומה בכל מלא בטחונה.

If we know that the University alone will not embody all that constitutes our national life, but that there shall be first of all great Talmudic Schools established upon a firm basis , those already existing and those about to be established among them especially the Talmudic School which we are now endeavoring with God's help to establish in Jerusalem, which shall be a light unto Israel on all parts of the Torah, laws and legend, the philosophy of action and the philosophy of thought-such Schools as shall firmly lead the spirit of the nation in full security.

ועם זה תהיה המכללה עומדת על גבה כזה שיתקדש שם שמים ושם ישראל וארץ ישראל על ידה, ולא יתחלל בשום אופן בגינה, בין מצד המנהלים בין מצד המורים ובין מצד התלמידים, וביחוד שיהיו המורים אשר ללמודי היהדות החל מספר הספרים, התנ"ך, אור חיינו, עד כל אפיקי התלמידים וכל אגפיהם וחכמת ישראל ותולדתו, אנשים אשר עם כל גדולת המדע שלהם כל אחד במקצועו יהיו גם שלומי אמני ישראל בדעותיהם, ברגשיהם, ובכל דרכי חייהם, שהוא גם כן אות על רוחב הלב וגודל ההשקפה המדעית במהרתה

Moreover, the University must preserve a standard which shall glorify the name of the Lord, of Israel and of the land of Israel, and there shall be no desecration, on the part of the Governors, the teachers, or the students; especially of the teachers of Jewish subjects—beginning with the book of books, the Bible, the light of our life, and all the various cognate studies, Jewish philosophy and history—and they shall be not only men of learning, each in his respective field, but also in harmony with the Jewish faith in their opinions, feelings and conduct of life, which is also a sign as to largeness of heart, and the scope of the person’s scientific outlook in all its agility.

—באפן זה יביא לנו הפחד אשר נפחד יחד עם הראיה הגדולה שלנו במחזה הנהדר ליום הזה עם הנהרה שינהר רוחנו מזיו הנגוהות אשר לשטפי הרוח השונים והמגוונים העוברים עלינו, את אותו רוחב הלב המבוקש אשר ברכה תהיה בו.

—In this way, shall the apprehension we feel, together with the magnificent vision we have of the amazing event of this day, together with the emotions which surge in our spirits from the radiance which, given the various and sundry winds blowing over us, that same necessary enlargement of heart, which shall be a blessing to us.

Contrary to what is often written, new research indicates that it was highly unlikely that Rav Kook only agreed to speak at this opening ceremony once he was assured that critical biblical scholarship would not be taught at the new University. But his vision of the new Jewish scholarship that would emerge from Zion did not encompass university-style biblical studies.

Postscript

The conflict between the perspectives of Rav Kook and Dr. Rabbi Perles still continues in many quarters, both in Israel and abroad, but to my mind it is much less sharp than it was a century ago. This is in part because of the huge amount of varied Jewish biblical scholarship over the last century. Significantly, over the last eleven years, TheTorah.com has shown how academic biblical scholarship can enhance, rather than threaten Jewish life and observance.^[23]

Shavuot is a time when we can celebrate what we’ve accomplished collectively on TheTorah.com: On many occasions, I have davened in a shul on Shabbat and have been delighted to see people reading the latest essay from TheTorah.com. Around the world, shiurim, classes, and lay people learning groups meet to discuss the weekly articles from TheTorah.com.

As Shavuot approaches, we can reflect on the changing attitude of the Jewish community, going back to the call of Felix Perles and others, and nurtured a century later by TheTorah.com’s many authors, readers, and supporters.