What Does a Professor Really Know About Torah?

The Biblical Explosion That Never Occurred

Nearly sixty years ago, Charles Liebman, in his groundbreaking article Orthodoxy in Jewish Life (1965), cited “Mosaic authorship of the Torah” as a prime example of “questions of actual dogma” that “have not been broached among Orthodox leaders.” He predicted:

When they are, as seems likely, there will be explosive consequences… It is fair to say that the entire belief structure of American Orthodoxy still finds verbal expression within the bounds of a rather narrow fundamentalism.^[1]

But that explosion never happened. Not only did Modern Orthodoxy fail to engage publicly with academic biblical scholarship, but other Jewish denominations also avoided addressing these challenging ideas in public or popular forums.

Between Gedolim and Professors

Growing up in the Haredi yeshiva world, I didn’t know that academic scholarship on the Torah even existed. Worse, I was conditioned to believe that anyone outside my world had little or nothing valuable to say about the Torah. Compared to the gedolim (e.g., Rav Chaim Kanievsky), what could a professor really know about Torah?

Still, I always felt there was something about Torah (and the Gemara, etc.) and its explanations of the world that didn’t add up. After a long intellectual and spiritual journey, I began seriously considering insights from academic biblical scholarship. I even read some popular books on the topic.

These studies unexpectedly strengthened my connection to Torah and Judaism. I felt like I was in Gan Eden, connected to God. Academic approaches allowed me to appreciate my traditions while engaging Torah with my full intellectual capacity. I devoured as many books on academic biblical studies as I could afford (academic books are expensive). I was on a mission to learn as much as possible.

Why Wasn’t I Taught Academic Bible?

With this new knowledge came the painful realization that I could not continue working for Aish HaTorah. I also began to ask: Why isn’t academic Bible being disseminated and integrated into the broader Jewish public’s Torah study?

I met with several Orthodox rabbis whom I heard through the grapevine were sympathetic to the academic approach. While they agreed with my observations, they were reluctant—even afraid—to engage publicly with these ideas.

I sought an organization where I could explore and teach Torah through the lens of academic scholarship. No such organization existed. I even tried encouraging others to create one, offering to help them. Eventually, I understood what Hillel meant in Pirkei Avot:

^{משנה אבות ב:ה} וּבְמָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִישׁ.

^{Misnha Avot 2:5} Where there are no people, become the person yourself.

This task was daunting. Although I had spent ten years in yeshiva and kollel, I had never attended university or taken a single college course.

The Beginnings of TheTorah.com

In November 2012, I reached out to Prof. Marc Brettler to share my vision. To my surprise (and horror!), he agreed to co-found TheTorah.com with me.^[2] In 2013, I learned about Rabbi Dr. Zev Farber, who had recently earned his Ph.D. in Bible from Emory University. When I emailed him, he was initially hesitant—suspicious of my intentions because of my background with Aish HaTorah. Thankfully, he replied, and he has since become my full-time chavrusa (study partner), editing and working on every piece we publish. Without his expertise, TheTorah.com would not be where it is today.

During the first year, I lived off my severance and savings, incurring tens of thousands of dollars in debt to get TheTorah.com off the ground. With minimal funding from a friend, I purchased the domain, paid our team to consult, and launched TheTorah.com for Shavuot 2013.

The backlash was harsh and very real (a story for another time!). Critics said few people would care about who wrote the Torah. But my goal was bigger: to carve out space within the tradition for historical and data-driven approaches to Torah study.

Building a Platform for Scholarship

In early 2014, a few philanthropists who had been following TheTorah.com reached out, asking who was supporting us. When I told them “no one,” they generously partnered with me, allowing us to start functioning as an organization—albeit on a tight budget.

In 2017, David Bar-Cohn reached out and volunteered. After several months, I brought him on part-time. Since then, Dr. Tina Sherman has also joined our editorial staff.

While many excellent educational organizations exist across denominations, TheTorah.com (along with TheTorah.co.il and TheGemara.com) is the only platform that makes academic scholarship on the Bible and other Jewish texts accessible to a broad audience.

TheTorah.com has published articles incorporating insights from history, archaeology, ancient Near Eastern studies, Egyptology, Semitic languages, textual variants, and literary approaches. These enrich people’s understanding of the biblical narratives. Our 560 authors (and counting) include scholars from all denominations—Jews and non-Jews alike—a unique accomplishment in today’s polarized world.

Our Future Depends on Your Support

For years, a handful of generous individuals provided the lion’s share of our funding. Without their backing, we wouldn’t be here today. At this point, however, we need broader support to secure our future.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who responded to Kevin Wolf’s recent matching campaign. We reached our goal in just a few days, which was heartening. Still, this has been a difficult year, and we need to raise more to ensure our continued success.

Please support TheTorah.com, and if you know of any foundations that might be interested in our work, be in touch with us at info@thetorah.com.

Thank you for your support and help,
David D. Steinberg