Remember What's Next The History of Tanach and How Do We Know The Text is Real?
May 11, 2022
Ken Spiro, rabbi, author, Israeli tour guide and researcher, gives a lively tour of the Tanakh’s transmission through history. He traces Torah’s structure and canon formation. He explains oral versus written law, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Masoretic preservation, notable manuscript traditions, and why the text we read today is remarkably stable.
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Oral Law Precedes Written Instructions
- Moses received the Oral Law first: 613 commandments and principles for applying them.
- The written Torah followed and needs the Oral Law to be practically implemented.
How Moses Compiled The Torah
- Moses composed the Torah during 40 years in the desert, dictating past narratives to him.
- He finished multiple copies, including his final speech in Deuteronomy before his death.
Verify Texts By Majority Comparison
- Use an eclectic, majority-based process to detect and remove scribal errors across manuscripts.
- Compare many scrolls letter-by-letter and favor the reading found in most sources.
